WASHINGTON — For that moment when she officially became first lady, Michelle Obama chose a metallic gold coat and matching slim-fitting dress by the Cuban-born American designer Isabel Toledo.

The dress made a glamorous statement with its regal color, and it separated the new first lady from those wearing the more traditional red and blue — a choice many applauded as a cheerful message of hope and a vote for the American fashion industry.

In some light, the embellished ensemble took on a pale greenish cast, coordinating nicely with green gloves from J. Crew and Jimmy Choo green patent pumps.

Toledo is not a well-known designer, although she was briefly creative director at Anne Klein. Her work is not readily available; it is limited to a handful of independent boutiques such as Chicago's Ikram, where Obama has been a regular customer. It is also sold at Barneys New York.

Toledo can be described as an eccentric designer, one who is rarely influenced by prevailing trends and fads. Instead, her sensibility is grounded in old-fashioned dress-making techniques, her Cuban ancestry and her own artistic impulses. The fact that Obama chose her work for such an auspicious occasion means that the doors have been thrown open to a part of the American fashion industry that is rarely seen: the world of the independent, often struggling, entrepreneur.

President Obama wore a red tie and white shirt with his suit, topped with an overcoat adorned with an American flag pin.

Their daughters were style icons in their own right, with Malia, 10, in a double-breasted periwinkle-blue coat with a blue ribbon at the waist, and Sasha, 7, in a pink coat with orange scarf and satin belt, a coral dress peeking out at the hem. Their coats were from Crewcuts by J. Crew.

The fashion industry has anticipated the election of Obama for months, embracing his wife as an emblem and ambassador of modern style, who wears clothes from young designers as well as mainstream American retailers.

"What I recognized more than anything from our new first lady and Hillary (Clinton) and everyone else is that everyone was fresh," said designer Kai Milla, wife of Stevie Wonder and a guest at the swearing-in ceremony.

The unusual shade of yellow "really popped" on Michelle Obama's complexion, Milla added.

Hamish Bowles, Vogue magazine's European editor at large who curated the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute exhibit on Jackie Kennedy in 2001, said he sees a resemblance in the inaugural styles between the two first ladies. "She's off to an auspicious start," Bowles said of Obama.

"Mrs. Obama's choice today was appropriate, dignified and elegant but it also had a considerable element of fashion panache."

She has shown an ability to root out exciting and innovative styles in her backyard and there's been no need to look at European designers, Bowles noted. "She's finding great American talent."

She also connects with American women.

"What's so powerful about Michelle Obama is we all see ourselves in her. She's a modern woman who is fashionable and even flamboyant in her style and she is still taken seriously," said red-carpet and magazine stylist Mary Alice Stephenson. "She's wearing that dress today for all of us. We're all wearing that dress with her. The dress is elegant, appropriate and has the individual style stamp of Michelle Obama and is timely for a woman in her 40s — and she wears embellishment during the day. Hallelujah!"

"She is single-handedly breathing new life into designers like Narciso Rodriguez and Isabel Toledo, who have had a rocky past," Stephenson said.