Michelle Obama waves as she boards a plane upon her departure at the airport in Venice, Italy, on June 21, 2015.

Michelle Obama was the commander in chic during her near-decade run as first lady. But with great power came great responsibility.

The former first lady and wife of President Barack Obama, often lauded – and criticized – as a style icon for her head-turning looks, got candid on the complications of her fashion journey during an interview with People magazine published Tuesday, Oct. 28.

"I purposefully did not talk about fashion and beauty during the eight years in the White House," Obama, 61, told the magazine. "I was afraid it was going to take over everything."

Obama's sartorial reflections come as the attorney and ex-first lady readies for the release of her memoir, "The Look," on Nov. 4. The book will feature over 200 never-before-published images of Obama, accompanied by writing about her style evolution, and provide readers a peek behind the curtain at how her most memorable looks were crafted.

"This book is a celebration of fashion, but more importantly, I hope it is a celebration of confidence, identity, and authenticity, and an inspiration to think deeply about how we choose to define style and beauty," Obama wrote in the book's introduction.

Penguin Random House Audio will simultaneously release an audiobook edition, read by Obama herself.

Michelle Obama on the pressure to show her 'feminine side' with fashion

As a presidential fashion figure, Obama "understood the assignment," but that doesn't mean it was a cake walk.

First ladies' fashion choices capture public attention, but criticism of Obama was often racist in nature. In 2022, Obama shared that she wanted to wear braids during her tenure but decided not to because Americans were "not ready" and she preferred the focus be on the Obama administration's policies, not her hairstyle.

"It was a complicated assignment. The role of first lady is a kind of job, non-job," Obama told People magazine. "You know that you're supposed to be inspirational, yet accessible. You should be uniquely yourself, authentic, but representational at the same time."

Obama, who made history as the first African American woman to serve as first lady, also reflected on the cultural tightrope she had to walk as a Black woman holding the office. "I felt that I had to make sure that people could see my feminine side," she said.

"Especially early on in the campaign, when I was being attacked as being angry, a shrew, demeaning my husband — all these labels were coming in on me that were essentially trying to rob me of that femininity," Obama continued. "I took the role as first lady very seriously. I was a famous person, but I wasn't a starlet. And so that meant that the clothes could never speak louder than anything I had to say."

Michelle Obama on embracing her fashion 'freedom,' working on self-confidence

Obama is still the same girl from the South Side of Chicago who grew up loving the groovy fashions of "Soul Train." But after life in the White House, she isn't interested in following a dress code.

"Fundamentally, I'm the same person," Obama said in her People magazine interview. "But with each decade, I've grown wiser. I think I've become more confident about who I am. This version of Michelle probably cares less about what other people think."

Part of this growing confidence, Obama shares, includes finally wearing her hair in braids publicly, which she did for the unveiling of her and Barack Obama's White House portraits in September 2022. "I wanted to send a message, add to the discourse of Black women in places of power, saying, 'This, too, is an appropriate and beautiful way to wear your hair,'" she reflected.

"When I'm out of the public eye, I am swimming, I am playing tennis and braids represent that kind of freedom for me," Obama said. "(In the White House), I wasn't sure whether the country was ready for it. The Crown Act hadn't been passed yet, and just like fashion, I didn't want my hair to become a distraction."

However, Obama will be the first to admit that she is still a work in progress in the self-love department.

"I'm still working on, every day, waking up, looking in the mirror and telling myself that I am smart and beautiful, and kind and worthy," Obama said. "I don't think that work ever stops for women, particularly women of color, because sometimes you don't always hear it back.

"Women today, we're facing a time now, where people with power are trying to quiet the voices of people they disagree with. And I think now more than ever, it's a time when we have to fight to remind ourselves that we matter, that we count."

Contributing: Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michelle Obama speaks out on the one thing she 'did not talk about' in the White House

Reporting by Edward Segarra, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect