White House History Quarterly 52 - Mid-Century Fashion and the First Ladies

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY Quarterly

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY Quarterly

Mid-Century Fashion and The First Ladies: From Ready-to-Wear to Haute Couture The Journal of T H E W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I A T I O N Number 5 2

Mid-Century Fashion and the First Ladies: From Ready-to-Wear to Haute Couture

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Number 52

In this issue of White House History Quarterly we highlight the fashions of the first ladies during the middle of the twentieth century.

Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, Betty Ford: each took a different approach, for different reasons. Their choices—from ready-to-wear to haute couture—reflect their times and what they saw as their role, as well as, of course, their personal taste. Our cover features sketches by designer Oleg Cassini for an evening dress and a daytime dress for Jacqueline Kennedy ( front cover) and a wool suit designed by Cassini for Mrs. Kennedy (above) on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Cassini’s appreciation for the first lady’s regal bearing is realized in an attached train on the gown, a playfully imperial touch for a first lady who knew great popularity in her time.

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Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 52, originally released in print form in 2019. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All photographs contained in this journal unless otherwise noted are copyrighted by the White House Historical Association and may not be reproduced without permission. Requests for reprint permissions should be directed to rights@whha.org. Contact books@whha.org for more information. © 2019 White House Historical Association.

All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY Quarterly

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Mid-Century Fashion and The First Ladies: From Ready-to-Wear to Haute Couture The Journal of T H E W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I A T I O N Number 5 2

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the white house historical association

CONTRIBUTORS

Board of Directors CHAIRMAN

Frederick J. Ryan Jr. VICE CHAIRMAN AND TREASURER

John F. W. Rogers SECRETARY

James I. McDaniel PRESIDENT

Stewart D. McLaurin John T. Behrendt, Michael Beschloss, John T. Behrendt, Teresa Carlson, Jean Case, Cathy Gorn, Janet A. Howard, Knight Kiplinger, Martha Joynt Kumar, Anita McBride, Mike McCurry, Robert M. McGee, Ann Stock, Ben C. Sutton Jr., Tina Tchen EX OFFICIO

David S. Ferriero, Carla Hayden, Tom Mayes, Earl A. Powell III, David J. Skorton DIRECTORS EMERITI

John H. Dalton, Nancy M. Folger, Elise K. Kirk, Harry G. Robinson III, Gail Berry West WHITE HOUSE HISTORY QUARTERLY EDITOR

William Seale VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLISHING AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Marcia M. Anderson EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

morgan blattenberg is a technician in the Collection Management Services Department of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. an n h and is the founder and CEO of the jewelry design firm Ann Hand, LLC, based in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. She has designed pieces for every first lady since Jacqueline Kennedy. kr i st en a . h unt er is the senior editorial and production manager at the White House Historical Association. haley m. rivero is the director of external relations and special projects at the White House Historical Association.

Lauren McGwin SENIOR EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION MANAGER

Kristen A. Hunter EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION MANAGER

Elyse Werling EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Rebecca Durgin CONSULTING EDITOR

Ann Hofstra Grogg CONSULTING DESIGN

Pentagram EDITORIAL ADVISORY

Mac Keith Griswold Scott Harris Anthony Pitch Lydia Barker Tederick

kr i st i n s ki n ner is a decorative arts historian. She is currently a collections technician at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Gross Point Shores, Michigan. lonn taylor is a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He retired from the Smithsonian Institution, where he was a historian at the National Museum of American History, in 2002 and now lives in Fort Davis, Texas.

THE EDITOR WISHES TO THANK

The Office of the Curator, The White House

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CONTENTS

Hats worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on display at the exhibition, Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years—Selections from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum at the Field Museum in Chicago, 2004.

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FOREWORD

TEARDROPS OF THE MOON: Memories of Designing Jewelry for the First Ladies

william seale

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THE STYLE OF FIRST LADY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT Fashion and Frugality in Times of Depression and War morgan blattenberg

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THE MAMIE LOOK The Americanness of First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s Off-the-Rack Fashions kristen a . hunter

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THE JACKIE LOOK Oleg Cassini and the Creation of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s Signature Style GETTY IMAGES

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an n h and

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FIRST LADY BETTY FORD’S CASUAL ELEGANCE The Style of an Ordinary Woman in Extraordinary Times kr i s t i n ski n ner

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PRESIDENTIAL SITE FEATURE A Cottage in Denison, Texas: The Birthplace of President Dwight D. Eisenhower lonn taylor

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REFLECTIONS: HONORING PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER The 2019 Christmas Ornament stewart d. m c laurin

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FOREWORD

The First Ladies & MID-CENTURY FASHION

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They bring to mind our first first lady, “Lady Washington” as she was sometimes called. In her portraits she may look the antithesis of style in her time, when an informal, French taste for muslin dominated. But she still, in the utmost chic, donned her domino—the same mask the Lone Ranger usurped 150 years later—when she and the president attended the theater, nor did she remove it.

Their choices and the reasons for them mirror the first ladies themselves.

william seale editor, WHITE HOUSE HISTORY QUARTERLY

G GE ET TT TY Y II M MA AG GE ES S

The White House presents a kaleidoscope of images relevant to the presidency, while the central image, the White House itself, remains the same. All the other images are transitory and rearranged in time by those who live in the White House. It is these ancillary images that personalize the presidency, administration by administration, and help to define a particular era. Among these are the fashions espoused by the first ladies.

In this issue of White House History Quarterly we learn about first ladies’ tastes and choices in the twentieth century, in the decades that today’s collectors call “Mid-Century Modern.” There is great variety. All wanted to look good, good,look lookappropriate, appropriate,and andeach eachone onetook took a different a different approach, approach, for different for different reasons. reasons.

Their public Their public attitudes attitude toward toward thethe world worldand and their times, as well as the importance of their own roles, are reflected in their distinctive styles.

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A seamstress at Arnold Constable department store in New York City makes the final alternations to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s Easter dress, 1939. The frugal Mrs. Roosevelt often shopped in department stores for ready-to-wear clothing.

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THE STYLE of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Fashion & Frugality in Times of Depression and War MORGAN BLATTENBERG

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imperative. Fortunately, this responsibility was already familiar to her, as she had chosen functional, ready-made clothing long before it became a wartime necessity.

As the niece of Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt had been under the public eye from her birth in 1884. At age 15 she was sent to Allenswood, a school for girls in England, where she learned social responsibility.5 Returning home, she was poised to represent the ideal of the early twentieth-century “New Woman”—an educated, socially and physically active woman whose interests extended beyond the family sphere.

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An advocate for ready made American clothing, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt examines sweaters at Arnold Constable Department Store in New York City.

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as the united states entered world war ii and newly formulated rations and regulations transformed everyday routines, it was more important than ever for key public figures to set examples for how to survive and support the war effort. In fashion for both domestic and professional settings, women were urged to be thrifty. This approach to dress had been represented, perhaps unintentionally, by Eleanor Roosevelt since she stepped into her role as first lady in 1933. In the era of the Great Depression and then the world war, she chose multipurpose, ready-to-wear ensembles, with minimal decoration and an efficiency in construction. Her fashion values influenced American dress in these difficult years and beyond.

Resource restrictions of every kind were imposed on households on the home front. In March 1942, the War Production Board issued Regulation L-85, which rationed chemicals for dyes and synthetic and some natural fibers and forbade drastic style changes that might tempt buyers. It limited color choices and restricted the length and fullness of skirts, pants, and jackets; even cuffs were banned.1 It aimed to reduce yardage in women’s and girls’ apparel by 15 percent. No more than two articles of clothing could be sold as a unit, which meant that coats that matched suits could no longer be bought as ensembles, but could be purchased separately.2 These regulations were designed to conserve natural resources for the war and simultaneously to boost the American economy. Although American rayon, wool, linen, and cotton supplies were healthy enough to make up for resources allocated to military use, limitations on these textiles had the effect of increasing profits for manufacturers.3 For example, manufacturers found it more profitable to make twenty dresses from one bolt of wool instead of the usual fifteen, especially since wartime prices and wages were frozen.4 As in the 1930s, thrift and conservation by companies and by consumers were emphasized. Women were expected to make do with the fabric restrictions because they were part of the war effort.

Also as part of the war effort, actors, sports figures, and politicians promoted the “American Look” developed by American designers for readyto-wear clothing. American women looked to Eleanor Roosevelt to see what she would wear. For her, the responsibility to make sure that her fashion choices adhered to governmental regulations was

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opposite and right

RIGHT: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

Eleanor Roosevelt’s first inaugural gown was made of slate-blue silk crepe, designed by Sally Milgrim. Worn to the 1933 inaugural ball, the dress is embroidered with a leaf-and-flower design in gold thread. The dress features detachable long sleeves. The understated belt buckle and shoulder clips are made of rhinestones and moonstones.

In 1905 Eleanor Roosevelt married her distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and in the next eleven years she gave birth to six children. During this period, her public activities were less of a priority than her family concerns and her husband’s political career.6 However, when the United States entered into World War I, she volunteered for the Red Cross and for work in navy hospitals. As her husband’s political career advanced, she became a model of how a woman could be a political figure, feminist, activist, and mother.

Over time, Mrs. Roosevelt began to assert her viewpoints and goals in public and on her own, without her husband beside her. She participated in the League of Women Voters and in Democratic Party politics, established a nonprofit furniture factory in Hyde Park, and taught at a private girl’s school.7 Even before the Depression, when photographed in her public outreach activities, she set a visual example of how socially active women could dress.

Upon moving to the White House in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt made it clear that as first lady she would not aim to be a fashion trendsetter but would remain “plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt.”8 It was one of the worst years of the Great Depression, and she wanted to reassure the American people, and perhaps American women more especially, that she was aware of their hardships and stood with them. Her fashion choices were practical, affordable, sensible, durable, and versatile, the kind of clothes that could be worn repeatedly and in a variety of ways by the busy working woman. She joined designers, department stores, and public figures in promoting ready-to-wear clothing that was made in America instead of overseas.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the linear look of the previous decade gave way to softer, more sculptural clothes that accentuated feminine curves and suited an active lifestyle.9 Garments were also designed to be simpler and less fussy, especially as excess surface treatments increased the cost of the garment as a whole and undermined fabric strength. Key accessories like belts were added to ensembles to update plain garments and bring focus to the waist. The American fashion designer Claire McCardell, known for her manipulations of fabric and sense of simplistic beauty, exemplified this shift in American fashion ideology by designing a wool dress that could be pulled on over the head quickly and then belted to give it shape. The

dress adhered to the ease, comfort, durability, and sensibility in clothing that American consumers desired in the midst of the Depression.

This emphasis on ease and sensibility could be translated into evening style as well, and Eleanor Roosevelt demonstrated how one could still dress elegantly for a special occasion. Her 1933 inaugural ball gown, designed by the American designer Sally Milgrim, embodied American fashion values of the decade. The slate-blue silk crepe gown was embroidered with a leaf-and-flower design in gold thread and featured detachable long sleeves, which made it versatile, suitable for different seasons and a variety of occasions. Its construction was simple and its embellishments understated, especially in comparison with the heavy beading previous first ladies had selected for this event. The belt buckle and shoulder clip accessories for the sleeves were made from rhinestones and moonstones, not diamonds.10 In construction and features the gown actually foreshadowed the trends of the World War II era.

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In the 1930s, American fashion returned to the slight militaristic influence once familiar during World War I. Simple, durable, and multipurpose garments were appreciated because they could be mass-produced and were affordable for the average consumer. At the same time, simple and versatile ensembles were considered to be quite modern in comparison with the lavish surface designs on clothing in the 1920s. American designers and consumers alike were interested in designs with fabrics that showcased the textile’s complexity and could be easily adapted to ready-to-wear standards.

For Eleanor Roosevelt, ready-to-wear fashion was a necessity for her busy schedule. Understanding that busy people liked to buy their clothing readymade, the first lady promoted ready-to-wear clothing while cautioning against buying clothing made in sweatshops.11 American consumers also favored simplistic, clean designs. The simplicity they started to see in

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sportswear helped them to recognize that American designers knew what American women needed in their clothing. The shift away from Paris opinion was slowly beginning to take effect, and design strategies developed during the Depression served Americans well when they were called on to make sacrifices in wartime. Women were eager to purchase one ensemble of several pieces that could be worn for several occasions. They appreciated local designers who designed for their financial and fashion needs.12 Eleanor Roosevelt also purchased ensembles with several, multipurpose pieces that could be rearranged with other articles of clothing to produce a variety of outfits.

In wartime, when the emphasis on practicality increased tenfold, fashion manufacturers, retailers, and magazines already had experience creating and promoting clothing

During the 1930s, Eleanor Roosevelt opted for versatile, practical styles, which actually foreshadowed the simplicity that would be ordered during the 1940s. Clockwise from top left: Mrs. Roosevelt under blooming Japanese cherry tree, 1933; visiting a junior high school sewing class, 1934; in Puerto Rico, 1934; with the Destitute Ball Committee, 1934; visiting the Washington Children’s Hospital, 1937; and greeting attendees at the 1935 White House Easter Egg Roll.

