Mania over President Barack Obama has reached the catwalks of Rome, where a top haute couture designer showed off a kaftan emblazoned with his face and another dedicated a gown of "hope" to his wife Michelle.

"I was in Times Square when he was elected and it was like just such a beautiful emotion. I had the sensation of flying," Guillermo Mariotto, who designed the kaftan for Roman fashion house Gattinoni, told Reuters.

"He's definitely a fashion icon. He's brand new, he's a black president, and he's so handsome."

Mariotto sent an American model down the catwalk draped in the ankle-length, long-sleeved kaftan made of natural fiber. It featured a solemn-faced Obama in red and beige across its entire length and the word "Change" written across the bottom.

Has Barack eclipsed Michelle in the fashion stakes? Well, Michelle once referred to her husband dismissively as a fashion accessory. Is she the real fashion accessory now? (Is that a sexist remark?)

--crossposted at BackyardConservative