New York Fashion Week is less than two weeks away, and organizers and designers are hopeful for a Michelle Obama appearance. IMG senior vice president and Fashion Week head Fern Mallis told New York magazine after the inauguration that IMG would “obviously be thrilled beyond belief if she would come to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and be at the tents and really show the world that support of the industry.” Mallis wants to get Mrs. Obama involved in a fashion industry charitable initiative–just as First Lady Laura Bush was involved in The Heart Truth, which promoted awareness about heart disease in women–and utilize the First Lady’s fashion-forward star power to promote the fashion industry.

It would make perfect sense for Michelle Obama to attend Fashion Week. After all, Laura Bush attended the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection runway show in February 2007 and 2008 with her daughter Barbara. Mrs. Obama could do the same. (Maybe I should request press entry to the Heart Truth show this year?) Besides, security is already tight enough at the tents that Secret Service will have little to do.

Laura and Barbara Bush at The Heart Truth Red Dress Collection, February 2008, New York, Associated Press

Michelle Obama also has a personal interest in keeping the fashion industry alive and thriving with her penchant for young and less well known designers, so I suspect she’ll be looking to promote the industry (and uh, maybe encourage women to shop and help the economy in general). Some of her favorite designers, like Narciso Rodriguez and Maria Cornejo, will be showing collections during Fashion Week, and Rodriguez, in fact, moved his show back to the official (and expensive) Bryant Park tents after three years of showing elsewhere. His show will be held in the Tent, the largest of the three runways. Is he expecting a VIP guest?

Not to mention, the press reps for Jason Wu were once very accessible but are now next to impossible to reach, and all I know is that he had planned to show his collection at a small gallery. But it’s unlikely he’s “expecting” a VIP guest, since both times Mrs. Obama wore his designs in the spotlight (for the Barbara Walters interview and the inaugural balls) he didn’t know until he saw her on TV.

As designer Phillip Lim, a favorite of starlets like Rachel Bilson and Lauren Conrad, told the New York Observer, a Michelle Obama appearance “would certainly do some tremendous things for the [fashion] industry and she seems like she’s rooting for the underdogs.” I was declined admittance to his show, so perhaps he’s hoping to save space for a more powerful guest.

There might be many disappointed designers if the First Lady chooses to stay in DC during Fashion Week. But the big question if she does choose to attend, however, is who will Michelle Obama wear?