Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown Highlight Homegrown Style With Carefully Chosen Outfits

Homegrown style – but on a budget – was the watchword for both Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown today as their husbands grappled with the faltering world economy.

The first lady has been feted for her chic fashion sense and elegant use of colour while the prime minister's wife more often sticks to classic suits.

Today Mrs Obama arrived at Downing Street in a fresh, colorful combination while Mrs Brown looked smart in navy.

But the two women's outfits had a lot in common – both had been carefully chosen to support their native fashion industry.

Obama looked dazzling in a sequinned champagne cardigan paired with a mint pencil skirt, both from American mid-market brand J Crew, an outfit that will have cost her £318 or $454.

As every girl who shops on the high street knows, it is the accessories that make or break an outfit. Obama did not put a foot wrong in low-heeled animal-skin-print heels and her signature pearls.

Fashion watchers had wondered how Brown would compete with her famously stylish American counterpart. But the PM's wife's choice of designer showed off her political as well as fashion nous.

Her simple navy dress was made for her by American-born, London-based designer Britt Lintner, who makes all her clothes in the UK.

Lintner combines her fashion business with a career in finance and decided to design her own clothes to provide practical but feminine workwear for professional women.

She only designs dresses in subtle but flattering outlines and muted colours to ensure the wearer always looks "professional, polished and practical".

Crucially, her designs – while not going for high-street prices – are never more than £500 a dress and are designed to be worn season after season.

Brown paid around £450 for today's outfit and has been a "good customer" of the company since she wore one of their designs to the London Fashion Awards, a spokeswoman said.

Her accessories were a little more muted than Obama's but she too knows the importance of good quality shoes. The black patent round-toed courts were from high-end high-street chain Russell and Bromley – the brand that hit the headlines in 2002 when Theresa May wore a pair of their leopard-skin-print heels to deliver her keynote party chairman address to the Conservative conference.

Brown also wore a simple silver necklace from Astley and Clarke, an online designer jewelery retailer.

Lintner said: "I am thrilled to be able to dress such a successful and intelligent woman. I think the choice is significant because of the link between Britain and America.

"I make dresses for women who work. I wanted to be able to throw on a dress, go to work and not have to think about it for the rest of the day. Whatever is in her diary a woman wearing one of my dresses will know she will look appropriate."

Calgary Avansino, Vogue magazine's executive fashion editor, said that both women had dressed to reflect their own style.

"They were never going to turn up in similar things. Their personalities are obviously so different," she said.

"But I think they both are obviously trying to send a very clear message that they can wear what the average women would wear and still look great and that they are not above it.

"They are showing support for every person, every family in their countries; it is exactly the right message.

"Michelle's outfit was springy and upbeat; it was a gutsy outfit. She is not scared of colour; she knows she can use it and that it creates a sense of positivity. And I like the little detail in the shoes which worked even though she was wearing a printed skirt and embellished top.

"Sarah was much more reserved and conservative but it suited her and I'm glad she chose navy not black."

She said that comparisons of Brown's semi-opaque black tights with Obama's bare-legged look were unfair.

"Michelle has such a great skin tone it is so much easier for her to go bare-legged. I don't think Sarah should have worn nude tights – they can give you a false sense of security – but I think she should have gone more opaque for a more flattering look."

But she said: "Part of me thinks it is completely sexist to look at two intelligent, successful women and talk about whether they are wearing tights or not. I don't think fashion is the first thing either of them think about. They do so much else."

Of course their husbands could take refuge in the safety of dark suits and ties in coordinating blue hues. But their choice of shoes spoke volumes about the two men: the prime minister played it safe in ultra-traditional, well-worn Oxfords while the president opted for a more modern cut and a highly polished finished.