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Did Michelle Obama oversleep and get dressed in the dark before heading out to the 2025 Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival on August 9?! Instead of sporting her usual former first lady but make it cool aesthetic, Obama showed up to one of the tented events at the festival in a baby boomer country look that screamed Kristi Noem — and not in a good way. What in the Canadian tuxedo was going on?! Maybe her new style really does prove she’s desperate to be relevant.

As evidenced by an Instagram post reminiscing about the star-studded film festival, Obama donned a whiskered denim-on-denim jacket and jeans set with a bustier-style shirt underneath, a pair of flat metallic thong sandals, and a large-and-in-charge belt buckle to boot. Did Obama somehow mistake the film festival for a South Dakota hoedown hosted by none other than United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem? (Minus the dead puppies, of course.)

As it turns out, this is not Michelle Obama’s first rodeo! In March 2025, the former first lady seemingly dipped her toe into the cowboy core fashion trend while attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas. During a featured session at the festival, Obama wore a Western-inspired denim jacket and a wide-leg pant set in a rusty orange hue.

Obama has been very open and honest about the entire Obama family’s post-White House transformation, including her own. In the confines of her second book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times,” she gave us a glimpse into her life when she revealed that she felt she had to be “careful with my image” during her time as first lady, namely because she was also the country’s first-ever Black first lady (via the New York Times).

These days, however, it appears that Obama has become much more at ease with flexing her own personal style — and maybe that just so happens to include a flair for cowboy core. In April 2024, Obama posted a tweet about Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album and all it signified to her. “Cowboy Carter is a reminder that despite everything we’ve been through to be heard, seen, and recognized, we can still dance, sing, and be who we are unapologetically,” she penned in part. If anything, Michelle is firmly in her “Cowboy Carter” era — not her Kristi Noem era.