I have always admired stylishly confident women who dress with great authority. This lifelong love of elegance began with the humble wardrobe of my late grandmother Mrs. Bennie Frances Davis.

The zenith of elegance in any woman's wardrobe is the little black dress, the power of which suggests dash and refinement.

I know what it is like to be brought up with unconditional love. In my life that came from my grandmother.

Like Hillary Clinton before her, Mrs. Obama has always been a working woman. She is a lawyer turned hospital administrator turned political right hand. It is a unique resume.

The little black dress expresses a moment of freedom and individuality every time.

The happiest moments of my childhood were spent on my grandmother's front porch in Durham, N.C., or at her sister's farmhouse in Orange County, where chickens paraded outside the kitchen's screen door and hams were cured in the smokehouse.