Mamie Eisenhower

Mamie Eisenhower’s fashion was so iconic that a term was coined to describe it: The “Mamie Look.” It typically involved a full-skirted dress along with plenty of accessories such as charm bracelets, pearls, little hats, and bobbed, banged hair. Below, she is pictured in the gown she wore for her husband’s inauguration in 1953. As you can see, the gown was absolutely stunning. It was a ‘pink peau de soie’ gown, hand embroidered with more than 2,000 rhinestones. Talk about extra!

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Mamie paired the gown with gloves and some delicate jewellery by Trifari, a beaded purse by Judith Leiber, and shoes by Delman. The dress is, to this day, on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s collection of inaugural gowns, and is a crowd favourite. As you can imagine, many took inspiration from this dress and this specific shade of pink became a very popular colour.

Jackie Kennedy

Jackie Kennedy is, without a doubt, one of the most famous first ladies of all time. Part of this can be attributed to her keen eye for fashion. Jackie and JFK were considered to be a very stylish and good-looking couple. They are among the youngest to have ever entered the White House.

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When JFK took office in 1960, the nation was already becoming one that centred around television and movie culture. Jackie couldn’t go anywhere without her entire outfit being commented on. She was held in high regard for her fashion choices and she became a major trendsetter internationally. Oleg Cassini was the designer that she worked with the most.

Jackie’s Fashion

Jackie was the first First Lady to hire a press secretary. She did this because she was particularly concerned about her media presence. She wanted to have some level of control over it, especially when it came to footage of her children. Media described her as “the ideal woman” and the family was practically considered to be royalty. Academic Maurine Beasley claimed that Jackie “created an unrealistic media expectation for first ladies and would challenge her successors.”

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Jackie actually played a part in designing her own outfit for her husband’s inauguration. She assisted designer, Ethan Frankou in producing the finished product. She wore an off-white sleeveless silk chiffon gown, embroidered with a silver thread. The look was completed with a matching cape. Knowing that the inauguration would be televised, Jackie deliberately picked a colour that would look fabulous on black and white television.

Jackie’s Wedding Gown

Jackie’s wedding gown comes with a story. The dress she had originally planned to wear was ruined when a water pipe broke at her dress designer, Anne Lowe’s studio on Madison Avenue. It ruined Jackie’s dress as well as 9 other wedding dresses. With only ten days until the wedding, you can imagine the panic. This dress had taken two months to make.

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Following the incident, Lowe ordered additional ivory French taffeta and pink silk faille so that she could re- construct the dress. She and her team worked tirelessly and managed to get it done in time. This dress became one of history’s most iconic wedding gowns. The story behind it makes it all the more incredible!

Betty Ford

Betty Ford is an example of a First Lady who’s fashion was very slightly overlooked by the work she did. She was a feminist and the founder of the Betty Ford Centre. While the media focused predominantly on her work, she did get some recognition for her style.

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She tended to wear fairly simple outfits but this made it all the more inspiring. People who didn’t tend to wear lavish outfits could look to Betty for ideas. She really stood out when seen with her husband, Gerald Ford, often wearing bright colours.

A Non-White Wedding Dress

Elizebeth Anne “Betty” Bloomer married Gerald R. Ford at the Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapis, MI, in 1948. This was her second wedding. It is perhaps for this reason that Betty opted to wear a gown which wasn’t white. She divorced her first husband, William G. Warren in 1947. He was an alcoholic.

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The couple’s wedding had to be delayed since Ford was running for the U.S. House of Representatives at that stage. According to the New York Times, “Jerry was running for Congress and wasn’t sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer.”

Nancy And Ronald

Nancy Davis was an esteemed actress in the 1940s and 1950s. Prior to meeting Ronald Reagan, she dated many stars. She met Ronald in 1949 when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Ronald had been previously divorced and, as a result, wasn’t too keen on marriage. However, Nancy soon changed his mind.

