First Ladies Inaugural Fashions from Eleanor Roosevelt to Jill Biden
While millions anticipate inaugurations for the historical milestones, the speeches and the spectacle of it all, others are laser focused on just one thing – first ladies’ fashion.
Even though Monday’s swearing-in ceremony will be held indoors for the first time in 40 years, that won’t dissuade fans and critics from weighing in about what Melania Trump wears. Analyzing who wore what is a sport of sort in the mainstream media and via social media far beyond Washington, D.C. And with President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming swearing-in ceremony overlapping with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday, there might be more carping or praising than usual. The incoming first lady Melania Trump has many asking, “What will Melania wear?”
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The interest in first ladies inaugural fashion has even puzzled some first ladies and their next of kin. In 1912 when the Smithsonian was piecing together a centennial spanning exhibition of fashion that was a precursor to its First Ladies collection, even Edith Roosevelt, who served as first lady from 1901 to 1909, “could not understand why the public was clamoring for her dress,” according to the museum’s archives. At that time, relatives of the late Mary Lincoln, who had been first lady from 1861 until her husband Abraham’s assassination in 1865, also showed no special interest. Fans of the “First Ladies collection” have the late first lady Helen Taft to thank for its existence. By contributing her 1909 inaugural gown to the Smithsonian, she started what would become a tradition for other first ladies.
Leslie Irvine, a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the fascination with first ladies’ inaugural fashion is due to their dual status as celebrities and symbols. “As celebrities, their fashion must demonstrate that they are not ordinary women. In their related roles as symbols, they must convey the grandeur of the office and the nation itself through elegance and style,” she said. “First ladies must navigate the tension of having to represent their husbands while not distracting from them. And they must do so under global media scrutiny.”
The New School’s Hazel Clark, who teaches fashion studies, said the event draws attention because it is a rite of passage, in this case for the country. And just as weddings and christenings are spectacles and are typically marked by particular forms of dress that are observed by others, so too are inaugurals, she said. “It’s the Oscar moment for the country,” Clark said.
Here, WWD highlights what first ladies wore from Eleanor Roosevelt to Jill Biden.
Partial to simple but elegant clothing that could be worn again, Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest-serving first lady, wore a slate blue silk gown with detachable long sleeves, and a belt buckle and shoulder clips made of rhinestone and moonstone to the 1937 inauguration. For added panache, designer Sally Migram sewed a floral and leaf pattern into the fabric with gold thread. Four years later, Roosevelt donned a metallic pale copper short-sleeved gown with lace embellishment and pearl accents. Unlike the much-scrutinized style choices of recent decades, all of the inaugural ones that were made by Roosevelt, who served as first lady between 1933 and 1945, are not readily accessible online.
Unlike Roosevelt, who held weekly press conferences, her successor Elizabeth Truman initially steered clear of media attention and social obligations as much as she could. When Harry Truman took office after the unexpected death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Bess” Truman wore a skirt suit and ruffled blouse for his swearing-in ceremony. When Truman took the presidential oath for a second term in 1949, she wore a woven gray satin lame dress with a swirling feather motif in silver and silver printed lame dress with three-quarter sleeves in 1949.
Mamie Eisenhower chose a more elaborate ballgown for the festivities after her husband Dwight’s first inauguration in 1953. The established New York-based designer Nettie Rosenstein created a mauve peau de soie dress with more than 2,000 rhinestones. By that point in time, many women wanted to know what Truman would wear, but she held off on sharing any details or photographs with newspapers until a week before the inauguration. Truman turned to Rosenstein again in 1957, choosing an off-the-shoulder citrus-colored taffeta dress with a lace overlay with crystals and tiny pearls. She polished off the looks with costume jewelry from Trifari. The first lady bought the $500 frock at Bonwitt Teller and paid for it with a personal check.
For John J. Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration, his wife Jacqueline wore an Oleg Cassini-designed dress and coat with a fur collar and oversized buttons. The style arbiter also donned a pillbox hat that was created by Halston in his millinery days to watch her husband be sworn in. That evening the 31-year-old went with an off-white dress by Ethel Frankau that consisted of a silk sheer top covering a strapless bodice encrusted with “brilliants” and embroidered with silver thread. She also wore a coordinating cape that was fastened at the neck and elbow-length gloves. While the look was in development, Kennedy offered some input about Frankau’s sketches. The press gave the look high marks, and the ensemble “helped solidify Kennedy’s place as a fashion icon of the decade.”
Having started the tradition of having first ladies participate in the swearing-in ceremony, Lady Bird Johnson held the bible when her husband took the presidential oath for his second term. The Texan was easily spotted in the crowd, wearing a red-brimmed hat and red coat with an oversized black bow at the neck. For the official balls that night, she opted for a yellow satin gown and a coordinating sable-trimmed coat. Although the White House staff did not typically speak about the designers she wore, they announced it was by John Moore, because of the “special occasion and intense interest” surrounding the inaugural gown, according to the White House Historical Association. Thinking ahead and familiar with the tradition of first ladies donating their inaugural gowns to the Smithsonian, Johnson chose a simple design that she thought would age well.
Interestingly her successor, Pat Nixon also wore a yellow gown for the inaugural balls in 1969. Designed by Karen Stark for Harvey Berin and made of mimosa silk, the dress had a matching jacket embroidered with gold and silver thread, and encrusted with Austrian crystals. Earlier that day she donned a hot pink belted coat with a black fur collar and hat. In 1973, she upped the fur factor wearing a robin’s egg blue coat with an ample fur collar. For the inaugural balls, Nixon donned a princess gown in turquoise and silver silk lame by the New York designer Adele Simpson. That look was topped off with a short white mink jacket by Lee Ritter of Ritter Brothers.