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On Wednesday April 8, 1940, Women’s Wear Daily featured Limitation Order-85, which detailed the restrictions on the amount of fabric allowed in women’s clothing during World War II. In a Q& A column, H. Stanley Marcus put a positive spin on the limitations.

The accompanying diagrams illustrated prohibitions on the length of jackets and dresses and on sleeve styles. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was careful to adhere to the restrictions during the war.

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that embodied ideals of thrift and good taste, and to these they added patriotism. During World War II, these ideals were amplified to construct a coherent ideal of American fashion.13 The sense of practicality familiar to the American public during the Depression carried over. Eleanor Roosevelt was also experienced in promoting purposeful, functional clothing, because she had been doing so for a decade.

In the early 1940s, a sense of wartime fashion efficiency found expression in durable, versatile clothes that could be coordinated into other ensembles. Women had established their place in the workforce, and fashions designed to meet the needs of professional women were available. Eleanor Roosevelt represented these women. Throughout her husband’s presidency, Eleanor Roosevelt traveled extensively around the nation, visiting relief projects and military installations.14 Because of her extensive travels, she preferred simple outfits that could be worn with a variety of blouses and

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accessories.15 This preference came to be embedded in American fashion ideology.

The creation of an American style reached its full development during World War II due to a number of factors. First, fashion design was forced to become self-reliant after Paris was occupied by German troops in 1940. American designers were pushed to reimagine their creations.16 They had the opportunity to create their own versions of 1940s wardrobe staples that fit the needs of American customers without the competition and critique of admired European designers. Second, for American buyers, it would seem unpatriotic to buy garments from designers who dressed and worked under the enemy, and Americans began to rely on American fashion designers as a way to separate themselves from Europe. Buying from American designers and dressing like American celebrities were ways of supporting the war effort.

In fact, the war effort took precedence over every aspect of American life. Everyone had to make

T E X T I L E A N D C O S T U M E C O L L E C T I O N , G U T M A N L I B R A R Y, T H O M A S J E F F E R S O N U N I V E R S I T Y

This United Victory Woolen Color Card for the fall 1942 season issued by the Textile Color Card Association of the United States featured a patriotically named collection of earth tones that reflected the limitations on the use of colorful dyes during World War II.

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T : W I K I M E D I A / F R A N K L I N R O O S E V E LT P R E S I D E N T I A L L I B R A R Y / A P I M A G E S

above

During the war, Mrs. Roosevelt was often photographed in simple day dresses and uniforms that adhered to the established guidelines.

Clockwise from above left: Mrs. Roosevelt with Dwight D. Eisenhower; beneath a plane named for her; and with Princess Alice (center) and Clementine Churchill (right), 1944.

sacrifices for the war. Fabrics were rationed, including silk, wool, cotton, rubber, and leather, and the apparel industry, together with dress designers, had to adopt new forms and fabrics. DuPont’s nylon, for example, also known as “Fiber 66,” had been introduced in the late 1930s as an alternative to silk, but soon its production was diverted to military purposes.17 Nevertheless, the commercial production of man-made materials increased as American designers and consumers slowly integrated synthetic materials into their lifestyles.

As certain chemicals were needed for wartime use, dyes became more limited, and clothes became less colorful. Nevertheless some colors took on a patriotic aura. In the fall of 1942 the Textile Color Card Association of the United States released a palette that included “Victory Gold,” “Gallant Blue,” “Valor Red,” and “Patriot Green.”18 Not only did these colors offer a contrast to the earthy tones familiar to soldiers, but they also inspired women to incorporate patriotism into every aspect of their clothing.

To reflect her patriotism, Eleanor Roosevelt was often photographed with well-known military figures and government officials. On these occasions she chose to wear day dresses and ensembles that adhered to fabric restrictions and exhibited homefront fashions. Her skirts were trim, not voluminous, and a modest length. Her blouses were lightweight.

Her belts were multipurpose accessories. Her only embellishments might be a necklace or a pretty pin.

In 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt’s inauguration reception gown, designed by the American Arnold Constable, was made not of silk but of pink rayon crepe and trimmed with lace and synthetic sequins.19 Rayon, which had been integrated into fashion as a wartime replacement for silk, had already become a staple in American wardrobes.

In using the synthetic rayon in an evening gown, the first lady and her designer exhibited their understanding that synthetic fabrics were not only versatile but also a key, permanent component in American fashion.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The impact of the fabric restrictions during World War II is seen when comparing First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1941 and 1945 inaugural gowns.

The 1941 silk gown (left) features fluid shoulders with petal sleeves, decorations outlined in seed pearls, and a sweeping train.

Her pink 1945 gown (opposite) was made of rayon crepe, a wartime substitute for silk.

The streamlined silhouette was trimmed with lace and sequins.

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Thus the demands imposed on wartime dress shaped the American fashion industry’s identity even after the war ended. Eleanor Roosevelt’s versatile, multipurpose wardrobe continued to inspire and represent the values of American fashion. For more than a decade, the first lady had presented herself wearing simple, economical, and comfortable clothing. She not only showed women how to work within their communities but how to dress the part as well. As an independent woman, she modeled ways women could succeed and thrive during difficult times.

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notes

Price of Freedom, online exhibition by the National Museum of American History, https://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/ exhibition/flash.html.

2. Jonathan Walford, Forties Fashion: From Siren Suits to the New Look (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2008), 68.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. “Eleanor Roosevelt Biography,” Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, online at https:// fdrlibrary.org/er-biography.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Quoted in text panel for Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1933 inaugural gown in The First Ladies exhibition, National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., online at http:// americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/first-ladies.

9. Valerie Mendes and Amy de la Haye, 20th Century Fashion (London: Thames & Hudson, 1999), 79.

10. Object description for Eleanor Roosevelt’s inaugural gown in The First Ladies exhibition, National Museum of American History.

11. Ibid.

12. Alicia Kennedy, Emily Banis Stoehrer, and Jay Calderin, Fashion Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the History, Language, and Practice of Fashion (Beverly, Mass.: Rockport Publishers, 2013), 22.

13. Rebecca Arnold, The American Look: Fashion, Sportswear, and the Image of Women in 1930s and 1940s New York (New York: I. B. Tauris 2009), 135.

14. Text panel for The First Ladies.

15. Ibid.

16. Arnold, American Look, 136.

17. Walford, Forties Fashion, 109.

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18. Ibid., 68.

19. First Ladies Fashions, online exhibition by the National Museum of American History, http://americanhistory.si.edu/first-ladies/ first-ladies-fashions-page-2.

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THE MAMIE LOOK The Americanness of First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s Off-the-Rack Fashions

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other women from around the nation also wearing it. This dress, a blue and green printed silk taffeta shirtwaist with a full skirt from Mollie Parnis’s readyto-wear collection, known by its designer as “Model 448,” was bought off-therack by 162 other women for $90. The first lady’s dress, ordered directly from Parnis, one of her favorite designers, differed only in the large bow added at the neck.1 In contrast, five years later, as Jacqueline Kennedy prepared for her coming role of first lady, she stressed to her selected personal designer, Oleg Cassini, the importance of her clothing being one-of-a-kind. In a December 13, 1960, letter to Cassini, Mrs. Kennedy wrote, “Just make sure no one has exactly the same dress I do.”2 When Mrs. Eisenhower became first lady in 1953, she continued to dress as she had as a military wife—fashionably, yet sensibly. Always interested in fashion, but on a tight budget during most of her married life, she learned to seek out bargains and sales at department stores, relishing in successful purchases of high

O P P O S I T E : W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N / L E F T : G E T T Y I M A G E S

in march 1955 as First Lady Mamie Eisenhower cheerfully greeted guests flowing through the Chinese Room at the Mayflower Hotel, she noticed a woman across the room desperately clutching her mink cape, trying to conceal her outfit. When Mrs. Durries Crane neared, Mrs. Eisenhower realized that they were wearing matching dresses. Instead of being chagrined, however, the ever-vivacious and gracious first lady laughed off the coincidence without the slightest bit of disturbance, saying “Oh, you’ve got the same dress on. I just love it, don’t you?”

Mrs. Crane, horrified at showing up to the reception in the same dress as the first lady and guest of honor, tried to apologize and remarked, “I hope I look one-third as nice in mine as you do in yours,” before retreating into another room for the duration of the reception, cape tightly wrapped around her. The next month, Life magazine printed a three-page article detailing the fashion “crisis” complete with photographs of both ladies in the dress and images of

Seen above watching a fashion show in 1954, Mamie Eisenhower (second from right) enjoyed fashionable clothing but often chose recognizable styles by ready-to-wear designers and, as reported by Life magazine (opposite), was delighted to be seen in the same dress worn by other women. In the previous spread, Mrs. Eisenhower poses in her glamorous inaugural ball gown, 1953.

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quality and pretty pieces for fractions of their original prices. As first lady, she did not change her shopping habits and continued to buy from the collections of her favorite American designers— Mollie Parnis, Sally Victor, and Nettie Rosenstein. While Mrs. Eisenhower epitomized the average American wife and mother with her recognizable and attainable clothing, she nonetheless stood out in her time as a fashion icon.

Mamie Eisenhower’s affinity for fashionable clothing remained constant during her life. Throughout her childhood and debutante years, her family’s abundant wealth kept her attired in the latest fashions. Photographs from her teenage years show her interest in looking her best and cultivating a pretty, feminine image. It was the beginning of a lifelong love of fashionable clothes. Mamie Doud’s lively and

vibrant spirit—qualities for which she would later become well known—are also evident in these early photographs.

After her marriage at age 19 to Dwight D. Eisenhower, then a second lieutenant with a small salary, she soon learned to live on a tight budget, stretching each dollar and seeking out the best bargains and sales. Throughout the early years of their marriage, when money was scarce, Mrs. Eisenhower prided herself on continuing to live well but within the couple’s means. In the early 1930s, with the added financial pressures of the Great Depression, she gleefully wrote to her parents of successful Washington shopping trips in which she purchased a black satin hat, originally $13.50, for $3.00, and a brown lace evening dress from Garfinkel’s Department Store, originally $60.00, for $14.50. Her beautiful clothing meant even more to

ALL IMAGES THIS SPREAD: DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

Mamie Eisenhower’s feminine and fashionable style sense is captured in photographs taken well before she became first lady. Above from left to right: As a teenager, c. 1915; in her wedding dress, 1916; as a young military wife in Paris, 1928; and during a second stay in Paris, 1951.

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her when she could show off her savvy money-management skills by getting high-quality pieces on large discounts.3 The Eisenhowers lived in Paris twice before their White House years—from 1928 to 1929 and then again from 1950 to 1952, when Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. During both periods of Parisian residency, Mrs. Eisenhower, ever the fashion enthusiast, resisted the high fashion world integral to the city’s culture. She found the couture shops and their saleswomen snobbish and the price of gowns unnecessarily high. The French press—wholly enamored in the 1950s with the flourishing rebirth and seeming dominance of French fashion from the postwar “New Look”—criticized her preference for American clothes, finding her favored American designers inferior to the

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great Parisian couture houses of Dior, Givenchy, and Fath. Disliking the pretense of high fashion and the contests for “best dressed,” Mamie Eisenhower commented, “Imagine paying $800 or $900 for a dress! I’m perfectly happy with those little $17.95 numbers I order from New York newspaper ads.”4 This is not to say, however, that she completely avoided the popular couture houses; she did make a few select purchases of gowns and dresses. Susan Eisenhower later observed that her grandmother “knew all too well the importance of both saving your pennies and spending them.”5 Even as she was thrust into the public spotlight during the 1952 presidential campaign and in the White House years that followed, Mamie Eisenhower did not reform her ideas on fashion or her wardrobe. Choosing to still dress in pieces by her favorite American

designers—day dresses by Mollie Parnis and Elizabeth Arden, and hats

by Sally Victor—the first lady endeared herself to the American public with her average, everyday woman image.

Because she shopped just as suburban housewives did, going to department stores, ordering from advertisements and catalogs, and wearing recognizable styles by ready-to-wear designers, American women could see themselves in the first lady. During the postwar era, with its pressures to conform and unite under a singular cohesive view of “Americanness,” American women could take pleasure in thinking of the first lady as their typical neighbor.6 The “Mamie Look,” as it was often called, perfectly encompassed middle-class mainstream fashion during the 1950s. This style followed the forms of the popular “New Look” but with an

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American and personalized flair. Mamie Eisenhower’s usual daywear consisted of a one-piece full-skirted shirtwaist dress with a fitted waist or a suit with a full-skirt in a fabric with a reflective or slightly iridescent surface, such as silk taffeta, in bright colors and patterns. Besides the full skirt and fitted waist, the other important aspect to the Mamie Look was the array of accessories. Every outfit was complemented with matching shoes, gloves, purse, hat, and a full set of jewelry, including double or triple strands of pearls with matching earrings, a brooch, lapel pin or corsage, and, of course, a mink stole or full-length mink coat.