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The pair wed in 1952 after dating for three years. They didn’t want the press involved in their wedding so kept it a secret up until the last minute. It was a tiny wedding. Only the best man and maid of honour attended. Nancy was actually pregnant at the time of the ceremony at the Little Brown Church in Los Angeles. Her dress was simple, but she still looked stunning.

Laura Bush

Laura Bush is the wife of George W. Bush. She had the opportunity to wear not one, but two inauguration outfits, since her husband was elected twice. For the first inauguration, she wore a red-crystal embroidered gown with some pearls. This was a nod to her mother-in-law and former First Lady, Barbara.

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The second election of George Bush took place during a turbulent period in America’s history, the period that followed the horrendous events of 9/11. For this inauguration, Laura wore Oscar De La Renta, inspired by Hillary Clinton. She wore a beautiful embroidered ice blue and silver tulle gown encrusted with Austrian crystals. Laura clearly wasn’t concerned that Hillary represented the opposing party to her husband. When it comes to fashion, politics is out (of) the window.

Laura Bush Liked To Keep It Subtle

Laura Bush was a strong proponent of the saying “less is more” when it came to fashion. She could easily have been the belle of the ball at every event she went to, but she liked to keep things more simple than that. Dallas fashion designer spoke about Bush after he said that Melania Trump got it right at the inauguration.

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“What was wonderful about Mrs. Bush was she was always very conscientious about not wanting clothes to speak loudly,” Faircloth said. “She had so many things she felt were more important.” This says a lot about Bush’s character, she obviously wasn’t materialistic. This is fairly rare when it comes to people who are in the public eye, especially females.

Laura’s Wedding Dress

Laura and George Bush were married at her childhood church in Midland, Texas on Nov. 5 1977. Laura decided against wearing the traditional, fancy wedding gown. Instead, she opted for a simple tan dress, which was typical of her.

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She and George met at a backyard barbecue in July and the pair got engaged only three months later. George was the Governor of Texas from 1995-2000 and he became the President of the United States in 2001.

Nancy Reagan

Nancy Regan was the wife of President Ronald Reagan. Ronald, as a former movie star, lived a fairly lavish lifestyle. He clearly enjoyed the limelight and the fancy events that went with it. His own inauguration celebrations were very extravagant. In fact, they are reported to be among the most costly ever. His inauguration took place when the nation was going through a period of recession, so this was intensely frowned upon by a lot of Americans.

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Nancy Reagan was lucky enough to attend two inaugurations alongside her husband. For the first, she wore a white beaded one-shoulder silk dress with a lace overlay. For the second, she once again wore a white gown, but this time it had long sleeves. The designer and staff reportedly spent over three hundred hours attaching beads to the gown. It cost approximately $46,000!

Jill Biden

Back in 2009, now-First Lady Jill Biden wore a drop-dead gorgeous red dress to the Midwest Inaugural Ball. Jill is often seen wearing bold colours and this was no exception to that. I think we can all agree that this sleeveless number looked stunning on Jill.

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She made a particularly bold decision to not wear a necklace, instead showing off a bare neck. In terms of jewellery, she simply wore one single bracelet on her right arm and some earrings. We admire her for her bravery.

Helen Taft

The story behind the meeting of Helen Taft and her husband is a unique one. Helen and Howard Taft met while bobsledding at the age of just eighteen. After several years of courting, the couple were married in 1860. Since she was a child, she had gone by the name, Nellie. Helen stood by her husband at each stage of his political career, including his position as state judge, Solicitor General, and federal judge.

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She was the first First Lady to ride in her husband’s inauguration parade. On the night of the ball, she certainly looked the part. She wore a stunning white chiffon gown embroidered with gold. Sadly, a couple of months after the inauguration, she suffered from a stroke. However, this didn’t stop her from continuing to make sure she was getting her duties as First Lady done. Her sisters helped her to achieve this until she was able to continue on her own.

