Articles about First Ladies & Fashion

First Ladies and Fashion


Edith Wilson, Clothing and Public Appearances

In thinking about this subject I have to immediately let you know that I am not in any way versed on matters of clothing of the First Ladies except in the political symbolism and the socioeconomic status they may represent in terms of currency and cost. I think your work on Edith Wilson especially merits study, however, because she was one of those who spent an inordinate amount of energy on her clothes, particularly, and public appearances generally. Apart from a vanity that seems apparent from not only her private letters but in her public memoir, I believe she very much equated the role of First Lady at the time of her tenure as did many of the Washington elite and general population: a form of Yankee royalty. Certainly the effort she made in her public appearances in Europe with the royal family members of England, Italy and Belgium suggest a hyper-consciousness about maintaining this status and keeping it on par with the Europeans: in that instance, I don't believe it was purely a motivation of personal vanity but a patriotic sense of truly embodying her own nation and asserting that the United States was on equal status with the powers of the old world. That very first trip by an incumbent President and his wife to Europe at the end of World War I was an important one in terms of policy as well as symbolism. It was the first time that Europeans gave sustained and serious attention through their media on Americans, generally, and the President, particularly.

As far as the notion of her developing a sort of "power suit," I am more hesitant to affirm only because my understanding of that term applies to women in Washington who wield their own independent power more than that of derivative power through marriage - the First Lady, and spouses of the Vice President, Cabinet, Senate and House, Supreme Court and diplomatic corps excepted. Also my understanding of the term "power suit" derives from official life in Washington since the 1980's with figures like Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Dole, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Lynne Cheney, Tipper Gore, Nancy Kassenbaum as examples. These women have had the dual need to present a traditionally feminine appearance with the flexibility of a packed day of meetings and often air and train and car travel - thus practicality. They began wearing increasingly shorter dresses and pants. In terms of style - and again, I am no expert at all, or even an astute observer.

I also know that Mrs. Truman was actually criticized for wearing no variations from her skirts in the mid-1940's that were measured a certain length from the floor with matching shorter-sleeved jackets in navy blue, grey and black only. Mamie Eisenhower wore the same suit style but in lighter colors. Jacqueline Kennedy updated this slightly with eye-popping monochromatic colors for the new technology of color television. Her famous pink suit worn when the president was assassinated is the most famous example of this. Tying this together, I know that Mrs. Reagan, and other women of power or married to powerful men in Washington of the 1980's, were shown to be wearing the same type of suit as Mrs. Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy. So, with her skirts that never showed more than her ankles and, as you say "asymmetrical lines", Edith Wilson seems more of person who followed the current vogue of her era rather than set a tradition, consciously or unconsciously. Please take all of that with the over-riding fact that I am not in any way an expert on this aspect of First Ladies except as it turned up as a cultural statement for a particular era or, mostly, had a political impact or repercussion.

I think this may be a really new field of study within the still-new study of First Ladies. All too often, I believe, First Ladies have been reduced to "fashion mannequins" thus making them of interest to a limited audience; I think your perspective on the subject can give it a genuine relevancy and widen its interest.
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First Ladies and Their Jewelry

My area of expertise on First Ladies is focused largely on their political impact, speeches, media relations, policy interests and symbolism. I only have the most limited scholarship on what they wore. However, there are some individual presidential spouses I have conducted indepth research on of whom I've written full-length biographies and there is some information I do know.

Probably the best possible source on Jacqueline Kennedy will be the catalogues of her personal items that were sold at the famous Sotheby's auction in 1996. Perhaps the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston has a copy: not only detailed descriptions but color illustrations of the items.

In doing some general research, I also find items that are now in the museum collections of various presidential libraries and museums: a locket with a miniature painting (I can't make out the scene) given by her husband and worn by Abigail Adams during the long years of their separation while he was serving as a diplomat following his years in the Second Continental Congress.

