WASHINGTON - BARACK Obama's victory speech electrified the nation, but the dress his wife, Michelle, wore has been widely criticised, The New York Times said on Thursday.

Michelle Obama appeared onstage at a huge Chicago rally late on Tuesday wearing a black cardigan over a scoop-neck black sheath with splashes of red in the upper and lower half separated by a band of black at the hips.

The outfit was a slightly modified version of a dress presented by designer Narciso Rodriguez in September for the 2009 Spring season.

'I voted for Obama, but I didn't vote for that dress,' homemaker and mother of three Jessica Bettencourt from Wisconsin told The New York Times.

'I don't know what was worse,' Chicago lawyer Karla Wright told the paper, 'that stupid criss-cross band around the middle or that black sort of border coming up from the hem.' Not all comments were negative.

'That dress was unpretentious,' Julie Gilhart, fashion director of New York's top-price Barneys clothing store, told the Times. 'It said, Be who you are - don't let someone else tell you how to be.'' Michelle Obama does not use a personal stylist, Obama staff members told the paper.

'Certainly, her style is a departure from the starchy attire that first ladies historically favored,' the Times wrote. 'At the least, it promises four lively years of fashion-watching at the White House.'