The Celebrity Firmament gives us style icons — and we give style icons hell if they put just one wrong foot forward even for a split second.

Why do you think it is that it is nearly impossible to recall ever seeing Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman — on down the red-carpet list to celebutante Paris Hilton — ever photographed wearing the same dress twice? Even if it sounds like a swell and smart idea in this economy, come on, you know they’d be chewed alive on Worst Dressed Lists and the Web. “Too busy to call your stylist, Angie? Get Brad to do it!” Can’t you just see the headlines and hear the comments?

But Michelle Obama? Whether it is a Michael Kors sleeveless black dress for her official White House portrait or a plum silk dress by Narciso Rodriguez for her husband’s first address to Congress as president, the First Lady is a fashion icon of a very different sort. Someday, after the current honeymoon display of her White House trousseau is completed, we may see her photographed in the same dress twice — the same dress twice, mon dieu! (Does Queen Elizabeth repeat outfits? Or just handbags?)

Print, television, the Web … Will the media support or criticize Mrs. Obama’s choice? Would you support it? Or would you think she has let her fans down, not giving us what we have come to depend on in these stressful times: photographs of Michelle Obama looking cheerful, strong, chic and so hopeful and positive? After all, is there anything more outwardly optimistic than a new outfit?

Here is what six top fashion-industry professionals think:

SIMON DOONAN, creative director of Barneys New York and celebrated writer: "Repeating looks signifies that she is fiscally responsible. This is a good thing. We do not want to ever feel that our First Lady is shopping her brains out like an English soccer player’s wife. Would the Web go viral and freak out and criticize her? Probably, but I am assuming/hoping Mrs. Obama has better things to do than be Googling herself, so really, it doesn’t matter if the Web freaks out. I say repeat the frocks and remind the world that you are the president’s wife, not a red-carpet cheeseball celeb. When you are the First Lady, the red-carpet rules do not apply to you.”

ISAAC MIZRAHI, designer and author of How to Have Style: "I think it’s WAY COOL if Mrs. O repeats looks. It means she really likes the clothes she wears. She OWNS them. As a matter of fact, I always thought it was rather wrong to never repeat clothes. It only makes sense that if you collect something with your heart and soul those things are not disposable … It’s important to have a point of view; somehow when someone changes clothes every time they appear, it puts air quotes around fashion and makes it all look too easy — only about the ability to buy more rather than how to have style."

SAMANTHA GREGORY, vice president, global communications at Tory Burch: "I love how the First Lady sticks to timeless, classic silhouettes, and I think when it comes to the kind of fashion she’s drawn to there’s no reason whatsoever that she shouldn’t wear these pieces more than once. In my opinion, the Michael Kors sleeveless black shift dress that she wore for her official White House portrait is the perfect example of a dress that could, and should, be worn again. It could be dressed up with a pair of heels and a statement necklace, or for a more casual look, paired with a printed cardigan and a pair of flats. It is really the perfect dress and it would be a shame not to take advantage of how versatile it is by wearing it on more than one occasion.”