Edith Bolling Wilson

Unfortunately for Edith Bolling Wilson, she never had the chance to wear an inauguration dress. This is because she didn’t actually meet Woodrow Wilson until he was already in office. Edith was, tragically, a widow by the time she met Woodrow. This had happened to her at a very young age. She had also previously given birth to a son who had died just a few days after he was born. She wasn’t able to have any more children after this.

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Woodrow was also a widower when he and Edith met in 1915. Their relationship was subject to several rumours. People questioned whether the relationship had started prior to the death of Woodrow’s first wife. Woodrow told Edith that if she didn’t feel comfortable with all this, she could leave. However, her love for him ran too deep for that.

Florence Kling Harding

Florence married Warren Harding. At the time, he was the owner of the newspaper the Marion Star. She was extremely involved and was even said to be “the brains of the business.” She continued to be very involved when he moved on to politics and was said to be quite outspoken when it came to political issues. She threw some lavish parties and, as a result, became known as “The Duchess.”

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She was very up to date with the fashion of the time and quite often sported a silk neckband. She used this to hide her wrinkles. She also engaged in activities which were deemed to be “modern”, such as flying in planes and showing movies after dinner. She reportedly even served guests alcohol during Prohibition. She was the first ever First Lady to gain the right to vote, owned a movie camera and a radio and was the first to ever invite celebrity film stars to the White House. At the inauguration, she wore a gown by Harry Collins which featured sequins on tulle and rhinestone-trimmed blue velvet ribbon.

Grace Anna Goodhue Cooolidge

Grace Goodhue met Calvin Coolidge, a smooth-talking attorney, and not long afterwards, she was engaged to be married to him. Her mother was against this but Grace didn’t let this effect her and proceeded to marry him. Calvin and his mother-in-law reportedly never got over the rift, but the pair remained married for the rest of their lives.

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Grace didn’t have the opportunity to wear an inauguration ballgown, since Calvin’s second inauguration was more of a private affair. Even so, she wore a killer outfit representative of the fashion at that time. It was the 1920’s, so she wore a flapper-style evening dress. It was gold lamé and adorned with velvet-trimmed black and gold metallic lace.

Lou Henry Hoover

Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of Herbert Hoover. The couple met at Stanford university. She was the only female Geology major at the time. She was perceived to be one of the “best dressed women” in the United States and was the first ever First Lady to appear in Vogue magazine.

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Unlike most fashionable women in the US at that time, Lou ensured that she wore American made clothes, rather than having them shipped from overseas. She was an advocate of the cotton textile industry and wore cotton based dresses to prove it. For her husband’s inauguration she wore a simple silk crepe evening gown decorated with metallic thread brocade.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor is, arguably, the most famous first lady there has ever been. She is another who was extremely vocal regarding her views, predominantly those related to feminism and other civil rights causes. Eleanor’s interests were in these areas rather than fashion.

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However, her stunning slate-blue crepe gown was a hot topic and the colour was even named after her as a result: “Eleanor blue.” The dress was designed by Sally Milgrim and featured a gold leaf and flower pattern. This was the kind of thing that movie stars would be seen in at that time (1933).

Elizabeth Wallace Truman

Elizabeth Truman, or Bess Truman, was the wife of President Harry Truman. The pair had known each other since they were children, having attended the same school, but they didn’t get together until years later. This First Lady wasn’t at all interested in politics.

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Bess was reluctant about the role of First Lady, but even so, she was a devoted wife and hostess. Her husband took office after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the country was in the middle of a war. Truman’s gown for the inaugural ball was designed by Madame Pola.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama certainly turned heads with her gorgeous outfit at the 2021 presidential inauguration ceremony. She wore a burgundy coat and jumpsuit with a gold belt by Black designer Sergio Hudson and a black face mask.

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Her outfit quickly became an Instagram sensation. It isn’t surprising that she wore an outfit made by a Black designer to celebrate the inauguration of Kamala Harris. It was clearly a nod to the fact that we are entering a new era in which voices that might not have been heard previously, now have the opportunity to be heard.

