But the day is spoilt by the bizarre monkey image Google refuses to remove
BY RACHEL HELYER DONALDSONFIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 25, 2009
Hollywood and Bollywood converged on Washington DC last night as President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama threw their first state dinner, a glittering event in honour of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur. Michelle Obama wowed guests in a glamorous strapless silver and cream-coloured sheath dress and shawl, created by the Indian-born American designer Naeem Khan.

Khan's designs have become a red-carpet choice for pop stars and actresses including Beyonce, Katherine Heigl and Carrie Underwood. The First Lady's gown took three weeks to make, with a team of 40 on the case at the designer's family workshop in India.

Michelle Obama's choice impressed the fashion critics. Mary Tomer, author of the new book Mrs O: The Face of Fashion Democracy said: "I think she looks fabulous. She walked out in something that's figure-flattering and chic. Naeem's work is known for glamour and embellishment and this dress seems to embody that."

Hal Rubenstein, fashion director for InStyle magazine, said it was a sophisticated choice, which paid homage to India without opting for a traditional sari-style dress. "The nice thing about it is the Jackie Kennedy sort of appropriateness."

The 338-strong guest list was a mix of Washington insiders, Hollywood stars and prominent figures from the Indian community in the US. Guests included directors Steven Spielberg and M Night Shyamalan and actors Blair Underwood and Alfre Woodard. Headlining the entertainment was Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar-winning actress and singer who is to play Winnie Mandela in an upcoming biopic. The menu, which included potato and eggplant salad, arugula from the White House garden, red lentil soup and green curry prawns, featured very little meat as Singh is vegetarian.

The day was clouded, however, by the bizarre case of a racist image of Michelle Obama appearing on Google. The image, which depicts the First Lady as a monkey, has been coming top of Google Images search results for 'Michelle Obama'. Google has apologised for the image but refused to remove it. Instead, they placed a notice over it titled Offensive Search Results, stating: "Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree."

But the California-based search engine giant refused to remove the picture from its search results. "Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority," a statement from the company read. "Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it." The White House has declined to comment.