No Mamie ensemble was complete, however, without her signature charm bracelet displaying twenty-one charms, each representing a different stage in Eisenhower’s career. She began wearing the sentimental bracelet prior to the White House years as an outward symbol of her pride in her husband’s achievements. Her well-known attachment to her bracelet set a trend during the 1950s for biographical charm bracelets. The multifaceted characteristic of the Mamie Look, while reflecting her personal tastes, also mirrored the consumerist vision of the decade. With each piece of her ensemble from a different designer or store, the first lady was presenting herself as a good consumer and, in turn, as a patriotic American woman.

In this way, Mamie Eisenhower helped revive interest in retail shopping.7 Just as Mrs. Eisenhower helped to reinforce the popularity of the readyto-wear, full-skirted “American Look,” she launched an enduring enthusiasm for pink with her 1953 inaugural gown.

Created by renowned New York designer Nettie Rosenstein for Neiman Marcus, the soft pink peau de soie ball gown dazzled the American public upon its much-anticipated reveal at the inaugural ball. The gown was Rosenstein’s design, but Mrs. Eisenhower specified the color, its wide, full skirt, and the

2,000 hand-sewn rhinestones scattered across the bodice and skirt. The rhinestones, the new first lady famously remarked, added “a little extra flair.”8 After the inauguration, details and images of the gown flooded magazines and newspapers, and soon “Mamie Pink” was a popular choice not only for clothing but also for home decor, including, most notably, bathroom tile. This glamorous gown proved so popular that it was put on display at the Smithsonian Institution in 1955, breaking with precedent that a first lady’s gown should be displayed only after the completion of her husband’s administration.9 Mamie Eisenhower’s popular and fashionable style landed her on the New York Institute’s list of the twelve best-dressed women each year she was first lady.10 This public recognition

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As first lady Mamie Eisenhower often wore full-skirted dresses fully accessorized with matching shoes, purse, hat, jewelry, and a mink stole. The look, which came to be known as the Mamie Look, is seen opposite as she boards Air Force One with President Eisenhower c. 1957, and right in 1954, while visiting a drug store in the Pentagon with the Queen Mother.

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The Mamie Look

Mrs. Eisenhower chose seven hats from the collections of designer Sally Victor (above) in 1956. For a 1952 campaign breakfast of doughnuts and coffee (left) in Harlem, Mrs. Eisenhower dressed in her signature look of dress, hat, gloves, fur, purse, lapel pin, charm bracelet, and matching pearl necklace and earrings.

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For a 1956 campaign picnic (above), Mrs. Eisenhower chose a toile dress picturing the White House and wore matching necklace and earrings.

In the 1952 portrait at left, the first lady wears a matching set of jewelry, an integral aspect of her signature look.

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M L E F T : E I S E N H O W E R P R E S I D E N T I A L L I B R A R Y, G E T T Y I M A G E S , A L M A Y

Waiting to greet the visiting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in June 1954, Mrs. Eisenhower is seen in a simple day dress with fitted waist and full skirt.

For a formal photograph in the Diplomatic Reception Room (above), Mrs.Eisenhower paired a brightly colored shirtwaist dress with pearls.

She added a large corsage, a hat, and gloves to the look in 1952 at the Republican National Convention (right).

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A Signature Charm Bracelet

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CHRISTIE’S

Mamie Eisenhower was often photographed wearing her special charm bracelet, which held a collection of unique symbols of milestone events during her marriage. The bracelet is seen on her wrist as she pins on a corsage (above) ahead of her husband’s first first inaugural in 1953 1953. and as she Among the waves charms(opposite) seen during the 1956 Republican on the bracelet are a heart National inscribed Convention. with the date she Among charms met herthe husband inseen Sanhere are a heart inscribed with Antonio, a symbol of the the dateon sheD-Day, met herand husband victory a in San Antonio, symbol of key to the White a House. the victory on D-Day, and a key to the White House.

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Mamie Eisenhower’s glamorous rhinestone-embellished 1953 inaugural ball gown (opposite), designed by Nettie Rosenstein to the first lady’s specifications, featured the famous “Mamie Pink”—a color now synomous with 1950s home decor.

and the frequency with which she set trends during her tenure as first lady solidifies her status as a fashion icon during the 1950s. During an era when French fashion fought to retake its global dominance lost during World War II, her overt and strong predilection for American designers helped foster pride in American-made fashion. The practicality and everyday quality of her clothing highlighted the growing recognition that American designers were best suited to dress American women in clothing that fit their unique lifestyles.

While she chose clothing from mainstream designers available to other middle-class women, Mamie Eisenhower’s sense of style perfectly reflected her

ideology of the first lady as the embodiment of an average American woman.

This all-American, neighborly persona of the first lady that Mamie Eisenhower represented and reinforced in the minds of the American public throughout the 1950s was quickly overshadowed and forgotten when Jacqueline Kennedy became the first lady in 1961. The young and beautiful first lady revolutionized the image of her position as she departed from her predecessor in favor of a more refined and elite style that set her apart from the average American woman. While Mamie Eisenhower typified 1950s American womanhood, Jacqueline Kennedy wanted to represent the best of American fashion on an international stage. But before Mrs. Kennedy took over the American fashion scene with her oneof-a-kind haute-couture look, Mamie Eisenhower was topping best dressed lists and setting trends in her beloved mail-ordered and off-the-rack bargins.

1.

notes

“Diplomacy Triumphs in Washington Crisis,” New York Times, March 31, 1955, 21; “Blue-Green on the National Scene,” Life, April 25, 1955, 118–21.

2. Jacqueline Kennedy to Oleg Cassini, December 13, 1960, quoted in Oleg Cassini, A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House (New York: Rizzoli, 1995), 30.

3. Mamie Doud Eisenhower to the Douds, January 20, 1931, and September 2, 1933, both quoted in Susan Eisenhower, Mrs. Ike: Memories, Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1996), 111.

4. Quoted in Eisenhower, Mrs. Ike, 259, 282.

5. Quoted in ibid., 260.

6. Marilyn Irvin Holt and Edith Mayo, interview with Susan Swain, C-SPAN: The First Ladies, Influence and Image; Mamie Eisenhower, October 31, 2013, online at firstladies.c-span.org.

7. Edith Mayo, “‘She’s Making Maturity Glamorous’: Mamie Eisenhower’s White House Style,” White House History, no. 21 (Fall 2007): 23; Karal Ann Marling, “Mamie Eisenhower’s New Look,” in As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), 25–28.

8. Quoted in Mayo, “She’s Making Maturity Glamorous,” 18, 25.

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9. Lisa Kathleen Graddy and Amy Pastan, The Smithsonian First Ladies Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2014); Marling, “Mamie Eisenhower’s New Look,” 34–38.

10. Marling, “Mamie Eisenhower’s New Look,” 36.

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The JACKIE LOOK

Oleg Cassini and the Creation of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s Signature Style HALEY M. RIVERO

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Fashion designer Oleg Cassini at work in his New York studio, 1961.

dresser, he claimed to own 552 ties.4 After World War I broke out in Europe, the Loiewski family moved to Russia, where their life of luxury and privilege ended. After a few short years, the Russian Revolution prompted the family to move again, at first to Sweden. After Cassini’s father returned from counterrevolutionary efforts in Siberia, the family settled in Florence, Italy, where Oleg lived during his growing-up years. It was in Florence that his family started using the Cassini name. His mother had started a fashion business that was successful but not as lucrative as hoped. Once wealthy nobility, the family now had no money and was living in an unfamiliar place.

Slowly wealth returned as Cassini’s mother’s fashion collection became established. But soon young Cassini’s confidence was shaken by another setback, as his leg was nearly severed in an accident.

Bedridden for a year at age 17, he became much more introverted and thoughtful. Following his recovery, he started his gentlemanly training upon the insistence of his mother. At this time Cassini started to really notice women’s clothes. He was utterly fascinated with how women carried themselves and presented themselves to the world and to potential suitors.

After studying political science at the University of Florence and fine arts at Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze, Cassini started designing clothes for women. He would woo the most beautiful woman in town and have her wear his designs, setting trends that other women would follow. He studied in Paris but felt the need to return to Italy despite

AS SOCIATED PRES S

although oleg cassini is no longer a household name, his glamorous designs shaped the way women looked and felt in the 1960s. One of his most famous clients was, of course, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who tapped him as her official dresser. In the recent past First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower had economized with off-the-rack clothing, and before their time there were other first ladies who used one designer or fashion house consistently while in the White House. Mary Todd Lincoln, for example, used Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave turned northern dressmaker. Jacqueline Kennedy and Oleg Cassini were well-matched, sharing an appreciation for the finer things of life and a childhood influenced by European culture. Their collaboration was well known because he gave her a signature look that the public very much wanted to emulate. As first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy aimed to create fashion and style trends.

Oleg Cassini was born in Paris as Oleg Aleksandrovich Loiewski on April 11, 1913. The elder child of Countess Marguerite Cassini and Count Alexander Loiewski, Oleg was a Russian count by birth. His maternal grandfather, Arthur Paul Nicholas, Marquis de Capuzzuchi di Bologna, Count Cassini, was a well-known Russian diplomat, serving as Czar Alexander III’s foreign minister to China as well as the Russian ambassador to the United States during the presidencies of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.1 Arthur’s only daughter, Marguerite, Oleg’s mother, was as a teenager the count’s official hostess at the Russian Embassy in Washington.2 Since Oleg Cassini was a young aristocrat, his future both professionally and personally was predetermined by societal expectations. He was to become a part of the corps de pages or cadets in training, beginning at age 17. “Members of the guards were expected to be master horsemen, swordsmen, chess players . . . and also, I assume, passionate lovers, linguists, dancers (of the traditional Russian national dances, of course).”3 Cassini admired these men in his childhood, as they were the definition of the true gentleman; their place in society allowed them to be part of the best social events, and they wore the most handsome of uniforms.

Cassini’s father was a lawyer in Paris, Polish by birth, whose business reconnecting heirs of vast fortunes to their rightful owners took him all over the world. Considered by society to be an ideal

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previous spread

A selection of Oleg Cassini’s signed sketches for a mock cowl neck belted wool dress and matching coat.

Jacqueline Kennedy is seen wearing the dress as she arrives with President John F. Kennedy in Fort Worth, Texas, November 1963.

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Oleg Cassini and Jacqueline Bouvier, seen here at a 1954 dance in Long Island, were acquainted before she became first lady.

his belief that real designers lived only in Paris and that, according to him, there was not even a word for “designer” in Italian. His main business goal, however, was to go to the United States and design there. But war was troubling Europe again. Italy had invaded Ethiopia, and Benito Mussolini was expanding regional power in Southeastern Europe.

When Cassini’s younger brother, Igor, a writer, returned from the United States to Italy in an elegant camel-colored suit and porcupine hat after a year at the University of Georgia, Cassini felt compelled to go to America.5 Following his arrival in New York City in mid-December 1936, Cassini fell on hard times. He lived at the YMCA and reached out to many exiled aristocratic family contacts to stay afloat. Finally he got a job sketching at a ready-to-wear firm, but was fired about two months later. Soon his brother Igor and parents joined him in America. All of them except Oleg moved to Washington, D.C., where Marguerite Cassini’s return was the talk of the town. In 1938, Oleg Cassini started his own fashion company with the financial backing of Terry Schey, a debutante’s father. Word of mouth gave them momentum but the production schedules were almost impossible to maintain. During this time he met and married his first wife, Merry Fahrney, who was three years his senior and marrying for the fourth time. They had a tumultuous relationship with little affection, and the marriage ended in divorce.

Igor Cassini started writing for the New York Times-Herald in 1939 as a gossip columnist, often under the famous pseudonym Cholly Knickerbocker, a newspaper column that was passed down to Igor after World War II. Igor rose to gossip column fame by being kidnapped, tarred, and feathered by a group of young men from Warrenton, Virginia, whose girlfriends he had lured away.6 In 1940, Oleg Cassini took his talents out West to try his hand designing clothes for the major Hollywood studios in California. Eventually landing a designer position at Paramount, he began associating with Hollywood’s biggest producers and mobsters while also starting a romance with Hollywood’s most famous wartime beauty Betty Grable. Cassini then met Gene Tierney at a cocktail party given in her honor after she had completed a movie in Europe. When Cassini asked her out to dinner and dancing, she canceled the date she already had. The couple eloped in 1941 and had two daughters together, Daria and Christina. Cassini

continued to design motion picture costumes for his wife, including a wedding dress that she did not wear for their wedding.7 After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Cassini joined the Coast Guard but eventually served with the U.S. Army. He rose to the rank of first lieutenant, serving at Fort Riley in Kansas. He forfeited his European title when he became an American citizen. He and Gene Tierney divorced in 1946, after she admitted to falling in love with another man during their wartime separation. After Cassini pressed her on the subject, she identified her lover as a young naval officer from Massachusetts, Jack Kennedy. Their affair did not last, though, because Kennedy knew he could not marry a divorced Hollywood actress and a woman who was not Catholic.