During the 1977 Inaugural Parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, attendees caught Rosalynn Carter’s full look accessorized by knee-high boots. Her evening look was uncharacteristically formal – a gold embroidered sleeveless coat over a gold-trimmed blue chiffon gown designed by Mary Matise for Jimmae. True to her thrifty reputation and environmental mindedness, the dress was one that Carter had worn twice before.
When the Hollywood actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan took office, his wife Nancy sported a red dress and coat from one of her favorite designers Adolfo. The New York-based creative whipped up so many styles in her go-to hue that it became known as “Reagan red.” For the inaugural balls, she donned a beaded white one-shoulder sheath gown of lace over silk satin from James Galanos. (Years later, the silhouette and color of the Jason Wu-designed frock Michelle Obama wore to the inaugural balls appeared to be reminiscent of this design.) Galanos had said in 1981 that he wanted to make Reagan look glamorous, elegant “and keeping with the new formality.”
Four years later for her husband’s second swearing-in ceremony, the first lady wore an electric blue Adolfo ensemble – a wool crepe dress with epaulets, trimmed with gold buttons and a chain belt trimmed with satin ribbon, a melton coat trimmed with gold buttons and a gold chain belt and a coordinating Breton hat. Reagan counted on Galanos again for her gown for the nine balls she and her husband attended. The designer created a white beaded gown with multicolored stones with an embroidered empire-waist style bolero that had an Art Deco pattern.
Her successor Barbara Bush showed off a more relaxed style at the 1989 inauguration in an A-line teal coat with oversized button and low-heeled black pumps. To celebrate her husband George H.’s presidency that night, Bush wore a royal blue gown with a velvet bodice and asymmetrically draped silk satin skirt designed by Arnold Scaasi, who said at that time she had suddenly become, “the most glamorous grandmother in the United States.”
When Bill Clinton raised his right hand to become the 42nd President of the U.S., his wife Hillary was bundled up in a navy hat, a navy coat and metallic scarf knotted at the neck. That night she wore a violet beaded lace sheath gown with an iridescent blue velvet silk mousseline overskirt to the 1993 inaugural balls. The dress was designed by Sarah Phillips and made by Barbara Matera Ltd., a New York theatrical costume maker. For her husband’s second inauguration, she could not be missed in a bright pink coat and coordinating dress with a tan handbag, gloves and kitten-heeled pumps. For the inaugural balls, the designer Oscar de la Renta, who was a friend of Clinton’s, created a shimmery fitted long-sleeved gown.
When Laura Bush and her husband George W. turned up at the U.S. Capitol, she wore a sky blue dress with a coordinating coat with a black collar, and black square-heeled pumps. Bush tapped a fellow Texan Michael Faircloth for that outfit and for the ruby-red gown with crystal-embroidered Chantilly lace over silk georgette that he wore to the 2001 inaugural balls.
In 2005, Bush looked chic in a boucle wool coat and dress in ivory with antique grosgrain ribbon from Peggy Jennings, who also created the V-neck beaded and hand-embroidered gown that she wore to the inaugural candlelight dinners. And Carolina Herrera designed the raspberry awning-striped dress in silk taffeta that she wore to the Texas State Society’s “Black Tie and Boots” inaugural ball.
For her first run as first lady Michelle Obama surprised many by choosing Isabel Toledo to design the lemongrass-colored dress and coat that she wore to the swearing-in ceremony. That night Obama attended the balls in a white Jason Wu one-shoulder chiffon dress with organza flowers and Swarovski crystals. Four years later, Wu dressed her again for the festivities celebrating her husband’s second administration by crafting a red chiffon gown with a cross halter neck. Earlier in the day, Obama chose a Thom Browne coat and a Reed Krakoff blue dress and sweater for the swearing-in ceremony.
Browne told WWD at that time, “It’s amazing and one of the most humbling moments, when you know she had so much to choose from. Words cannot describe it.”
For Donald Trump’s first presidency in 2017, Melania Trump made her appearance on the worldwide political stage in a pale blue double-faced cashmere jacket with a bold collar cutaway and three-quarter-length sleeves over a matching lean mock-turtle dress that was a custom design by Ralph Lauren. The style’s vaguely Sixties vibe, triggered comparisons to Jackie Kennedy. Trump punctuated the ultrachic look with a graceful updo, gloves and her signature Manolo Blahnik stilettos. For the inaugural galas, the former model went with a dress from Herve Pierre, whose design skills were gleaned at Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Balmain, Lanvin and other European luxury houses. Trump and Pierre hit it off so well that the collaboration led to him being her stylist.
Jill Biden selected a more jeweled tone blue coat with a velvet collar and a coordinating dress from Markarian’s Alexandra O’Neill for the swearing-in ceremony. That choice was a lark for many style watchers who were unfamiliar with the label or the designer. With the pandemic in full force at that time, Biden completed her look with a face mask. Her inaugural evening dress was envisioned by the designer Gabriela Hearst, who said in 2021 that the main inspiration was unity. The dress was embroidered with the federal flowers from every state and territory in the U.S. The one for Jill Biden’s home state of Delaware was placed above her heart, a detail shared by FLOTUS during her remarks.
Jackie Kennedy to Melania Trump to Michelle Obama and More First Ladies’ Inauguration Looks Through the Years [PHOTOS]
Launch Gallery: Jackie Kennedy to Melania Trump to Michelle Obama and More First Ladies' Inauguration Looks Through the Years [PHOTOS]
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