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The Korean American Who Dresses Michelle Obama

(Above picture: U.S. President Barack Obama stands with his wife Michelle as they wait to receive President Lee Myung-bak and his wife Kim Yoon-ok for a state dinner at the White House in Washington on Thursday. /AFP-Yonhap)

Chung Doo-ri started her business from the basement of her parents' dry cleaning store 10 years ago, and last week U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wore one of her dresses at the official state dinner with President Lee Myung-bak.

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The single-strap violet gown was made from Chung's trademark jersey fabric and featured a high-waisted chiffon belt studded with crystals. Michelle Obama deliberately chose a dress by a Korean-American designer for the dinner.

Chung (38), who is based in New York City, did not know the dress had been chosen until the afternoon of the state dinner last Thursday.

She had been contacted by the White House this spring to design a purple dress, one of several designers who got the commission. Chung made a dress using comfortable fabric and made several alterations before completing the design.

Chung Doo-ri

Born in Korea in 1973, Chung came to the U.S. with her family when she was four. Her parents ran a dry cleaning store in New Jersey.

After graduating from the Parsons School of Design in New York in 1995, she was picked up by influential designer Geoffrey Beene, where she worked for six years. In 2001, she set up her own shop in the basement of her parents' business and launched her own brand Doo Ri.

In 2004, she made it on the list of Top 10 Up-and-Coming Designers by Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In 2005, she was chosen by Newsweek magazine as a rising star for 2006.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Chung said she kept her parents in the dark about the project for the first lady. "I didn't want to get their hopes up", she confessed.

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