After the divorce, Cassini opened his Seventh Avenue store in New York. He had only designed for women one-on-one and never made a full collection that was ready-to-wear; now he was able to create designs for all types of women. His Hollywood past gave him the name recognition in New York City that drew his first wave of customers. Cassini’s classic, elegant style brought him the success he had always wanted. By 1955, House of Cassini sales reached $5 million, a figure close to $41 million in 2018 dollars.8 Cassini went on to have a relationship with the actress Grace Kelly. They subsequently got engaged,

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go back on her purchase. Yet she much preferred Cassini’s design, which she ended up wearing to the gala organized by Frank Sinatra. Years later, her secretary, Mary Gallagher, wrote in her memoirs, “I can tell you that the Inauguration Ball gown was not Jackie’s favorite. She much preferred the Gala gown, the utterly simple white one—unrelieved except for a geometric design, of the same material, at the waist—which had been made by Oleg Cassini.”10 It was Cassini’s dress she wanted donated to the Smithsonian Institution, instead of the dress from Bergdorf ’s, but she had to adhere to tradition and relented. Cassini ended up designing her inauguration outfit, a beautiful grayish-cream-color coat with a fur muff and pillbox hat. Cassini wanted Jackie to show off her youth, as everyone else would be in full fur dark coats. The inauguration ensemble established the “Jackie Look,” and the international media now was fascinated with the young first lady’s style.

A secret service agent’s umbrella sheilds Mrs. Kennedy from the falling snow as she and her husband, Presidentelect John F. Kennedy (opposite) exit their Georgetown home to attend a pre-inaugural gala, January 19, 1961. The lavish gala was staged by singer Frank Sinatra, seen (above) escorting Mrs. Kennedy to her box seat at the event in the National Guard Armory. Designed

by Oleg Cassini, Mrs. Kennedy’s gown (right) of heavy Swiss double satin made a fashion statement with its striking simplicity. Mrs. Kennedy was known to have preferred the gown over the Bergdorf Goodman dress she wore to the inaugural ball the next evening.

but she left him to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, a man she hardly knew. Cassini credited himself with maximizing her star power, explaining, “I created the Grace Kelly look . . . she dressed like a school teacher. I put her in elegant, subdued dresses.”9 Oleg Cassini was in Nassau, in the Bahamas, in 1960 when he was contacted by the president-elect’s wife to bring some sketches of his designs to her in the hospital in Georgetown. Cassini and Jacqueline Kennedy had met before, shortly before her wedding to John Kennedy. In Georgetown, Mrs. Kennedy had just given birth to John Jr., and when Cassini walked into her hospital room and saw that she was surrounded by sketches made by famous designers, he was very intimidated.

In planning her costumes, Cassini felt that other designers were going to have a team of people create isolated looks for Jacqueline Kennedy, oneby-one, while he believed that he should create one unified vision for her with a clear path of how she should dress while her husband was in office. That way there would be a cohesive look with her designs.

Cassini showed her what he thought she should wear to the inaugural ball, but she had already purchased something from Bergdorf ’s and could not

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INAGURAL ENSEMBLE

For the inaugural ceremony on January 20, 1961, Oleg Cassini created a wool coat for Mrs. Kennedy in greige, a color between gray and beige. A sable circlet tucked into the collar was echoed by a sable muff and fur-trimmed boots. Like her gala gown, the ensemble was notable for its elegant simplicity. Cassini (opposite) is surrounded by fashion editors as he presents his sketches for the look to the press.

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Cassini later remembered, “For the first time, an American designer was exclusively clothing a First Lady and exporting a global concept.”11 Once the Kennedys were in the White House, Mrs. Kennedy and Cassini communicated regularly. Cassini would send color sketches with fabric swatches for the first lady to choose from. Mrs. Kennedy would have Cassini create ten to twelve outfits at a time for her so she was always supplied for her engagements. This is a letter from Cassini to the first lady that shows their vibrant working relationship:

DAYTIME DRESSES

Blue wool and velvet dresses arriving Thursday with Marie, also your black suit and hat and also sketches and swatches for you to select and approve. Red hunting pink coat and black dressy silk suit ready early next week. Black broadtail fur coat ready end of the week. Starting February 13 you can receive four outfits per week, thus completing a group in a short time. Hats and bags with corrected measurements being coordinated for your approval. Everything is shaping up very well so hope you will be satisfied.

Devotedly Yours, Oleg Cassini12 Mrs. Kennedy would send Cassini lists of items she needed and for which events. Thse helped him plan in advance so everything would be perfect and arrive in plenty of time. They would go over her itinerary together when she would travel abroad or have State Dinners, so Cassini could create custom pieces in her architectural style while also reflecting some of the local culture of wherever she was traveling. He was careful not to stray from her ideas. Their collaboration was particularly memorable on her trip to India and Pakistan in 1962.

Mrs. Kennedy’s first trip without the president was highly publicized. She traveled with her sister Lee Bouvier Radziwell. A memorable look was from a State Luncheon in India, where she wore a sleeveless peach silk V-neck dress with white gloves and her signature double string of pearls. In front of the Taj Mahal she wore another signature sheath with a blue and green pattern.

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Cassini intended for Mrs. Kennedy to stand out from the crowd in the bright yellow silk crepe tunic and skirt that she wore at a White House diplomatic reception in May 1962 (opposite top) and in the bright apricot silk dress she chose for a boat ride during her March 1962 trip to India (above). Mrs. Kennedy’s wardrobe for India also included the sleeveless green printed sheath (opposite bottom) worn on a visit to the Taj Mahal.

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Mrs. Kennedy is seen in the Red Room (above) and in the Blue Room (below) in dresses designed with extended shoulders and A-line skirts, the shape Cassini often chose for her daytime ensembles.

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SUITS AND COATS

Mrs. Kennedy chose a pink wool suit (above) for a 1961 Valentine’s Day meeting with twins representing the Heart Fund. The Cassini design featured a rounded overlapping collar that closed asymetrically. In December of the same year she chose a Cassini brown wool two-piece suit with a doublebreasted jacket (below) for a gift-giving visit to Children’s Hospital.

Cassini was inspired by the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when designing this day suit in red wool with matching beret for Mrs. Kennedy to wear while accompanying her husband on a State Visit to Canada in May 1961. Accessorized with white gloves and matching hat, the suit features a buttoned cowl collar, rounded shoulders, and a straight skirt.

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Cassini was inspired by traditional Indian styles when he created this dupioni silk coat with a rounded collar (above) for Mrs. Kennedy’s trip to India.

Mrs. Kennedy wore a green wool coat designed by Cassini to launch the submarine USS Lafayette in May 1962. The design, which features a cutaway wing collar and seamed pockets, was also made

by Cassini in other colors and fabrics for Mrs. Kennedy. For a ceremony at the State Department (right) she chose a green coat with matching hat.

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EVENING GOWNS

For a May 5, 1962, State Dinner in honor of President and Mrs. Félix Houphuët-Boigny of the Republic of Ivory Coast (opposite), Mrs. Kennedy chose a strapless white tulle gown embroidered with rhinestones and trimmed in gray velvet.

The Cassini creation is distinguished by a mock train.

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President and Mrs. Kennedy greet Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and his wife as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House in their honor April 11, 1962 (above and left). Mrs. Kennedy wears a Cassini design in pink and white dupioni silk with fitted bodice and a waistline embellished with bow and lace.

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For a January 1963 dinner honoring heads of the various branches of government, Cassini designed a citron chiffon and satin gown for the first lady (above left).

One of Mrs. Kennedy’s favorite Cassini designs was an azure blue strapless gown in silk crepe (left) made for a June 1962 Foreign Ministry Reception in Mexico. Mrs Kennedy would wear the dress many times again in the coming years.

A special design that was a favorite of both Mrs. Kennedy and Oleg Cassini was an evening dress in mauve silk chiffon embroidered with hand-sewn crystal beads. She wore the dress to the opening of the Mona Lisa exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in January 1963, and again (above) to a State Dinner in honor of the president of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in June 1963.

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President and Mrs. Kennedy welcome the future Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi and her father, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to the White House (left) in November 1961. The first lady wears a strapless Cassini design with a bodice of black raffia stitched on white satin and a satin skirt gathered into a bell shape.

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Mrs. Kennedy wanted a romantic antebellum look for the State Dinner held on the grounds of Mount Vernon in honor of Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan and his wife on July 11, 1961. Cassini achieved the feeling by adding a contrasting green silk cummberbund to the sleeveless white gown.

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Selections from the The bright pink suit Mrs. Kennedy’s wore on Selections from collection of thethe the fateful trip to Texas in November 1963 was not collection of the John John F. Kennedy

by Cassini. It was a high-end reproduction of an F. Kennedy Presidential Presidential autumn–winter 1961 Chanel collection suit, marLibrary and Museum of keted by a company called Chez Ninon. Mrs. the iconicofdesigns Museum the created Kennedy Kennedy was wasencouraged encouraged byby herher father-in-law father-in-law Joe by Olegdesigns Cassini for iconic Joe Kennedy Kennedy to only to only buy buy American American designs, designs, which which reJacqueline created by Kennedy restricted stricted her herfrom frombuying buyingany anyChanel Chanelclothing, clothing, but were Cassini included in an Oleg exhibition staged in for Jacqueline the pink suit was made, with approval from Chanel, New Yorkwere and Kennedy from the same fabric and buttons as the original Washington, D.C., included in an Paris piece. piece.During Now and her then, memorable she was televised knowntour to go of in 2001 and 2002. exhibition staged against the White herHouse father-in-law on CBS with and wear Chrisan Collingwood, occasional Among in New the Yorkeighty and Chanel she also original wore a Chez or Givenchy Ninon red piece. dress and matching original costumes Washington, D.C., coat As that first was lady, a reproduction Mrs. Kennedy of had a Dior wanted design. to bring Now and accessories that in 2001 and 2002. and back then, the elegance she was known to Washington to go against that her she fatherhad defined the eighty “Jackie Among Look” were the original costumes observed in-law and growing wear anup. occasional She hoped Chanel to make original the city or pre-inaugural and accessoriesgala that Givenchy the social piece. and style hub of the United States.13 Her gown (opposite) defined the “Jackie As first Mrs. Kennedy had wanted to bring success in lady, this endeavor was celebrated.

Following and the colorful Look” were the back theofelegance to Washington that she obthe end the Kennedy administration, Tedhad James daytime suits and pre-inaugural gala served growing up.Daily She hoped to on make the 7, city the of Women’s Wear wrote, April 1964, dresses (above) worn gown (opposite) 13 social and style hub of the United States.

“Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy probably did more to upHer sucby the lady on and thefirst colorful lift taste levels in the United States than any woman cess in this endeavor was celebrated.

Following the her travels abroad. daytime suits and 11 in the of our country.” end ofhistory the Kennedy administration, Ted James of dresses (above) worn by the Women’s Wear Daily wrote, on April 1964, “Mrs. Cassini designed clothes for 7,Jacqueline first lady on her Jacqueline Kennedy probably did more to Kennedy throughout the administration.

Heuplift also travels abroad. taste levels the friends Unitedwith States any woman became veryinclose thethan family and often 11 in the history our country.” socialized withofthem during this time. He paved the wayCassini for the “gentleman who Jacqueline is distinctly designed designer” clothes for American.

He and Jacqueline Kennedy remained Kennedy throughout the administration.

He also

friends President death, and he became after very close friendsKennedy’s with the family and often often sentwith her them items,during but she from the socialized thisretreated time. He paved people reminded designer” her of her White House way for who the “gentleman who is distinctly years. OlegHe Cassini went on to pave the way for American. and Jacqueline Kennedy remained fashion and name brand licensing deals,and lending friends after President Kennedy’s death, he ofhis and brand toshe perfumes, bridal ten name sent her items, but retreated fromcollections, the people and home collections. passed away in 2006 who reminded her of herHe White House years.

Oleg 14 at age 93.

Cassini went on to pave the way for fashion and name brand licensing deals, lending his name and brand to perfumes, nbridal and home o t ecollections, s 1. Oleg Cassini, In My Own Fashion (New York: Simon and 14 collections.

He passed away in 2006 at age 93.

Schuster, 1987), 15.

2. William Seale, The Imperial Season: America’s Capital in the Time of the First Ambassadors, n o t1893–1918 e s (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2013), 102. (New York: Simon and 1. Oleg Cassini, In My Own Fashion Schuster,In1987), 15. Fashion, 15.

3. Cassini, My Own

2. William 4.

Ibid., 16.Seale, The Imperial Season: America’s Capital in the Time of 5. Ibid., 64.the First Ambassadors, 1893–1918 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2013), 102.

6. Ibid., 92.

3. Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 15.

7. Ibid., 152.

4. Ibid., 16.

8. Ibid., 217.

5. Ibid., 64.

9. Quoted in Patricia Sullivan, “Oleg Cassini, Created Jackie 6. Ibid., 92. Look,” Washington Post, March 19, 2006.

Kennedy’s 7.

Ibid., 152.

10. Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 307.

8. Ibid., 217.

11.

