As the White House staff polishes the silver for what will likely be the last state dinner of the Obama administration, it's worth a look back at how the couple - the youngest to occupy the White House since JFK and Jackie - has shaped the institution of the state dinner.
In most ways, they left the tradition that began well over a century ago - the most formal of Washington entertaining, with its black-tie dress code, heavy-stock invitations, and high diplomacy - intact. Even as some observers have called such pinkie-fingers-crooked entertaining outmoded (former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders once boasted that he doesn't own a tuxedo and argued that black-tie dinners aren't constitutionally mandated) and expensive, the Obamas preserved its formalities.
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The Tuesday-evening affair will be their 14th state dinner, which is slightly less than Bill Clinton (28) but more than George W. Bush (11). Rather than blowing up the state dinner, replacing it with a cocktail-dress-code event or maybe just one of the dance parties they've thrown for friends and family, the Obamas modernised it in subtle ways.
Their picks for musical entertainers were slightly edgier, younger and from a wider variety of genres than previous administrations, which tracks with the first couple's avid interest in music (see the frequent White House concerts and those famously eclectic POTUS Spotify playlists). They reflected the farm-to-table movement by incorporating ingredients from the White House garden into the menu. And Michelle Obama's interesting fashion choices lent an element of spectator fun to the evening (who will she wear? the social-media watchers wondered as they pre-gamed).
![US President Barack Obama and US First Lady Michelle Obama during an arrival for Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien ...](/web/20161104224957im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/f/d/5/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs4r7w.png/1476757656048.jpg)
And even as the dinners remained exclusive affairs whose guest list comprised members of congress, CEOs and movie stars, the Obamas sought to open the doors just a bit wider, inviting on at least two occasions "regular Americans" who had written letters to the president and first lady with touching stories. At the August dinner in honour of Singapore, alongside VIPs like Secretary of State John Kerry and actress Keri Russell, was Army Maj. Jeremy Haynes, who had written to the first lady about his wife, Chelsea, who had been his caregiver since he had been wounded in Afghanistan.
Haynes was shocked when she invited them to the White House - to a state dinner, no less.
Here's a look back at the greatest hits of the past eight years:
Drama
![A table set with place cards that read The President and Mrs. Obama for their last state dinner at the White House.](/web/20161104224957im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/4/s/a/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs4r7w.png/1476757656048.jpg)
The Obamas' first foray into the high-stakes entertaining game started off with an embarrassing hitch when two aspiring reality TV stars managed to crash the 2009 state dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tareq and Michaele Salahi, then relatively unknown polo-playing socialites from Virginia, achieved infamy when they showed up sans invites and mingled with the legit guests. The gate-crashing was memorialised on the short-lived Real Housewives of D.C. - and in a congressional inquiry into how the Secret Service dropped the ball.
Fashion
![The Obamas with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at the White House in March.](/web/20161104224957im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/h/7/0/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs4r7w.png/1476757656048.jpg)
Michelle Obama's gowns are reliably hits, but the one that spoke the loudest might have been the dress she picked for the first state dinner, for India. With the choice of the silver-appliqued, strapless (gasp!) column by Indian American relative newcomer Naeem Khan, the first lady announced that that her gowns on such occasions wouldn't be mere frocks - that there would always be the possibility that they were statements.
With the modern silhouette and accessories (a wristful of glimmering bangles and bold earrings) FLOTUS also signalled she was taking cues not from past first ladies's closets but from red-carpet Hollywood, adding an extra gloss of glamour and real-world relatability to state-dinner fashion.
![Actors Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively at the state dinner for Canadian Prime Minister in March.](/web/20161104224957im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/h/7/0/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs4r7w.png/1476757656048.jpg)
Food
True to the Obamas' advocacy of locally-grown foods, produce from the garden outside - and the fruits of the newly installed White House bees - often turned up on the china plates. Perhaps the biggest stunner of a dish was the "Winter Garden Salad" White House chefs served at the 2014 dinner for French Prime Minister Francois Hollande.
![For a China state dinner in 2015 Michelle diplomatically chose a dress by Chinese-American designer Vera Wang.](/web/20161104224957im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/0/l/p/q/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gs4r7w.png/1476757656048.jpg)
Petite radishes and baby carrots, with a dressing of garden-fresh herbs and honey from the White House hives, nestled just so in an aquarium-like bowl? Simply gorgeous.
Decor
The decor at state dinners is typically quite traditional, with lavish flowers and elegant place settings the norm. An especially pretty pick was at the 2015 dinner in honour of Chinese President Xi Jinping: shades of pinks and corals turned up in the linens and in masses of roses and dahlias.
But the boldest, most modern decor moment came at the dinner honouring the leaders of five Nordic nations, when the White House skipped the traditional billowing tablecloths and ballroom-style furniture for sleek woven table runners and clean-lined chairs and rustic farm-style tables, perhaps in honour of their design-forward guest nations. Another stunning touch was the clear ceiling of the tents on the south lawn, which allowed guests a glimpse of the stars.
Guests
Celebrity guests had been a staple of the state-dinner recipe for several administrations, but the Obamas took the VIP invite game to the next level. Still, the guests who made the biggest splash might have been those with the shortest commute: Sasha and Malia Obama attended their first state dinner in March, to fete Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Music
The Obamas' (particularly the first lady's) platinum membership in the BeyHive, singer Beyonce's fervent fan base, is well known. So it's no huge surprise that Queen Bey showed up in all her diva glory for 2010's state dinner in honor of Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala. But come on, it's Beyonce. Wherever she shows up, she shuts it down. According to reports, the Run the World singer arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a strapless beaded gown encrusted with more than 20,000 hand-sewn gunmetal gray Swarovski crystals.
The Washington Post
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