A pair of four-year-olds earned a shout out from former First Lady Michelle Obama after recreating her and Barack’s looks from Inauguration Day in a series of adorable Instagram photos.
This week, Ryleigh Madison Hampton and her friend Zayden Lowe from Florence, South Carolina dressed up and posed for pictures as Barack Obama and Michelle, just as they looked as President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
The sweet photoshoot has gone viral, even earning recognition from Mrs. Obama herself.
Lookalikes! Ryleigh Madison and her friend Zayden dressed up and posed for pictures as former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
Copycats: They wore outfits very similar to ones worn by the couple at President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20
Ryleigh’s grandmother Sheila came up with the idea after watching the inauguration in January.
‘She literally gasped after seeing it and thought it would be a great idea for a photo shoot,’ Ryleigh’s mom, Zoe Hampton, told DailyMail.com.
With just a bit of Amazon shopping, she managed to put the whole thing together, dressing Ryleigh in red pants with a bold gold belt, a reddish-pink shirt, and a matching coat.
Zayden, meanwhile, wore a dapper blue coat, a black face mask, and an American flag pin.
Zoe said that while she doesn’t thing the four-year-olds understand the significance of the Obamas’ role, they do ‘see two people who look like them dressed nicely, and that’s why representation matters so much for our children.’
After they posed for pictures for Ryleigh’s aunt Joi Hampton — who, at 14, used her iPhone to snap the photos — the images were posted on Ryleigh’s Instagram account on Saturday and have racked up over 11,000 likes on Ryleigh’s page.
For the shoot, Zayden donned a dapper blue coat, a black face mask, and an American flag pin, while Ryleigh wore red pants with a bold gold belt, a reddish-pink shirt, and a matching coat
So sweet! The twosome appeared to have fun during the photoshoot
Viral: The images were posted on Ryleigh’s Instagram account on Saturday and have racked up over 11,000 likes on Ryleigh’s page
By Sunday, the post has caught the attention of O, The Oprah magazine, which shared the images on its own account.
‘Little @barackobama and @michelleobama is exactly what we needed today,’ they wrote.
‘Little Michelle is in CHARACTER,’ commented the magazine’s assistant editor, Joseph Zambrano.
‘OMG!!! Fierce!!! Best thing on the internet today!’ wrote another admirer in the comments section.
Even Queer Eye star Bobby Berk chimed in with a string of heart emojis on the popular post.
She saw it! It wasn’t long before Michelle Obama herself took notice and shared the snaps on her own Instagram and Twitter accounts
Twinning take two! Just weeks before, Ryleigh also took a turn dressing up as Vice President Kamala Harris
Inspiration: She wore a white suit identical to one she wore at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware after Biden won the presidency
What a look! Ryleigh looked adorable in her suit, pearls, and flag pin
It wasn’t long before Michelle herself took notice and shared the snaps on her own Instagram and Twitter accounts.
‘Ryleigh & Zayden, you nailed it!’ she wrote — earning another 1.9 million likes for the kids.
Zoe said they never imagined the images would earn this kind of response.
‘It has been OVERWHELMING,’ she said. ‘We are responding to as many as we possibly can. Obviously no one is ready for this type of attention
Just weeks before, Ryleigh also took a turn dressing up as Vice President Kamala Harris in a white suit identical to one she wore at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware after Biden won the presidency.
This isn’t the first time a little girl has gone viral for dressing up as Mrs. Obama. In 2018, three-year-old Parker Curry embodied the former first lady for Halloween.
Adorable: In 2019, then-three-year-old Parker Curry dressed as the former first lady for Halloween
Matching: When Parker’s mom, Jessica, asked what the tot wanted to be, the adorable three-year-old said she wanted to go as Michelle in her National Gallery portrait
In awe: Parker first went viral in March 2018 after someone snapped a picture of her mouth agape while starring up at Michelle’s portrait
Parker had been launched into the spotlight months earlier while visiting the National Portrait Gallery in her hometown of Washington, D.C. to visit Michelle’s then-brand-new portrait.
Parker, two years old at the time, was captured staring at the portrait in open-mouthed awe by Ben Hines, a fellow tourist.
The image quickly went viral.
Then, for Halloween, Parker’s mother Jessica dressed her up as Obama as she looks in the portrait.
Jessica told BuzzFeed News that she asked Parker what she would like to be for Halloween, and her answer was almost immediate.
‘Flat out. No hesitation. Half of a second later: ‘I want to be Michelle Obama,’ and I was like, whoa,’ Jessica said. ‘I thought she was going to be like, ‘I want to be Elsa’ or some other character like that.’
Cutie: Jessica revealed that her daughter twirled and danced around in the Michelle Obama lookalike dress
Impressed: Parker shared the costume online and was commended for the look by the former first lady herself
The mom enlisted Alisha Welsh, who runs Magnolia Lake Children’s Clothing, to help recreate the dress.
To make the moment even cuter, Parker’s younger sister Ava dressed as her police escort for the Halloween event — and Jessica confirmed that the costume was well-loved by Parker.
‘She twirled in it. She danced in it,’ Jessica said. ‘Running up to the houses she would pick up the front of the gown so she wouldn’t get it dirty. It was so cute.’
After Parker shared her costume online, the former first lady herself commended the costume.
Michelle tweeted: ‘You nailed the look, Parker! I love it!!!!’