Julia Tyler, widowed for nearly three decades, wore a painted miniature of her husband, clasped at her throat. As First Lady, she also wore a pearl and diamond string of some kind as a "diadem", apparently a type of headband. You can actually see her wearing it in her official White House portrait. Sarah Polk, widowed for nearly a half a century, always wore an ivory carved cameo of her husband. Mary Lincoln seemed especially fond of a black onyx set of earrings, bracelet, ring, necklace, and pin (it seems to be set with diamonds as well) which she was actually photographed wearing for pictures she gave permission to be released to the public.

Julia Grant most especially loved very green emeralds, very blue sapphires and very red rubies - I believe this is from a contemporary newspaper account of the Victorian era, but like so much written by others (as opposed to documentary evidence from photographs) it may not be true. Ida Saxton McKinley was known to be a jewelry collector, most especially diamonds. Her father and grandfather had begun the habit of giving her diamond rings, bracelets, and it was the foundation for an extensive collection she built over her lifetime. She also seemed to collect jewels that had not been cut or set in metal and kept them in a simple bag that she enjoyed giving to visiting children - to play with!

Nellie Taft also enjoyed diamonds and wore thick neck collars and matching thick (wide) bracelets - almost looking like they were shiny clothing cuffs. She was most famous, however, for her diamond tiara, which she was photographed wearing in the White House. Florence Harding always wore a thick black velvet neckband to cover her wrinkles and the Christmas following her husband's 1920 election, he gave her a large diamond sunburst - as it turns out, unknown to her it had been chosen for him by her best friend, the heiress Evalyn McLean who owned the Hope Diamond. Mrs. Harding in her white diamond sunburst at her neck, and Mrs. McLean with her legendary blue diamond at her neck often appeared together wearing these famous objects. The wedding ring which incumbent widowed President Woodrow Wilson gave to his second wife Edith Bolling was fashioned from a gold nugget given to them by western state citizens.

Eleanor Roosevelt owned a blue aquamarine ring given her by the government of Brazil which she turned over to the federal government since it was a state gift. Mamie Eisenhower was famous for often wearing beautiful costume jewelry, and even pieces from discount stores such as J.C. Penny's and Woolworth's. As a widow, she was rarely photographed without her colored-glass U.S. flag pin. Finally, although she was not as closely identified with it as was Barbara Bush with her three-strand fake pearls (which were copied by several companies and sold as "First Lady Pearls"), Nancy Reagan wore a large and wide gold necklace and bracelet in the latter years of her tenure: she was often photographed in the matching items and even addressed the United Nations in 1988 wearing them.
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First Ladies and Style

This request for information was a multi-part question: According to the Wash Post, Pat Nixon had a beauty salon installed in the White House, Nancy Reagan renovated and expanded it. I have heard that Laura Bush had it removed but cannot verify. Do you know anything about this?

While it's hard to put an exact number on any of the dresses worn by First Ladies since they are frequently donated or provided at a great discount, do you have some sense of what might be the most extravagant Inaugural wardrobe worn by any of the First Ladies? Based on what I can find, it seems like it might be a tie between Laura Bush in '05 and Nancy Reagan in '85. Any thoughts on this one?

It might be fun to include Rosalynn Carter in our story, since she was so refreshingly frugal compared to many other First Ladies. I am wondering if you know of any quotes or anecdotes about her specifically as they relate to fashion, beauty or style?

Carl Sferrazza Anthony's response: I believe Nancy Reagan's Inaugural trosseau may have proven to be the most expensive in terms of 1981 and then 1985 US currency. A lot has been written on this topic and you may find some factual information that is reliable in the otherwise unreliable Kitty Kelly biography of the First Lady. Kelly's tone is acrimonious but she did punctuate her work with some substantive factual research and I believe information on the Inaugural clothes can be found here. You might also consult the fully-reliable Make-Believe, by Laurence Leamer; it covers the 1981 Inaugural.

