Jill Biden’s Inaugural Looks Are Now Part of the Smithsonian
Featuring national treasures like Mary Lincoln’s 1861 purple velvet hoop skirt and bodice attributed to African American dressmaker Elizabeth Keckly, Jacqueline Kennedy’s 1961 yellow silk state dinner dress designed by Oleg Cassini, and Michelle Obama’s one-shouldered 2009 inaugural gown created by Jason Wu, the Smithsonian’s First Ladies Collection is a record of American fashion history as much as it is a showcase of personal style. Comprising more than 1,000 pieces of clothing, accessories, and other personal ephemera, the collection, on view at Washington D.C.’s National Museum of American History, features at least one dress from every First Lady going all the way back to Martha Washington.
Since the First Ladies exhibition was conceived in 1912 during the Taft administration, becoming the Smithsonian’s first to prominently feature women, it has been a tradition for each First Lady to donate the gown she wore to inaugural balls. In a historic first, yesterday Dr. Jill Biden gifted the museum not one, but two inaugural ensembles. The pearl and crystal embellished Markarian coat and dress by Alexandra O’Neill and Gabriela Hearst coat and dress embroidered with federal flowers from every state and territory—plus matching masks—that Dr. Biden wore to the socially distanced swearing in ceremony for President Biden in 2021 are now on view in the museum’s collection.
Dr. Biden doesn’t often speak publicly about her fashion choices, but wearing a blue and gold floral brocade Markarian dress during the donation ceremony at the museum, she got a laugh by acknowledging that when her husband was elected, “I knew that people would start to care a lot more about what I wore.” (She got another, plus a round of applause when she said “I look forward to adding some menswear to this gallery in the future, as well,” alluding to a future time when the country has its first First Gentleman.)
Dr. Biden understands the cultural and economic importance of the American fashion industry and she suggested that, most of the time, she has been happy to step up her fashion game and use her wardrobe as a powerful communication tool. “There have been times when I’ve welcomed that spotlight because I knew that my clothes could help me say something important—like when I wore my ‘Vote’ boots on Election Day, or my ‘Love’ jacket during our first trip overseas,” she said. “And then there were more mundane times, when I wore a scrunchie to the bakery and it ended up on the nightly news.”
From the G7 to the Sweet Shop, “I’ve navigated it all with the help of designs by so many of you here today,” Dr. Biden said, speaking to a crew of new gen New York designers in the audience—Victor Glemaud, Jennifer Fisher, Jonathan Cohen, Alejandra Alonso Rojas, Tanya Taylor, Marina Larroude, Rebeca Mendoza, and Gigi Burris—who, in addition to Hearst and O’Neill, have dressed her, and who traveled down to the nation’s capital for the event. “So thank you.”
Dr. Biden spoke of her long friendship and shared values with Hearst who she met back in 2017 while serving as Save the Children’s board chair and said that she hopes O’Neill’s story “inspires other young people to pursue their own design dreams,” acknowledging the power of her platform to raise an emerging label like Markarian’s profile.
“When I first encountered Alexandra O’Neill, she was just getting started—the leader of a young, small team with big ideas. Her designs seemed both timeless and new. And that was exactly what I was hoping to find. Because young people showed up and voted for Joe in historic numbers. And I wanted to reflect their passion, creativity, and hope that day.”
Touring the exhibition after the ceremony, O’Neill pointed out the Dolley Madison vitrine featuring a late 1810s gown embroidered with flowers and butterflies and an 1840s brocade evening dress as her favorite (“It feels pretty Markarian with the embroidered floral satin and the Watteau beside it!”). She described the impact of dressing Dr. Biden and several of the Biden grandchildren (Natalie and Finnegan Biden for the Inauguration, Naomi Biden for her wedding reception) as “immeasurable.”
“I think what’s really incredible is that Dr. Biden could have chosen any big name designer in America, and she made the point and effort of choosing a designer that was relatively unknown,” O’Neill said. “It shows that she really understands the impact of what something like that can do for somebody’s life and career and how she loves to champion people.”
Uruguay-born designer Hearst, who made her debut as creative director of Chloé two months after the Inauguration, also sees designing a custom look for Dr. Biden as a landmark opportunity. “This is a moment that’s so major,” Hearst said. “Especially if you take into account that I’m also an immigrant that became an American citizen.” Hearst added that Dr. Biden is “a muse that every designer would want to have—an educator, a teacher, someone that cares about other people. She’s a beautiful soul.”
Both the Gabriela Hearst and Markarian looks were made by hand in New York and emphasize artisanal craft techniques, like many of the historical dresses in the exhibit, a legacy that struck Hearst. “When you look at Mrs. Lincoln’s ensemble, there’s two type of purple in the outfit,” she said, gesturing to the purple velvet set with white satin piping. “It was really hard to dye colors in those days and the craftsmanship behind it is incredible. Also, what I am in awe is of the work that it takes to preserve all this beauty.”
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