Oleg Cassini, A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing Jacqueline 9. Quoted Patricia Sullivan, Created1995), Jackie43.

Kennedyinfor the White House“Oleg (NewCassini, York: Rizzoli, Kennedy’s Look,” Washington Post, March 12. Cassini, A Thousand Days of Magic, 221 19, 2006.

10.

307.

13. Cassini, Cassini, In In My My Own Own Fashion, Fashion, 307.

11.

Oleg Cassini, A Thousand Days of Magic: Dressing 14. Quoted in Cassini, A Thousand Days of Magic, 213. Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House (New York: Rizzoli, 1995), 43.

12.

13. Cassini, In My Own Fashion, 307.

14. Quoted in Cassini, A Thousand Days of Magic, 213.

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Teardrops of the MOON Memories of Designing Jewelry for the First Ladies BRUCE WHITE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE HISTORICA L A SS OCIATION

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One of Martha Washington’s favorite pins was a dove made with tiny seed pearls that is on view at Mount Vernon. Abigail Adams wore pink faux glass pearls that are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Dolley Madison had such a great love of fashion and jewelry that she was said to look like a queen even when she wore only a single strand of pearls. Ida McKinley loved pearls so much she had them sewn into her inaugural dress. Eleanor Roosevelt often wore her three-strand pearl necklace, while Mamie Eisenhower was more comfortable wearing a single strand for her official engagements. It was Jacqueline Kennedy, however, who brought the pearl to the attention of a whole new generation. People around the world admired her iconic faux triple-strand pearl necklace, made even more famous when a photograph was taken of her young son, John, pulling at it.

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A display in Ann Hand’s Georgetown boutique holds examples of her American Collection, which has been popular with first ladies for many years. Framed pictures on the shelves include both Republicans and Democrats wearing such patriotic symbols as the American flag and the American Eagle fashioned in gold and pearls.

J O H N F. K E N N E D Y P R E S I D E N T I A L L I B R A R Y A N D M U S E U M

when i was asked to write an article for White House History Quarterly on first ladies and their jewelry, I hesitated. I’m a jewelry designer and do not consider myself a writer, but I have had the good fortune to create jewelry designs for several first ladies for more than three decades. In the course of collaborating with these wonderful women, I have had to do research on my own about former first ladies, and I discovered that no matter their century or their party affiliation, the one thing that has united every single first lady from Martha Washington to Melania Trump is the pearl. Often referred to as moonlight in miniature or teardrops of the moon, the pearl has been a symbol of elegance, beauty, and grace for thousands of years, and it’s easy to understand why pearls have been worn by our first ladies in hair combs, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and brooches since our nation was born.

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As America matured, so did our expectations of our first ladies. In the nineteenth century, Dolley Madison and Mary Todd Lincoln had a keen interest in jewelry, as did Harriet Lane, President James Buchanan’s 26-yearold niece and frequent White House hostess. But it was Mrs. Kennedy who, once again, redefined the role of first lady as fashion trendsetter. The advent of television brought her 1962 tour of

the White House into millions of living rooms, and from that moment forward women across America became even more interested and fascinated by “all things Jackie.” She wore jewelry all the time—lots of beautiful pearls, gold bracelets, dangling earrings, and necklaces. I remember when she went to Paris with the president and wore an enormous brooch as part of her beautiful bouffant hair style. The brooch placed in her hair was so well received that Jean Louis, her hair stylist, often incorporated jewelry into the styles he created for her. No one had ever seen such a glamorous first lady.

I was a shy, naïve 24-year-old who had lived a very sheltered life growing up in Houston, Texas, when I first met Lady Bird Johnson. She was such a gracious woman, and I looked up to her from the moment I met her in 1957 to the day she died in 2007. Her tastes were much different from Mrs Kennedy’s. She took a very low-key approach to jewelry and never wore anything that shouted “Here I am!”

Mrs. Johnson gravitated more toward a string of pearls with no clasp that was easy to throw on at the last minute for any occasion. Over the years she accumulated a great collection of jewelry, and upon her death, requested that one

Martha Washington, America’s first first lady, set the stage for the women who followed her in the role by wearing pearls.

The dove made with tiny seed pearls (above) was one of her favorite pieces. In the midtwentieth century, pearls were a wardrobe staple for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (opposite). Mrs. Kennedy’s young son John was captured in this famous photograph pulling on her triple-strand pearls. First Lady Lady Bird Johnson (right, seated far left) was known to wear a single strand for any occasion. A young Ann Hand is seen here seated second from right in President Lyndon Johnson’s Oval Office.

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necklace is faux or the real thing. Pearls also were the go-to gem for every first lady after Jacqueline Kennedy. Pat Nixon wore a beautiful pearl choker in her official White House portrait, and Betty Ford was often photographed wearing a pearl necklace with matching earrings.

Nancy Reagan’s early days as an actress in Hollywood trained her well to pay attention to details in fashion. Her earrings and necklaces were tailored to complement the Adolfo knit suits she often wore. A string of pearls was frequently mentioned as part of her uniform as first lady. While her jewelry tended to be understated in the

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of her multistone brooches be remade into rings for each of her granddaughters. She and her daughter Lynda were two of my best clients, and I was so touched to learn that Mrs. Johnson was wearing the Liberty Eagle Pin, one of my first designs, when she was laid to rest.

Aside from its long history as one of the most coveted gems, pearls were very practical in the modern era since they didn’t glitter too much on television or detract if an unexpected light hit them at the wrong angle. You can wear pearls morning, noon, and night, dress them up or down, and in this day of constant scrutiny, no one ever knows if that pearl

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Ann Hand’s gold Liberty Eagle pin (above) styled with a large pearl and a ruby eye has been a favorite of both Republican and Democratic first ladies for decades. Lady Bird Johnson (opposite) and Nancy Reagan (right) were often photographed wearing the pin. white house history quarterly

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left

daytime, few women could match Mrs. Reagan’s elegant stylishness on formal occasions. I remember going to a party the Reagans held for the president of the Philippines. It was on a luminous moonlit evening, and she looked magnificent. Years later, I was happy to learn that Mrs. Reagan also wore my Liberty Eagle Pin. I had the most contact with former First Lady Hillary Clinton. I found her to be absolutely engaging. She was fun, charming, and understood how jewelry could bring out the beauty in a woman.

She loved pearls and was the first to wear my Liberty Eagle Pin. I noticed a real shift during the Clinton administration in the use of jewelry as a means of diplomacy. Mrs. Clinton particularly liked to wear jewelry from our American collection—the eagle, the American flag, the Great Seal—when she would travel overseas, and she often gave these symbols of the American story in silver and gold as official gifts to foreign officials.

Laura Bush also liked wearing a strand of pearls, as did her mother-inlaw, Barbara Bush. Laura Bush was always so thoughtful and appreciative of

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everything we designed for her. Once she brought her entire Dallas garden club to our first store—a small cottage I had built in the garden behind our home in Washington, D.C. On a whim, I created a special pin for her that was inspired by her little dog Barney; I called

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Ann Hand recalls that First Lady Hillary Clinton loved to wear pearls and was the first to wear the Liberty Eagle pin. Mrs. Clinton often visited Ann Hand in her studio (below).

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One of many pieces Ann Hand designed for First Lady Laura Bush was a special pin inspired by her Scottish terrier, Barney.

His head could be positioned to look ahead or to the side. Mrs. Bush is seen wearing the pin during a visit to Hand’s studio.

After Barney’s death Ann Hand gave the inventory of pins to Mrs. Bush to share with her friends.

it the Barney Pin. She ended up giving that pin to many of her friends, and after Barney died, I sent her the remaining Barney Pins we had in our inventory.

She wrote me a beautiful letter and told me how much that pin always meant to her, especially now that Barney was gone.

I met Michelle Obama on several occasions and was always impressed with the care she gave to coordinating her jewelry with the clothes she wore.

Large brooches or dangling earrings looked great on her, and, of course, she wore a string of pearls for her first official portrait.

Melania Trump has exquisite taste for understatement in clothes and jewelry. She was once a professional model and delivered on everyone’s expectations that she would bring a beauty and glamor to her role as first lady. She, too, white house history quarterly

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has worn pearls on multiple occasions and also regards jewelry as a perfect gift for guests to the White House or when she travels abroad.

I never stop feeling grateful when I see a first lady wearing one of my pearl designs. The pearl has been referred to as a sign of “wisdom acquired through experience,” and that is exactly how I feel about all the first ladies I’ve come to know and admire. I hope future first ladies continue the tradition of wearing these exquisite teardrops of the moon, not just because they are beautiful but as a reminder of what the pearl signifies—women with wisdom acquired through experience. sources “The Meaning and Myths of Pearls,” Bellatory, bellatory.com.

“24 of American First Ladies and Their Pearls,” Ageless Heirlooms, agelessheirlooms.com.

Ann Hand, annhand.com

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First Lady Betty Ford’s Casual ELEGANCE The Style of an Ordinary Woman in Extraordinary Times KRISTIN SKINNER

I am an ordinary woman who was called onstage at an extraordinary time. I was no different once I became First Lady than I had been before. But, through an accident of history, I had become interesting to people.

—Betty Ford, 1978

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EARLY LIFE Elizabeth (“Betty”) Ann Bloomer was born in Chicago, on April 8, 1918, to

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Hortense Neahr Bloomer and William Stephenson Bloomer. After a move to Denver, Betty’s family settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she took and taught dance lessons. As a teenager during the Great Depression, she taught dance to local children to help support her family. She also modeled at Herpolsheimer’s, a department store in the city. Her love of dance and fashion went hand-in-hand. She soon moved to New York City to study with Martha Graham in her prestigious studio and achieved a place in Graham’s auxiliary dance group between 1940 and 1941.2 At age 18, Betty Bloomer began modeling in New York to help supplement her dancing income. She later recalled walking into the office of actor and model agent John Robert Powers, “wearing a tailored brown Chesterfield coat with a brown velvet collar and a large-brimmed brown felt hat pulled down over one eye and flipped up on the other side,” and receiving a “few photograph assignments.” She also did millinery modeling on Seventh Avenue, modeled in fur salons, and held a steady

previous spread

Betty Ford holds the Bible as her husband Gerald Ford takes the Oath of Office as thirtyeighth president of the United States at the White House, August 9, 1974. Administering the oath is Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. above

While working as a dance instructor, future First Lady Betty Bloomer performs in“Fantasy” wearing a costume of her own design. opposite clockwise from top left:

Betty Bloomer strikes a pose during her modeling career in New York City.

Wearing a satin sapphire blue dress with matching shoes and hat, bride Betty Bloomer Ford emerges from the Grace Episcopal Church with Gerald Ford on their wedding day, October 15, 1948.

By 1958, Gerald Ford was a congressman and the family had grown to include four children, seen here in the dining room of their home at 514 Crown View Drive, Alexandria, Virginia.

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an unexpected second and first lady, Betty Ford inherited the national spotlight when her husband Gerald R. Ford became the thirty-eighth president of the United States on August 9, 1974.

As first lady she exemplified a modern woman who advocated for women’s rights. Her colorful wardrobe reflected her personality, and her garment choices echoed her demanding schedule.

Many pieces were multifunctional and comfortable as well as stylish, fitting a modern lifestyle. She patronized both well-established and up-and-coming American designers while taking cost into consideration. First lady during years of dramatic inflation, she vowed to purchase affordable clothing, often offthe-rack, which she could wear multiple times.1 Together three designers most notably met her standards and shaped a distinctive style as a modern first lady: Frankie Welch, Albert Capraro, and Luis Estévez.

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job at the Sacony dress house, where she worked in the showroom and modeled for fashion shows.3 At the urging of her mother, Betty returned to Grand Rapids in 1941. During this time she married childhood acquaintance Bill Warren. Betty and Bill, who worked in the insurance business, moved to New York and then to Ohio in the Toledo area, where Betty worked in a department store. They ultimately moved back to Grand Rapids, and she again worked at Herpolsheimer’s, soon promoted to fashion coordinator. The job allowed her to travel to New York to meet with designers and to see the current styles. Bill and Betty divorced when she was 29, and Betty decided to focus on a career in the fashion field.4 Around this time Betty became acquainted with Gerald (“Jerry”) R. Ford, a local football hero she had heard of in school. They married about a year later, on Friday, October 15, 1948, with Betty wearing a satin sapphire blue dress with matching shoes and hat. Soon after the wedding Gerald Ford was elected to Congress, representing the Fifth

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Congressional District of Michigan, and the couple moved to Washington, D.C., where their first two children, Michael Gerald Ford and John Gardner Ford, were born. In 1955 the family moved into their new home in Alexandria, Virginia, where the Ford family would grow in the next two years with the births of Steven Meigs Ford and Susan Elizabeth Ford.

During this time Mrs. Ford, in the interest of her husband’s new political role,

became involved in political functions.

While Gerald Ford was the minority leader of the House of Representatives, she encouraged other Republican wives be more politically active. She reflected that she managed to get women who had never modeled before to chase “up and down runways for charity, and they got so they liked it.”5 She would later bring this enthusiasm for public service as well as her personal style to the White House.

