Report by OD bureau; Bhubaneswar: Odisha-born internationally acclaimed designer Bibhu Mohapatra designed US first lady Michelle Obama's dress. Michelle Obama wear a breezy summer dress from his collection to the American talkshow 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'. 

The New York-based designer, a regular at international fashion weeks.  After dressing international celebs such as Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Sienna Miller and Cate Blanchett, recently Mohapatra designed dress for Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Kajol.

Mohapatra was born in Rourkela, Odisha on June 7, 1972. He earned a masters in economics from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University in 1996, then moved to New York City to enroll in the Fashion Institute of Technology. In 1997, while still at F.I.T, he was awarded Fashion Institute of Technology's Critic’s Award for Best Evening Wear Designer of the Year.

After F.I.T., Halston hired Mohapatra as an assistant designer. Then in 1999 he was named Design Director of the French furrier, J. Mendel. Over the next ten years, Mohapatra shifted the emphasis of J. Mendel to a more youthful look, at the same time expanding its ready-to-wear collections. His creations were featured regularly in fashion magazines Style.com DNA New York Magazine Forbes Magazine Wall Street Journal Vogue Vogue Russia and were worn by Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, Sienna Miller, Glenn Close and other style icons.

Following J. Mendel's Spring 2008 collection, Mohapatra resigned in order to establish his own label: Bibhu Mohapatra. Since then, he has presented many collections of luxury women's ready to wear, rtw, couture and fur, under his own name in New York during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. Mr. Mohapatra lives and works in New York.

His collections are sold by Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Neiman Marcus around the United States, and select stores around the world.