As for Rosalynn Carter, the real reason she wore a "used" gown to her husband's 1977 Inaugural Ball actually had nothing to do with frugality and everything to do with sentiment: she had worn the gown to her husband's first inaugural ball following his swearing-in as Governor of Georgia, a moment she held as a highpoint personally and so, attached emotionally to the memories associated with that dress, she wanted to wear it again. She did own - and bring to the White House - a sewing machine, she wrote, but found little to no time to ever use it.

Regarding your first question it is true that Pat Nixon accepted the supplies and machinery for a beauty shop that were donated to the White House by a cosmetology association, and she had them installed in a small room on the second floor, in the family quarters. Nancy Reagan did refurbish this - but beyond that, I don't know anything more. I do know that it did still exist during the Clinton years because I personally saw it, when I was invited into the private rooms.
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Inaugural Gowns

Caroline Harrison, and her daughter Mary Harrison McKee (who lived in the White House with her parents, husband and children and who later served briefly as White House hostess, from October 1892 to March 1893 from the time of her mother's death to the Inauguration of her father's successor) both had American-made gowns which they wore to the Inaugural Balls on 4 March 1889. However, extant records of what was worn by previous and later presidential wives and hostesses to their President's Inaugural Ball shows they did likewise - although the further one goes back, the less clear are the details of these clothes. What made the two Harrison women's dresses of particular note was the effort to weave into the design a motif of a native American tree nut. I believe it was the acorn. The best source on this will be Jennifer Caps, the curator of the Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis, Indiana. Incidentally, the museum there also has a large collection of the clothing worn by the Harrison family women and it might provide further clues.

The James Garfield home and estate, "Lawnfield," in Mentor, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland, might be contacted for more information on whether or not Lucretia Garfield disliked what was originally a light purple colored dress which, I recall, faded fairly quickly in color. In looking at excerpts of her diary entry from the 1881 Inaugural Ball, however, I discovered that she focused more on the physical strain of standing and shaking hands for two hours with a crush of strangers at the Ball. I do not have access to the full and unedited version of her diary, however. That is located in the Lucretia Garfield Papers at the Library of Congress.

The story that Edith Roosevelt "re-modeled" her clothes to rewear is a misnomer. She wearied quickly of the press inquiries for details on what clothes she would wear to particular events; she did not have a large collection of expensive clothes nor did she have an interest in spending one to accumulate one. Instead, over time, as press inquiries were made to her social secretary Isabella Hagner about the clothes, Edith Roosevelt had her witty and creative stepdaughter Alice Roosevelt simply offer vivid and different descriptions of the same piece of clothing Edith Roosevelt had already been seen wearing, changing the adjective preceeding a color, for example (blue, light blue, periwinkle blue, sky blue, royal blue, etc.) or the sheen, cut or length of fabric. In an age before photography became routine in newspapers, in this way the Roosevelt women managed to give the public impression that she owned and wore a larger clothing collection that she actually did - without technically "lying" to the press.
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Julia Tyler's Gold Pen Necklace

One immediate thought - there were smaller, compact inkwell pens at one point. I am not sure if they existed in 1844-1845, but some of those I've seen from the 1890's could fold within its own tube so it was more of a short stub of a pen rather than the elongated one we think of today. Through the years I have seen a number of photographs taken of Julia Tyler; most of them are from her later years, as a widow. In no images of her, unfortunately - whether it be painting, engraving or photograph, does she seem to be wearing the pen.

However, in 1987 I did unearth a forgotten dauggereotype that was made of her by an Anthony Studios in New York. She is actually holding a pen in that picture. Interestingly, this image is the earliest known photograph taken of an incumbent First Lady. As you probably know, she was 24 when she eloped with President Tyler - and she certainly looks it in this image. I used copies of the image in two of my books, First Ladies, volume 1, and also America's First Families. This image is also possibly available on the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division website.
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