Lady Bird Johnson

Lady Bird Johnson was the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who took office after the tragic assassination of President Kennedy. This meant that the inaugural event wasn’t as much of a joyous occasion as it would be under normal circumstances.

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Lady Bird wore a yellow gown by designer, John Moore. She deliberately chose the colour yellow as a symbol of hope and optimism for a nation in mourning. She was extremely active in the White House and undertook various projects, the most notable of which was the Head Start programme to help children from lower income families to get a chance at a good education. Lady Bird’s main focus wasn’t fashion, though she did love it.

Pat Nixon

Pat Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon. When Nixon took office, the United States were experiencing a turbulent period in history. There was a huge amount of protesting and a social movement. This could be attributed to the Vietnam War and the assassination of Martin Luther King.

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Nixon’s intention was to restore “law and order” to the United States and his staff have since admitted that they aimed to criminalise both the civil rights movement and the anti-war protestors. This did not end well for Nixon. Pat opted for a yellow gown embroidered with gold and silver and encrusted with Austrian crystals for the inauguration.

Rosalynn Carter

Rosalynn Carter is the wife of President Jimmy Carter. The United States was not doing well economically when Carter took office so, as a result, the President celebrated his inauguration by hosting something called the “people’s inaugural parties”, offering tickets at the affordable price of $25. In keeping with the theme of saving money, Rosalynn wore a gown that she had previously been seen in when her husband was the governor.

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She wore a sleeveless blue chiffon gown with gold trim. This was, in part, a political move. She wanted to show that she and the president would not be living too lavishly while the rest of the nation were struggling economically.

Barbara Bush

Barbara Bush was quite a bit older than most first ladies when her husband, George H.W. Bush. took office. She was, at this point, quite accustomed to the White House way of doing things since George had previously been the Vice President alongside Reagan. She wore an Arnold Scassi in royal blue velvet and satin which made her look significantly younger.

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Scassi had a lot of experience in designing gowns for the first ladies, dating all the way back to Mamie Eisenhower. Perhaps Barbara wanted to show that she and her husband were a traditional couple. She also opted for pearls rather than diamonds. She was consequently referred to as America’s “most glamorous grandmother.”

Ida Saxton McKinley

Most historians who study presidents of the past and their first ladies would agree that Ida Saxton McKinley was a First Lady with a very unique style. No other First Lady dressed quite like her. Everything she wore tended to be quite the statement.

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Her signature style was a standing collar and an insert of chiffon. This was often trimmed with pintucks which would both soften and complement the outfit. She kept up with the trends in fashion and had pleated ruffles with her underskirts. She was certainly a woman of class.

Melania Trump

Melania Trump is the, as of recently, former First Lady and wife of Donald Trump. Prior to meeting her husband, Melania was a model. As a result, she is very tuned in with fashion and enjoys dressing up for fancy occasions.

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For her inaugural gown, she wore an elegant, but subtle number. She later donated her inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian Institute, the world’s largest museum and research complex, where it will remain on permanent display.

Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston

Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston was a trendsetter of her time. People looked to her outfits for inspiration. She appeared on the covers of Leslie’s and Harper’s, which at the time were huge publications. Her wedding outfit was even praised by the Washington Post.

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“The bride wore an enchanting dress of ivory satin, simply garnished on the high corsage with India muslin crossed in Grecian folds and carried in exquisite falls of simplicity over the petticoat,” reported the Washington Post. “The orange blossom garniture, commencing upon the veil in a superb coronet, is continued throughout the costume with artistic skill.”

Caroline Harrison

Caroline was also a trendsetter. She was praised several times in the newspapers, always looking glamorous for public appearances. For her inauguration gown, Harrison had an acorn sewn into the design on the back of her dress.