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A FASHIONABLE SECOND AND FIRST LADY

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and daughter Susan, to meet with designers and keep current with popular trends. Her fashion selections reflected distinctive 1970s styles—colorful and flowing. Tailored suits, A-line skirts of varying lengths, and evening gowns that draped gracefully were also prevalent, as well as belts worn with dresses to define the waistline. Also popular were garments with a casual fit for comfort and soft lines that contoured the body.

Mrs. Ford’s fashion combined such styles with sophistication, and leading fashion experts took notice: she made the International Best-Dressed List in 1975, the first time in three years that a woman married to a high-level government official had been thus honored.9 Betty Ford’s choice of the principal designers for her wardrobe—Frankie Welch, Albert Capraro, and Luis Estévez—further cemented her place as a stylish first lady.10

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With the assistance of her daughter Susan, Betty Ford carefully selected a green dress to wear to the White House following the announcement that President Nixon had nominated her husband to be his vice president.

Seen here in the Blue Room are Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, and Gerald Ford, October 13, 1973. opposite

Following the announcement that upon Richard Nixon’s resignation, her husband would become the thirty-eighth president of the United States, Betty Ford greeted the press in front of her Alexandria home wearing a brightly colored shirt waist dress printed with state flowers, August 8, 1974.

NATIONAL AR CHIV ES

In 1973, following the resignation of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, President Richard M. Nixon nominated Gerald Ford as vice president, and Mrs. Ford found she was going to be the “second lady.” She had little time to pick a dress before heading to the White House for the swearing-in ceremony, recalling that “it can’t be a print, and it can’t be black, and it should be a pretty color.” Her teenage daughter Susan decided on a green dress for her mother to wear. In 1974, President Nixon resigned, and when she learned that she was going to be the first lady, Betty Ford greeted the press wearing a “sprightly, multicolored shirtwaist” created by the local designer Frankie Welch.6 The dress was made of SuPima cotton, a fine pima cotton of the American-Egyptian variety, with flowers of the fifty states printed on the fabric. Mrs. Ford was fashion-conscious and knew that it was important to look presentable even when she was rushed.7 As first lady, Mrs. Ford utilized her style to convey elegance while also stressing the importance of an affordable wardrobe. At the time the first family moved into the White House in 1974, inflation was increasing rapidly and the unemployment rate was higher than it had been at the end of the Great Depression. To combat the ailing economy, President Ford enacted his “Whip Inflation Now” program, focusing on reducing federal spending and calling on Americans to be more careful with their purchases.8 First Lady Betty Ford echoed her husband’s stance on spending by pledging to purchase clothing from American designers at affordable prices, often off-the-rack.

Mrs. Ford’s focus on affordability did not hinder her wardrobe choices.

She traveled to New York many times with her social secretary, Nancy Howe,

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One designer Mrs. Ford knew well before becoming first lady was Frankie Welch. Born in Rome, Georgia, Welch studied clothing and design at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

She moved with her family to Wisconsin and then Alexandria, Virginia, where she taught home economics in local schools. She also conducted courses in fashion selection, which wives of politicians attended, and provided private services such as wardrobe consultation and personal shopping for clients. In 1963 she opened her shop, Frankie Welch of Virginia, in Old Town Alexandria.11 In the 1960s Welch gained national recognition for her versatile dress design called “The Frankie” as well as for her scarf designs. “The Frankie” came in a variety of fabrics, tied at the waist, and, because it could be worn multiple ways, became popular wear for multiple occasions. Welch’s scarf designs were also admired, and in 1966 Virginia Rusk, wife of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, asked Welch for an American design suitable for presidential gifts to foreign dignitaries. Inspired by her heritage— her maternal great-great-grandmother belonged to the Cherokee Native American nation—Welch designed a “Cherokee Alphabet” scarf for Rusk. Her design was very popular, and in 1968 First Lady Lady Bird Johnson asked her to design a “Discover America” scarf to help promote her beautification program. The “Discover America” theme would be used for the first fashion show in the White House. Other designs included an official scarf for members of Congress, a “Moving Forward” design for Richard Nixon, and a colorful polka dot and floral design made for Betty Ford.12 Welch was a well-known designer when Mrs. Ford became taken with her

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shop on Cameron Street in Alexandria in the 1960s. Welch offered a variety of fabrics—chiffons, linens, synthetics, cottons, satins—to her clients. The prices of many of her dresses were also in an affordable range of $40 to $150. While this price range was above the cost of the average wardrobe, Mrs. Ford’s fashion choices were still price-conscious compared with high-end styles, especially considering her role in the national spotlight.13 The variety and prices were ideal for Mrs. Ford, and she continued to purchase both formal and everyday pieces

Betty Ford and Frankie Welch unveil a scarf designed by Welch for the first lady (below) and pose with S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, (opposite right) as Mrs. Ford donates a gown to the Smithsonian Institution, June 24, 1976. Mrs. Ford chose an orange two-piece sweater and skirt by Frankie Welch for her official photograph taken on the Truman Balcony (opposite left).

NATIONAL AR CHIV ES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

FRANKIE WELCH

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from Welch after she became first lady.

Welch described the first lady’s style as tailored, a “casual elegance,” and observed that she held onto her clothes regardless of whether they were out of season.14 Budget-conscious, she often wore garments, including Welch designs, to multiple events.

Mrs. Ford’s tastes encompassed colorful fabrics, including materials brought back from a trip to Asia. A gown she especially favored was designed by Welch and made by the Japanese-born seamstress Mariko Marshall. The palegreen full-length gown of Chinese silk features floral embroidery, long sleeves, a collar with a V-shaped open neckline, Empire waist, and back zipper closure. Mrs. Ford was photographed in the Treaty Room wearing the gown on October 6, 1975, was painted wearing it in a family portrait by John Ulbricht, and wore it to the State Dinner for President Giovanni Leone of Italy on September 25, 1974.15 A similar gown was donated to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History on June 16, 1976. This satin chiffon fulllength gown features chrysanthemum embroidery and sequin embellishment, an Empire waist, and a front zipper closure. An identical gown was made for a donation to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Mrs. Ford also wore this gown to multiple events including the State Dinner for the shah of Iran on May 15, 1975, and the State Dinner for King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain on June 2, 1976.16 Another iconic Welch ensemble is a bright orange knit jersey two-piece sweater and skirt. The sweater features a turtleneck, four decorative buttons along both bottom sides, and back zipper closure. The ensemble reflected Mrs. Ford’s love of color and her vibrant personality. She wore this ensemble for Gerald Ford’s swearing-in ceremony as vice president as well as for her first

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official photograph as first lady.17 These pieces showcase the first lady’s taste in color, fit, and use of multipurpose garments. They also display Welch’s knowledge of Betty Ford’s style—a trait of a good designer. Having known Mrs. Ford prior to her tenure in the White House, Welch was familiar with her client’s need to look fashionable while also being able to work comfortably in her clothing. As Welch put it, Betty Ford had a “non-fancy, not fussy look. The tailored look can go anywhere and is timeless and classic. She could go anywhere wearing the clothes we worked together to have for her.”18

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F R A N K I E W E L C H : Tailored and Timeless

This formal white crepe gown trimmed with ostrich feathers was worn by Betty Ford on August 16, 1974, to a State Dinner honoring King Hussein of Jordan; December 6, 1974, to the National Symphony Ball at the Shoreham Hotel; November 24, 1975, to the Judiciary Dinner at the White House; and January 7, 1977, to the Chowder and Marching Society and S.O.S. Members Dinner.

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This brocade pink and white gown featuring long sleeves and a rounded neckline was worn by Betty Ford September 4, 1975, to a performance of Mack and Mabel at the Kennedy Center; February 5, 1975, to a State Dinner honoring Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan; and July 17, 1975, for a State Dinner and Rhine River Cruise in Germany.

This olive green gown embroidered with flowers and featuring a high, open neckline and an Empire waist was worn

by Betty Ford for a September 19, 1974, Horst P. Horst photograph for Vogue; for a September 25, 1974, State Dinner honoring President Giovanni Leone of Italy; on May 20, 1975, for a ribbon-cutting on the fiftieth anniversary of the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery; and for her October 6, 1975, official photograph in Treaty Room.

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Betty Ford wore this blue and gold checked gown on December 5, 1974, to a State Dinner honoring Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of Germany.

This lemon yellow chiffon, polka dot gown was layered over a solid yellow spaghetti-strapped gown. It was worn

by Mrs. Ford on September 12, 1974, to a State Dinner honoring Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel.

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This brocade dark pink gown with gold embroidery features a high neck at the back, a V-neck in front and long sleeves.

Mrs. Ford wore the gown December 10, 1974, to a Chinese Archaeological Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art; December 17, 1974, to a Christmas ball for members of the cabinet and Congress and for a photograph with President Ford by the White House Christmas tree.

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A L B E RT C A P R A RO Like Welch, the designer Albert Carpraro helped Betty Ford acquire clothing that was suitable for her role as first lady. Capraro had been born in Manhattan and attended the Parsons School of Design in New York City. He worked for Oscar de la Renta and developed a boutique collection.

Experimenting with new shapes and soft fabrics, he focused on “making clothes simpler as he saw lives grow more complicated.”19 Capraro had been in business for only six months when Nancy Howe called him after First Lady Betty Ford saw his designs in the Washington Star.

She liked likedthat thathehewas was American anan American dedesigner workingwith withAmerican American fabrics signer working making affordable clothes in the $80 to $200 range. At their introductory

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meeting on January 8, 1975, meeting onWednesday, Wednesday, January 8, the first 1975, thelady, first ever lady, budget-conscious, ever budget-contold Capraro that shethat wanted a spring scious, told Capraro she wanted a wardrobe that would comfortable spring wardrobe that be would be comand multipurpose.

She purchased fortable and multipurpose.

She purtwelve twelve pieces off-the-rack chased pieces off-the-rack from from Capraro’s spring collection, including day and evening dresses. The dresses were “softer and more casual than she has worn before, and all with hemlines comfortably covering the knee.”20 For fall State Dinners and receptions, she commissioned five more evening dresses dresses to to be be made made with with the the silk brocades and organzas acquired on President Ford’s visit to Asia.21 This first meeting was just a few months after the first lady’s diagnosis of breast cancer and subsequent mastectomy. She did not let her procedure limit her wardrobe and found that she “could wear just about everything.”22 However, she was conscious about sleeve length and liked to have her upper arms covered. She did not want to

wear solely high necklines, however, and chose V-necks that did not plunge too far. Mrs. Ford liked Capraro’s designs for helping her to feel comfortable, confident, and stylish while tending to her duties as first lady. Capraro met with her once onceaamonth, month,and andalso also became a became a fa23 23 favorite designer Susan Ford. vorite designer ofof Susan Ford.

Mrs. Ford’s purchases from Capraro reflected her need for multipurpose daily-use garments, including ensembles with quilted jackets. A daily-use ensemble from Capraro’s 1975–76 Resort Line that she wore on a number of occasions features a calico cotton print with jersey fabric, fashioned into button-down slim dress with tab pockets and beige stitched collar and cuffs. A matching quilted calico blazer with a four-button closure and deep front pockets was also part of the ensemble. Albert used the same fabric in a similar look—a four-piece suit that included a wrap skirt to match the blazer, khaki shirt, and matching brown cotton

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tank top. Betty Ford wore the dress and blazer during the State Visit of French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing on May 20, 1976, and during a visit home to Michigan on September 15, 1976.24 Another 1975–76 Resort Line design much loved by Mrs. Ford was a violet and white floral print cotton button-down slim dress with tab pockets and matching quilted jacket with

two-button closure and deep front pockets. She wore the set as well as just the dress during her campaign trip to Texas on April 21, 1976, and during President Ford’s whistle-stop tour of Michigan on May 15, 1976. In Texas she wore a violet cotton jersey tank, as recommended by Albert.25 Capraro’s formal gowns designed for the first lady included a floor-length

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Designer Alberto Capraro attached a note to Mrs. Ford on a set of his proposed designs with fabric swatches explaining she could make choices about the gowns after the fitting. top

Mrs. Ford discusses proposed gown designs with Capraro at the White House. bottom

This Capraro calico ensemble with quilted jacket was worn by Mrs. Ford during a campaign trip with her husband, September 15, 1976.

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two-piece suit ($180); a brown and pink floral-printed voile gown with a deep neck ($120); a peach Moroccan printed chiffon gown (under $200); an emerald, garnet, and pink floral-printed tent with a flowing scarf ($180); a challis chiffon gown with a capelet (under $200); and a cream chamois suit with a navy silk shirt (also under $200). The styles, fabrics, colors, and prices matched Mrs. Ford’s wardrobe and would be available to the public in the spring and summer. The American woman could “act like Betty Ford. Look like Betty Ford. Wear clothes—just like Betty Ford’s.”30

President Ford pose with Betty Ford and woreMrs. Capraro’s floor-length President and hisgown wife, to Siti pale pink Suharto chiffon evening the Hartinah, and dancers in the Istana annual Governors’ Dinner at the White Negara February Performance Hall during a House, 23, 1976.

