Obama’s top International Best-Dressed List

“I think Michelle Obama has cool style. She’s not over the top. She’s chic and she knows how to flatter her body and she always looks pulled together,” said Stacey Bendet,founder and designer of the label Alice & Olivia,who made the list for the second time.

Rachel Roy,another designer who made the cut,added in an e-mail: “Michelle Obama is such an inspiration to me — she has become ‘the’ style icon.”

The Obamas weren’t the only stylish political dressers named. French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy made the list along with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his companion,Diana Taylor.

“The list is more political this year,” observed Amy Fine Collins,a special correspondent for the magazine. “It seems a lot of the attention of the world is shifting to political and government leaders as opposed to just the Hollywood figures. The best evidence of that is in the Obamas.”

No longer on the list is Angelina Jolie,although her husband Brad Pitt remains,based on the poll of fashion insiders. Other stars getting the honour are Penelope Cruz,Anne Hathaway,NBC correspondent Tiki Barber and James Bond star Daniel Craig.

Other fashion types on the 69-year-old list,which Vanity Fair inherited from the late fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert: Tory Burch,Georgina Chapman,designer of Marchesa,and David Lauren,son of Ralph Lauren. Bendet most admires the style of model Natalia Vodianova,who was honored alongside her husband,artist Justin Portman.

It’s flattering — and prestigious — to be in such company,Bendet said. “I’m sort of amused by it. Everyone else is photographed with couture gowns,I’m a little funkier — a downtown girl.”

New inductees to the Hall of Fame include actresses Catherine Denevue and Renne Zellweger.

“Catherine Deneuve’s style has influenced for decades. … Women of her age now still look to her for ideas of how to present themselves as a woman of style and elegance,and younger women are watching her movies and taking cues from her,” Fine Collins said. Meanwhile,Zellweger,”a newcomer by comparison,” has had very few slip-ups in her years under the microscope.

Vanity Fair’s 70th annual International Best-Dressed List is below in full:

INTERNATIONAL BEST-DRESSED LIST: WOMEN

CHIARA CLEMENTE,filmmaker

PENÉLOPE CRUZ,actress

KATHY FRESTON,writer

AGNES GUND,president emerita of MoMA

ANNE HATHAWAY,actress

ALICIA KEYS,singer,songwriter,actress

H.R.H. PRINCESS LETIZIA OF ASTURIAS

KELLY RIPA,co-host of Live! with Regis and Kelly

H.H. SHEIKHA MOZAH OF QATAR,wife of H.H. the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin

Khalifa Al Thani,unesco special envoy for basic and higher education

LIZZIE TISCH,private banker

INTERNATIONAL BEST-DRESSED LIST: MEN

TIKI BARBER,NBC correspondent,founder of Tiki Ventures

ARPAD BUSSON,financier

DANIEL CRAIG,actor

MATTEO MARZOTTO,entrepreneur,chairman to ENIT (the Italian state tourist board)

BARACK OBAMA,president of the United States

OGDEN PHIPPS II,private-equity investor

BRAD PITT,actor

ROO ROGERS,environmental entrepreneur,co-founder of OZOlab

ALEJANDRO SANTO DOMINGO,investor

CY TWOMBLY,artist

HALL OF FAME

LILIANE BETTENCOURT,principal shareholder of L’Oréal

COUNT MANFREDI DELLA GHERARDESCA,art adviser,curator

CATHERINE DENEUVE,actress and model

LAPO ELKANN,creative entrepreneur; founder and president,Italia Independent and Independent Ideas; founding partner and owner,LA Holding

RENÉE ZELLWEGER,actress

FIRST LADIES

CARLA BRUNI-SARKOZY,singer and First Lady of France

MICHELLE OBAMA,First Lady of the United States

FASHION PROFESSIONALS

GEORGINA CHAPMAN,co-founder and designer,Marchesa

TORY BURCH,designer

MATHILDE MEYER-AGOSTINELLI,director of communications,Prada France

DAVID LAUREN,senior vice president,advertising,marketing,and communications,

Polo Ralph Lauren

CANDY PRATTS PRICE,executive fashion director,Style.com

RACHEL ROY,designer

STACEY BENDET,designer and founder,Alice & Olivia

FRANCA SOZZANI,editor in chief,Italian Vogue and L’Uomo Vogue

ALI HEWSON,co-founder,Edun fashion label and Nude skin care

SIBLINGS

JANE LAUDER,general manager,Origins,and AERIN LAUDER,senior vice president

and creative director,Estée Lauder

STAVROS NIARCHOS and EUGÉNIE NIARCHOS,jewelry designer for Gaia Repossi

COUPLES

PALOMA CUEVAS,jewelry designer for Yanes,and ENRIQUE PONCE,professional

bullfighter

DIANA TAYLOR,managing director,Wolfensohn & Co.,and MICHAEL BLOOMBERG,

mayor of New York City; founder,Bloomberg L.P.

NATALIA VODIANOVA,fashion model,and JUSTIN PORTMAN,artist

SHELLEY WANGER,editor,Knopf and Pantheon,and DAVID MORTIMER,

president,the American Assembly

FASHION ORIGINALS

PETER BEARD,”escapist”

DUCHESS OF ALBA

NICKY HASLAM,interior designer

IKÉ UDÉ,artist,founder of Arude magazine

BRUCE WEBER,photographer,artist,filmmaker