Presidential inaugurations are all about the commander in chief, but all eyes are also on the first lady, especially during the inaugural ball on the evening of the swearing-in. The tradition of an inaugural ball or multiple balls dates all the way back to President George Washington.
“That's the photograph that's going to follow her forever – that moment, [the] first moment on stage in that inaugural ball gown,” said Lisa Kathleen Graddy, curator of political history at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “Then we will put it in a museum for people to come and see forever.”
The first ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History showcases how each presidential spouse has contributed to her husband’s administration and the nation, and it includes clothing from state dinner dresses to inaugural ball gowns. The gowns of most modern first ladies are on display year-round, including from Rosalyn Carter to Jill Biden.
“We get to see this beautiful moment of fashion, and then we get to talk about what that woman believes in and what she does as first lady, the causes that she champions and the activities that she undertakes,” said Graddy. “She's both beautiful and fashionable, and she's a serious part of the administration. And the beauty of the first ladies exhibit is that it marries those and that it talks about both.”
When it comes to selecting a gown for the big moment, Graddy said past first ladies have leaned into personal style choices but also often try to select an American designer.
“They're promoting the American fashion industry,” she explained. “You look at something like Jill Biden's dress — white dress from the 2021 inauguration is embroidered with flowers from all of the states ... because the inauguration is also a time where you're trying to bring the country together.”
Sometimes the decision is also a sentimental one — like Carter’s inauguration dress.
“She had made the decision that if they won, she was going to re-wear the dress that she had worn for Jimmy Carter's gubernatorial inaugural ball,” said Graddy, who added that the decision didn’t come without its critics. “Some people thought it was wonderful and a sweet, sentimental decision. Others were upset that the first lady had not splashed out on a new dress.”
The gown Melania Trump wore to the inaugural balls celebrating her husband’s first term — a vanilla, off-the-shoulder dress with a silk red belt — is already on display at the museum. Graddy said that the dress was very symbolic of the way Trump approached the role of first lady during the first term.
“It was very elegant, very classic, and she tried to have a very classic and elegant White House. Her entertaining was in that vein,” she said. “Will Melania Trump be sticking with that very classic and elegant look and administration, or will she be trying to change it up in some way?”
Trump will be the first woman to reside for two nonconsecutive terms in the White House, and Graddy said there is hope she will donate another gown or clothing item to represent the second Trump administration.
“Normally, we don't collect a second dress because it generally goes to the presidential library. But we've also… never had this situation,” explained Graddy. "So we will certainly still invite the first lady, if she would care to donate that dress to the museum and be honored if she chooses to do that. But we also know that it's possible that they will retain it for the presidential library.”
As to how the museum procures a dress for the exhibit from the first lady, a letter will go out from the secretary of the Smithsonian to the White House inviting her to give the museum something that will represent her in the collection. It will likely be several months before an addition to the display is announced.