Construction on a renovated, bronze-trimmed, artistically detailed third level at Saks' Manhattan flagship is nearing completion. At 61,000 square feet, the area is the nation's most spacious designer floor and home to a panoply of haute European and American collections such as Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Oscar de la Renta and Ralph Lauren — 49 in total and 20 with hard shops.

It's also undoubtedly been among the most expensive selling floors to create. Industry sources estimated the cost of the project at north of $30 million and said Saks is seeking sales surpassing $3,000 a foot next year, from the current $2,700 to $2,800. Only the main floor for cosmetics, designer handbags and fine jewelry is more productive.

"We worked enormously close with each brand to make sure the shops are distinctive for Saks," observed Ron Frasch, president and chief merchandising officer of Saks Inc. "It could have very easily felt like a mall or a floor with just a sea of shops without any distinctive personality if we didn’t handle it correctly. There are many architectural details, and more elements coming in between now and August."

Who cares about one woman’s wardrobe choices in this time of turmoil? A lot of people. London fawning has officially crossed over from gushing to silly, The Daily Telegraph proclaiming Obama “the mint-green queen of fashion,” while The Guardian said “Mrs. O has all but obliterated last year’s Carlamania from the fashion history books, with an outfit that draws a direct bloodline between her look and the wardrobe with which Jackie Kennedy wowed Europe in 1961.”

To a large extent, the fashion ship sails on such hyperbole — and on human product placement. Especially now, the kind of worldwide attention Obama and her labels are getting can boost an entire corporate psyche from designer to ground floor. It can boost sales as well. Obama's now famous J. Crew beaded cardigan reportedly sold out by midmorning on Wednesday. Similarly, might not a chic sighting of the First Lady in Ralph Lauren or Donna Karan prod some women to stroll through Saks Fifth Avenue or Neiman Marcus? As Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa puts it, "We'd be thrilled to dress the First Lady, of course. She has the power to influence consumers."

Within the major fashion houses, there is a growing desire for Obama to broaden her choices to include their wares. "American fashion right now is struggling," says Oscar de la Renta. "I think I understand what [Obama and her advisers] are doing, but I don’t think that is the right message at this particular point....I don’t object to the fact that Mrs. Obama is wearing J. Crew to whatever because the diversity of America is what makes this country great. But there are a lot of great designers out there. I think it’s wrong to go in one direction only."

Tommy Hilfiger takes a more temperate view, applauding Obama for not focusing only on the high end. "I'm happy that she's wearing young designers and not only wearing [American] couture, which puts her more in touch with real people," he says.

[T]he revered designer sat down to chat with Barbara Walters on Sirius Radio to discuss the looks that he has created for Secretary of State-designate Clinton. De la Renta says she will be "wearing a very, very beautiful dress…pink and grey with this beautiful embroidery." Oscar continues on to say that he "love[s] Hillary," but they do fight about her revealing more skin. "You know, Hillary, in a sense, is sort of very prudish about the type of clothes she likes to wear and you know from the waist up she really looks great. She feels very uncomfortable about wearing revealing kind[s] of clothes, and so we are always fighting about the neckline. I do remember one time, we were at a party at the Metropolitan Museum and she was wearing, for the first time, something very, very open and then all of sudden she arrived with a big, huge shawl over her shoulder. And I kept pulling the shawl down, and [she] kept pulling it up because she felt uncomfortable about showing her shoulders."

In addition to her gown, Oscar also created a royal blue day look for Clinton. As for Michelle Obama, the designer has nothing but praise for her. "I think Michelle Obama is a woman of the 21st century and she's a very good looking lady. I think she's going to be an extraordinary first lady, you know."

On watching her husband Ryan Reynolds run a marathon: "I went to some random spot and saw everybody going past," she says of the lengthy race. "It was really incredible. I'm a horrible runner; I can barely put one foot in front of the other. I saw that J.Lo did a triathlon and I'm like, Damn, girl, you just had twins! It's amazing. I'm so not a sporty spice; I'm a stay-at-home-and-veg spice."

On her love for food: "I'm a major foodie," she confides. "I love to eat. I make a really mean lasagna. Woody's like, 'You're like an Italian housewife. Where did this come from?'" She intends to feed said dish to her fictitious children, the needy sextuplets. "They're always hungry, those bastards."

On her secret wish to star in a Western: "Every actor wants to work on a Western," she says simply. Would she want to be an Annie Oakley type? "I would run a brothel, like a madam or something. I'm working with what I've got. It's only so long that people are going to want to see me in a corset," she says with a laugh. "So I might as well do it now."

The fashion house will present two shows for autumn/winter 2009-10 at New York Fashion Week next month - one to press and one to buyers. The move follows a particularly strong year for the brand in which, as de la Renta tells The Daily, he has even been able to hire more staff. "While some businesses have faced tough times, I actually added 15 employees to my company. Sale-wise, the last three months have been solid for us."

Building upon this success, the brand has plenty more plans for expansion in the pipeline. "Our international wholesale growth has been explosive - we have expanded our international doors from five to seventy five in the last six years. We opened our first international freestanding stores in Athens and Madrid this October, and they are both proving successful, considering the climate," explains chief executive officer at Oscar de la Renta, Alex Bolen, in an interview with The Business of Fashion.