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The acorn represented where she came from. It was the symbol of her state, Indiana. While she had made it, she refused to forget where she came from. The Philadelphia Times referred to her as “a sensible example for American Women.”

Ellen Arthur

Ellen Arthur was not particularly commended for her fashion. During President Arthur’s administration there wasn’t as much of a focus on the first ladies, so Ellen didn’t get a huge amount of attention. People took more notice of her husband’s outfits, which were actually very stylish.

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In fact, the president’s stylish clothes were always an object of great fascination to the public and media. Ellen’s fashion went completely unnoticed, but, who knows, perhaps she preferred it this way. This meant that there was less pressure on her to look glamorous all the time.

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

As the first First Lady of the nation, Martha Washington had quite the challenge on her hands. With no examples set by previous first ladies to look to for help, she had to figure it out herself. She was a gentle soul who set the tone for other first ladies to come.

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Being one of the richest women in that period, she was spoilt when it came to clothes. She had a huge amount of choice. In 2009, Mount Vernon displayed her royal purple silk wedding shoes which were considered to be very bold.

Lady Washington

Lady Washington was also a First Lady who made some bold fashion statements in her time. Her purple silk wedding shoes have been a topic of conversation among those high up in the fashion industry. Patricia Brady told the Washington Post “they were the Manolo Blahniks of her time.”

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Martha Washington was known for always wearing expensive clothes. A small amount of her fabric is worth approximately $25,000 thousand today. Historians believe that she liked to make statements about the character of the nation. Some of her wardrobe is kept for viewing in the National Museum of American History.

Dolly Payne Todd Madison

Dolly Payne Todd Madison set a precedent for all first ladies after her. She was a very friendly and hospitable woman. While she was never formally educated, she was switched on enough. The fourth president was lucky to have her by his side.

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People were in awe of her style. At the inauguration of James Madison in 1809, she wore a velvet gown with pearls on it and a feather-accented turban. An early chronicler of Washington social life said: “she looked a Queen… it would be absolutely impossible for anyone to behave with more perfect propriety than she did.”

Julia Gardiner Tyler

Julia Tyler could well have never been a First Lady. John Tyler tried incessantly to court her, but to no avail. That was until an explosion on the USS Princeton caused the death of Julia’s father and, as a result, she turned to John for comfort. They were married later that year.

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Tyler was the first woman in the White House to be considered a celebrity. Department stores even paid for her to feature in their adverts. A lot of newspaper coverage was done on her and she was a real fashionista. At one particular event, she wore a long-trained gown with a peacock-feathered headdress.

Harriet Lane

Harriet Lane was not actually First Lady by marriage, but she filled the role perfectly. She was James Buchanan’s orphaned niece and First Lady. She was referred to as the “Democratic Queen” and very much enjoyed her position. From the beginning, many took inspiration from her fashion.

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Lane wore a very daring inauguration dress. It was a low-cut European-style dress with a garland of flowers running down her chest and diagonally across her hips. People from all over fell in love with this dress. Mary Todd Lincoln even copied it four years later.

Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln is someone who had a very privileged upbringing. This meant that she was particularly well equipped to be a First Lady. She ensured that the White House was kept in order, while her husband attended to more pressing matters, such as slavery.

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As previously mentioned, in terms of her fashion, she drew influence from Harriet Lane. She was very into her fashion and tended to wear very bold dresses which would cost her up to $2,000 each. Low décollage and floral accessories were typical of Mary’s style.

Jill Biden And Karen Pence

This photo was taken before the 2017 Presidential Inauguration, don’t these two lovely Second Ladies (at the time) look wonderful? The four met at the White House before heading to the inauguration together and both women looked absolutely stunning. We especially love Jill’s bright pink dress – this would be a difficult colour to pull off for most, but she’s rocking it!

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Pence wore a more subtle floral dress with a dark coat over the top, but she still looks very glamorous. Her shift dress and sophisticated black boots look very smart. We are also loving how happy and smiley the four of them look in this photo!