The dress visit to Jakarta, Indonesia, December was embellished with silver in sequins 1975.

The first lady wears a sleeveless in stripes and circular motifs, which chiffon gown with Capraroevening called “cracked icematching embroidery.” cape and scarf by Albert Capraro.

AE LF L TI:MNAAGTEISO N TH I SASRPCRHEIAVDE:S GAENRDA L FD O SR D RE SID NAT TIA L AL RD E CRO. R A DPM IN S TER I OLNL I B R A R Y A N D M U S E U M OPPOSITE: GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

aqua chiffon evening gown with a high neck, back zipper closure, and matching chiffon scarf as well as a cape. The dress was sleeveless, but the cape provided coverage of her upper arms. Capraro sent a letter to Mrs. Ford with his design, dated June 15, 1975, explaining, “Sketched is the mint-green chiffon cape dress. It is ready for a fitting. I’ve left the neck scarf for you to decide how you’d like it. During fittings you can decide.”26 This note reveals the way Capraro collaborated with the first lady to make successful designs. She wore the gown to multiple multipleevents events including a State including a dinner in Dinner foron Indonesia on5,December Indonesia December 1975, and 5, a 1975, and a fund-raiser Republican at fund-raiser at Republican the Waldorf the Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York Astoria Hotel in New Yorkinon June 17, 27 on June 17, 1976.27 1976.

A gown that further showcased Capraro’s eye for design combined with Mrs. Ford’s style and preferences is a floor-length pale pink chiffon evening gown with a high neck and long sleeves decorated with silver sequins adhered to the top layer in stripes and circular motifs, along with a back zipper closure. Capraro called the motif “cracked ice embroidery.”

The design for this dress was also sent to Mrs. Ford with a note from Capraro: “When we fit you can decide if you want it or not.”28 She decided to purchase the gown, surely appreciating the high neck and long, elegant sleeves. She wore it to several events including the Governors’ Dinner on February 23, 1976, and the Jewish National Fund Dinner for the American Bicentennial National Park in Israel on June 22, 1976.29 Such Capraro designs were so admired by the public that the “Betty Ford Look” was debuted in Los Angeles in March 1975. The Cedars-Sinai Women’s Guild held a fashion show and luncheon at the Beverly Hilton, featuring prominent American designers including Capraro. Pieces included a beige silk tent dress ($80); a tobacco chamois

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Betty Ford, seen with television producer Ed Weinberger and actress Mary Tyler Moore, chose a brightly colored Capraro gown for her cameo appearance on the Mary Tyler Moore Show in which she played herself in 1975. right

In August 1976 Mrs. Ford wore a sandstone striped Capraro gown to the State Dinner honoring President Urho Kekkonen of Finland, where she danced with singer Tony Orlando.

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First Lady Betty Ford wore this multicolored dress with geometric stripes and gold sparkle dashes on September 22, 1976, to a reciprocal reception with President William Tolbert of Liberia; and on March 30, 1976, to a Helen Reddy concert in Washington, D.C.

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This ivory, brocade gown featuring a gold spider mum design and fur cuffs was worn by Betty Ford on December 17, 1975, to a congressional ball at the White House; on January 5, 1976, to a cabinet dinner; on January 27, 1976, to a State Dinner for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel; and on December 9, 1976, to a congressional ball.

This aqua chiffon gown features a high neck, an attached cape, and a chiffon scarf. It was worn by Mrs. Ford on August 4, 1975, to a State Dinner in Romania; on December 5, 1975, to a State Dinner in Indonesia; on June 17, 1976, to a New York State fund-raiser at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel; and for a January 6, 1977, Yousuf Karsh photograph at the White House.

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A L B E RT C A P R A RO : Comfortable and Multipurpose

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Betty Ford wore this colorful chiffon silk floral print gown to a May 8, 1975, State Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore; and for a November 17, 1975, appearance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

This chiffon gown features a sandstonestripe design in two layers. It was worn by Betty Ford to an August 3, 1976, State Dinner in honor of President Urho Kekkonen of Finland.

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This blue, damask “Chinese Look” dress with a bow at the neck and pleated skirt was worn by Mrs. Ford on March 28, 1976, to a radio and television correspondents’ dinner; on March 31, 1976, to a reciprocal reception hosted

by King Hussein of Jordan and the Congress; to a November 2, 1976, election night party at the White House; to a November 20, 1976, dinner with President Ford and Vice President and Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller in New York and on many other occasions after leaving the White House.

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Like Capraro, the designer Luis Estévez marketed his creations for First Lady Betty Ford. Born in Cuba, Estévez Esteves studied architecture at the University of Havana before enrolling in the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York. He designed window displays for Lord and Taylor and opened a business on Seventh Avenue in 1955.

Dubbed a “one-year wonder” by Life magazine in 1956, he found success quickly. The article described his necklines that “cross, scoop, drape and cling to form tricky geometric patterns on the wearer’s shoulders.”31 He soon moved to Los Angeles and opened a boutique on Melrose Avenue, designing costumes for film and television.32 Like Welch and Capraro, Estévez created affordable styles, with form-fitting evening and cocktail dresses ranging from $55 to $150. He believed clothing should “support a woman,” stemming

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from from his his time time spent spent studying studying archiarchitecture.

He also believed tecture. He also believed that that clothing clothing could could be be attractive attractive as as well well as as comfortcomfortable, letting letting the the wearer’s wearer’s “personality “personality able, 33 Such affordability, come through.”33 come through.”

Such affordability, comfort, and form comfort, and form perfectly perfectly matched matched the first lady’s style. the first lady’s style.

Estévez was was aa well-established well-established dedeEstévez signer with Hollywood clientele when signer with Hollywood clientele when he Springs, he met met Betty Betty Ford Ford in in Palm Palm Springs, California, in 1975.

She wanted California, in 1975. She wanted to to order order his designs designs at at their their first first meeting, meeting, and and his although Estévez wanted to create origalthough Estévez wanted to create original designs just just for for her, her, she she stuck stuck with with inal designs her budget-conscious decision. her budget-conscious decision. The The compromise was was that that he he would would design design compromise specifically specifically for for the the first first lady, lady, and and with with her agreement he would release her agreement he would release the the same same pieces pieces in in his his collection collection after after she she wore them. them. He He stated stated that that he he “talked “talked her her wore into the concept of wearing originals— into the concept of wearing originals— at least for for aa short short time. time. She She just just wanted wanted at least 34 34 to buy from the open line.” to buy from the open line.”

As with and Capraro deAs withher herWelch Welch and Capraro signs, Mrs. Ford wore Estévez pieces designs, Mrs. Ford wore Estévez pieces more more than than once. once. A A piece piece designed designed for for her that she wore to multiple her that she wore to multiple events events

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LUIS ESTÉVEZ

was was an an orange, orange, pink, pink, and and red-layered red-layered full-length chiffon gown full-length chiffon gown with with spaspaghetti straps and a back zipper ghetti straps and a back zipper closure. closure.

The The gown gown includes includes aa matching matching chiffon chiffon cape—a staple in the cape—a staple in the first first lady’s lady’s style. style.

The cape offered her coverage while The cape offered her coverage while alalmost most seamlessly seamlessly blending blending into into the the gown. gown.

She She wore wore the the gown gown for for the the State State Dinner Dinner for President Alfonso López for President Alfonso López Michelsen Michelsen 35 of of Colombia Colombia on on September September 25, 25, 1975.

1975.35 Another Another formal formal gown gown designed designed for for Mrs. Ford was an orange Mrs. Ford was an orange chiffon chiffon fullfulllength length gown gown with with silver silver sequin sequin decodecoration in an allover floral pattern ration in an allover floral pattern that that also also borders borders the the waist waist and and long long sleeves sleeves as as well well as as goes goes down down the the low low back, back, with with back zipper closure.

A matching back zipper closure. A matching chifchiffon scarf completes the look.

Mrs. Ford fon scarf completes the look. Mrs. Ford would would have have been been comfortable comfortable with with the the high neckline and felt at ease high neckline and felt at ease in in the the flowing, flowing, light light material. material. She She wore wore this this gown to multiple formal events includgown to multiple formal events including ing the the American American Film Film Institute Institute Life Life Achievement Award Dinner Achievement Award Dinner honorhonoring ing William William Wyler Wyler in in Los Los Angeles, Angeles, on on March 9, 1976, and a State Dinner March 9, 1976, and a State Dinner in in 36 Madrid, Madrid, Spain, Spain, on on May May 31, 31, 1975.

1975.36 An An additional additional dress dress suitable suitable for for the the first lady was an eagle print dress. first lady was an eagle print dress. Along Along with with depictions depictions of of eagles, eagles, the the white white dress dress includes a high collar, long sleeves, includes a high collar, long sleeves, and and aa back back zipper zipper closure. closure. Mrs. Mrs. Ford Ford wore wore aa blue blue belt belt with with the the dress. dress. A A blue blue knit knit cape cape with identical eagle print lining and with identical eagle print lining and top top three three button button closure closure complements complements the the dress. ensemble was was worn worn many many dress. This This ensemble times lady. She She wore wore the the times by by the the first first lady. dress dress to to the the reception reception for for President President Ford’s election committee on April April 12, 12, Ford’s election committee on 1976, as well as on May 16, 1976, for his 1976, as well as on May 16, 1976, for his whistle-stop Such dewhistle-stoptour tourofofMichigan.

Michigan.

Such signs were fitting withwith Mrs.Mrs. Ford’sFord’s style designs were fitting while also showcasing Estévez’s eye for style while also showcasing Estévez’s design.

Designing for her meant createye for design. Designing for her meant ing modest pieces fit forfitAmerica’s first creating modest pieces for America’s lady.

Estévez remarked, “She “She has defifirst lady.

Estévez remarked, has nitely influenced me toward covered-up definitely influenced me toward covfashionsfashions that are that moreare elegant than of ered-up more elegant the Hollywood starlet attention-getting than of the Hollywood starlet atten37 variety.” tion-getting variety.”37

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Betty Ford meets with designer Luis Estévez in the White House.

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Mrs. Ford chose a green Estévez gown for the State Dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth July 7, 1976. She is seen here dancing with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

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This green floor-length gown with flowing, sheer sleeves, and a tie-belt at its waist, features a top made of lace and sequined flowers. It was worn by First Lady Betty Ford to a July 7, 1976, State Dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh of Great Britain.

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This white dress features an eagle print, a high neck, long sleeves and is accompanied by a blue, knit cape with the same eagle print lining the inside.

It was worn by Betty Ford to a March 22, 1976, luncheon for the Committee for the Preservation of the White House; on April 1, 1976, to a Medal of Freedom Ceremony for Arthur Rubinstein, to an April 12, 1976, Reception at the White House; on a May 8, 1976, visit to the Truman Library; on May 15, 1976, in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and to a July 16, 1976, arrival ceremony for Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of Germany

Mrs. Ford wore this dark brown, jersey gown with a white cape and a train down the back to an October 27, 1975, State Dinner in honor of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt.

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L U I S E S TAV É Z : Affordability, Comfort, and Form

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This full-length, mauve-pink dress features bugle beads at the wrists, waist, neckline, and the ends of the matching scarf.

Mrs. Ford wore the dress on May 29, 1975, to a Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition with Queen Fabiola; on July 11, 1975, to a MidAmerica Committee Dinner in Chicago; to a November 22, 1975, Moscow State Symphony performance at the Kennedy Center; on May 18, 1976, to a reciprocal dinner at the French Embassy by President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing of France; and on December 6, 1976, to a State Dinner for Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti of Italy.

This chiffon pale blue and green floral dress with sheer sleeves features two belts and a scarf. It was worn by Mrs. Ford on May 17, 1976, to the State Dinner honoring President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing of France; and on July 27, 1976, to a State Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of Australia.

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Mrs. Ford wore this orange, pink, and red layered chiffon gown with matching chiffon cape on September 25, 1975, to a State Dinner in honor of President Alfonso LÓpez Michelsen of Colombia; on a November 3, 1975, trip to Jacksonville, Florida; and on April 16, 1979, to an E.M.C. Dedication Dinner.

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BETTY FORD’S STYLE LEGACY Frankie Welch, Albert Capraro, and Luis Estévez helped First Lady Betty Ford in dressing the part as a modern first lady. Their clothing allowed her to be comfortable yet stylish as well as confident that what she was wearing reflected her personal style. Her style choices were keeping with period trends while representing an economy-conscious and working woman. They also reflected her vibrant personality and fashion knowledge. Fashion makes a statement, especially for those in the public eye, and Mrs. Ford’s style statement was summed up perfectly by Welch: “casual elegance.” It was an approachable grace reserved for a proactive first lady who paved the way for first ladies to come.38

notes

The author thanks James Draper, collections manager at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who shared scans and images related to Betty Ford’s clothing collection and answered questions about the collections. The resources that he shared are in the collections of the Ford Presidential Museum in two series, Artifacts Relating to the Family of Gerald and Betty Ford, 1977–2016, and Public Gifts Given to President Gerald R. Ford, 1977–2016.

The epigraph is from Betty Ford, with Chris Chase, The Times of My Life (New York: Harper & Row, and Reader’s Digest Association, 1978).

1.

June Weir, “Betty Ford Buys American,” Women’s Wear Daily 130, no. 7 (January 10, 1975), copy in Public Gifts Given to President Gerald R. Ford, 1977–2016, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (hereafter Public Gifts, Ford Museum).

2. Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, 5–6, 8, 18, 24– 31; “Timeline of Elizabeth (Betty) Bloomer Ford’s Life and Career,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, online at https://www. fordlibrarymuseum.gov.

3. Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, 28–29.

4. “Timeline of Elizabeth (Betty) Bloomer Ford’s Life and Career”; Ford with Chase, Times of My Life, 36, 39–41, 43.

5. “Timeline of Elizabeth (Betty) Bloomer Ford’s Life and Career”; Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, ix, 45, 55, 58, 79, 122.

6. Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, 147.

7. Susan Bluttman, “Frankie Welch’s Boutique— Where Mrs. Ford Shops,” People, September 16, 1974; “‘Just a Shop Owner’: Eleni on Fashion,” Washington Star-News, August 11, 1974, D5; Phyllis G. Tortora and Robert S. Merkel, Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, 7th ed. (New York: Fairchild Publications, 2006), 425, 553.

8. Douglas Brinkley, Gerald R. Ford (New York: Times Books, 2007), 76–77.

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9. Ford with Chase, Times of My Life, 244; Clare Hibbert and Adam Hibbert, A History of Fashion and Costume (New York: Facts on File, 2005), 38–40; Phyllis G. Tortora and Sara B. Marcketti, Survey of Historic Costume, 6th ed. (New York: Fairchild Books, 2015), 574; Frederick M. Winship, “Betty Ford Debuts on the Best Dressed List,” Chicago Tribune, March 1, 1975, 13. The list was created by the fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, who polled fashion editors and designers.

10. “Betty Ford’s Gowns and Dresses,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, www.fordlibrarymuseum. gov/. Almost two hundred of Betty Ford’s dresses and gowns are in the collections of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the notes below they are identified by accession number. Each is accompanied by a card with details about the dress and the occasions on which Betty Ford wore it.

11. Ashley Callahan, “Frankie Welch: Americana Fashion Specialist,” Ornament 35, no. 1 (2011): 26–27.

12. Ibid., 27; Frankie Welch, Indian Jewelry: How to Wear, Buy, and Treasure America’s First Fashion Pieces (McLean, Va.: EMP Publications, 1973), 8; Jay Calderín et al., Native Fashion Now: North American Indian Style (Salem, Mass.: Peabody Essex Museum, 2015), 22; Cindy Creasy, “Shop Started to Meet House Payments Is Style Center,” Richmond Times Dispatch, September 11, 1983, K8. Genealogy Bank, online at https:// www.genealogybank.com/. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum has a collection of Welch’s scarves.

13. Bluttman, “Frankie Welch’s Boutique”; Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, 107; Calderín et al., Native Fashion Now, 22.

14. Quoted in Bluttman, “Frankie Welch’s Boutique.”

See also Marian Christy, “Betty Ford’s Style: Modest But Chic,” Boston Globe, December 17, 1974, 18.

15. “‘Just a Shop Owner’: Eleni on Fashion,” 22; gown accession number 1988.1039.13, Artifacts Relating to the Family of Gerald and Betty Ford, 1977–2016, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (hereafter Family Artifacts, Ford Museum).

16. Gown accession number 1988.1039.3, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum.

17. Gown accession number 1983.79, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum.

18. Frankie Welch, interview by Richard Norton Smith. Gerald R. Ford Foundation, online at https://geraldrfordfoundation.org.

19. Bernadine Morris, The Fashion Makers (New York: Random House, 1978), 58. See also “American Chic in Fashion,” Time, March 22, 1976, copy in Public Gifts, Ford Museum.

20. “The New Man in Betty Ford’s Life—Designer Albert Capraro,” People, February 3, 1975, 43.

21. Ibid.; Morris, Fashion Makers, 56; June Weir, “Betty Ford Buys American,” Women’s Wear Daily 130, no. 7 (January 10, 1975), copy in Capraro files, Ford Museum; “New Man in Betty Ford’s Life.”

22. Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, 192.

23. “New Man in Betty Ford’s Life”; Weir, “Betty Ford Buys American”; Marian Christy, “Albert Capraro Loves Betty Ford,” Hartford Times, February

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1, 1976, copy in Capraro files, Ford Museum; Morris, Fashion Makers, 58. Ford stated that she went from size 10 to size 6 because of her cancer treatments. Ford, with Chase, Times of My Life, 192–93.

24. Gown accession number 1987.690.4, and Capraro design, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum; Capraro designs, Public Gifts, Ford Museum.

25. Gown accession number 1987.690.9, and Capraro designs, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum.

GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

26. Albert Capraro to Betty Ford, June 15, 1975, Gerald Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

27. Gown accession number 1983.20, and Capraro design, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum.

28. Capraro to Betty Ford, June 15, 1975.

29. Gown accession number 1992.94.2, and Capraro design, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum; Capraro designs, Public Gifts, Ford Museum. At the Jewish Fund dinner, the fund’s president, Maurice S. Sage, collapsed, and later died. Edith Evans Asbury, “Betty Ford Offers a Prayer as Jewish Leader Collapses,” New York Times, June 23, 1976.

30. Mary Lou Loper, “Premiere of the Betty Ford Look,” Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1975, G1.

31. “A Success Story in Necklines: Luis Estévez is a One-Year Wonder,” Life, April 2, 1956, 57.

33. Quoted in Morris, Fashion Makers, 70. See also Beth Ann Krier, “The Estévez Formula,” Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1975, F1; Jacobs, “Luis Estévez, a CFDA Loss”; Dale Kern, “The Man Behind the Seams,” Santa Barbara Magazine, August–September 2008.

34. Quoted in Marian Christy, “Estévez Fashions ‘Ford Look,’” Boston Sunday Globe, October 17, 1976, 14. Christy reported that Estévez also designed a bra for Betty Ford to wear following her mastectomy. See also Krier, “Estévez Formula.”

Many of Mrs. Ford’s iconic dresses were included in the Betty Ford: An Extraordinary Life exhibition (above) at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum from October 2010 through February 2011, as well as the In Step with Betty Ford exhibition that marked her 100th birthday in 2018.

35. Gown accession number 1988.1039.17, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum.

36. Gown accession number 1988.1039.5a, Family Artifacts, Ford Museum.

37. Quoted in Christy, “Estévez Fashions ‘Ford Look’”; gown accession number 1983.88.2, Family Artifacts. Ford Museum.

38. Quoted in Bluttman, “Frankie Welch’s Boutique.”

See also Elizabeth Fish Hatfield, “The Checkout Line Perspective: Presidential Politics as Celebrity Popular Culture in People,” in Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics, ed. Justin S. Vaughn and Lilly J. Goren (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2013), 193.

32. Morris, Fashion Makers, 70; Alexandra Jacobs, “Luis Estévez, a CFDA Loss,” New York Times, May 27, 2015. Jacobs reported that Estévez’s clothing also had theatrical themes such as lines influenced by Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” and “Hello Dolly.”

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PRESIDENTIAL SITES Quarterly Feature

A COTTAGE in Denison, Texas The Birthplace of President Dwight D. Eisenhower LONN TAYLOR

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An early twentiethcentury photograph captures Eisenhower’s birthplace in Denison, Texas, after his family had relocated to Abilene, Kansas. left

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separated by a central hallway, with a one-story ell on the back containing a dining room and kitchen, and a porch across the front. Three handsome gables with single windows rose above the porch, providing light for the upstairs rooms. The house was in a working-class neighborhood, and a railroad track ran just 60 feet away, over which fifteen to twenty trains a day trundled by. The house had no running water or indoor plumbing.

When Jennie Jackson learned from Eisenhower’s mother that Denison was indeed the general’s birthplace, she launched a campaign to purchase the house and create what the Dallas Morning News called a “shrine” to the general. The Denison Garden Club formed a committee to raise the funds, and with the support of Mayor W. L. Ashburn, the city of Denison purchased the property from E. H. Mullen, in January 1946 with the intention of beautifying the grounds and furnishing the house to the period of the 1890s but making no structural changes to the building.

B O T H I M A G E S T H I S PA G E : N A T I O N A L A R C H I V E S PREVIOUS SPREAD: TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION

dwight david eisenhower was the first U.S. president born in Texas, but he did not know that he was born in Texas until he was a grown man.

His family was from Kansas. They had lived in Denison, Texas, for three years, between April 1889 and March 1892, and Ike was born there. They moved back to Kansas when he was two years old, and he always assumed that he was born in Kansas.

During World War II, when he was supreme allied commander in Europe, he received a letter from a retired Denison school principal, Miss Jennie Jackson, asking if he was related to the Eisenhowers who had lived across the street from her in Denison in the early 1890s. Eisenhower forwarded the letter to his mother, who told him that he was indeed born in Denison, in a frame cottage that his parents were renting while his father was working as a wiper cleaning machinery in the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway roundhouse nearby.

The modest six-room, story-and-a-half gabled house on the corner of Lamar and Day Streets that the Eisenhowers rented, and in which Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, was built in 1877 as a rental property by William Henry Harrison Schuck, a Civil War veteran from Iowa who worked at the Lone Star Mill in Denison. It changed owners several times, once while the Eisenhowers were renting it, but it remained a rental property until 1915, when it was sold to a family named Mullen, who occupied it for the next three decades.

When the Eisenhowers lived there the house was a standard southern I-type: two rooms downstairs separated by a central hallway, in which there was a staircase leading to two upstairs rooms, also

The earliest known photograph of the future President Eisenhower was taken in 1893 with three of his brothers. Dwight Eisenhower is seen in the front right.

His parents, David and Ida, posed for this wedding photograph in 1885.

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These plans were under way when Eisenhower visited the house on April 20, 1946, accompanied

by Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and seven other congressmen. According to the Dallas Morning News, Miss Jennie Jackson was in the hallway to greet the general with outstretched arms. “So this is Miss Jennie,” he said. “It’s certainly nice to see you.” “It’s nice to see you, too, Dwight,” Miss Jackson answered, and the general gave her a big hug. Eisenhower and the other guests then sat down to a breakfast of ham, eggs, biscuits, toast, flapjacks, relish, strawberries, and coffee hosted by Miss Jackson in the dining room. Afterward there was a parade through town, and the general spoke to a crowd of ten thousand people. Eisenhower returned to Denison and the birthplace in June 1952, during his first campaign for president, and again rode in a parade and made a speech. He returned once more in 1965, after his retirement, when he dedicated the Eisenhower Auditorium at Denison High School. The Dallas Morning News

columnist Frank Tolbert once quoted Eisenhower as saying that “he could be called a Texan if a kitten born in an oven could be called a biscuit,” but he always spoke proudly of his Texas heritage when he was in Denison.

T O P : H A N K WA L K E R / T H E L I F E P I C T U R E C O L L E C T I O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S BOTTOM: ALAMY

After an absence of more than fifty years, Eisenhower returned to Denison in 1946 accompanied by the Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. Then, and again in 1952 ( far right) while campaigning for president, he addressed large crowds and rode in a parade. He spoke proudly of his Texas heritage during the visits.

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From its opening in 1946, the Eisenhower Birthplace was staffed by volunteers and was open to the public only on Sunday afternoons, but in December 1952, a month after Eisenhower’s election as president (he was the second Republican candidate in history to carry Texas), Fred Conn, editor of the Denison Herald, established the Eisenhower Foundation to purchase additional land around the house and transform it into a national tourist attraction. A year later Conn announced that the foundation, now renamed the Eisenhower Birthplace Foundation, would launch a statewide fund-raising effort under the leadership of Fort Worth lawyer Web Maddox, with Eisenhower’s longtime friends and political supporters Amon Carter, publisher of the Fort

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Worth Star-Telegram, and legendary oilman Sid Richardson serving as honorary co-chairs. With Carter’s and Richardson’s backing, the new foundation quickly raised the funds needed to acquire sixteen parcels of land around the house. The foundation moved or demolished the structures on them and landscaped the newly acquired land as a park, giving the urban dwelling a near-rural setting. It also brought in Fort Worth architect Joseph Pelich to examine the birthplace, which Web Maddox described as “about to fall down.”

Pelich determined that several changes had been made to the structure after the Eisenhowers had moved away, and the foundation authorized the removal of a narrow addition along the side of the ell, a reorientation of the staircase, the replacement

Eisenhower’s Birthplace at the corner of Larmar and Day Streets in 2014.

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ALL IMAGES THIS SPREAD: TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION

Clockwise from top left: The dining area, kitchen, main bedroom, and parlor in the Eisenhower Birthplace as they are arranged today for public view.

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State of Texas acquiring the president’s birthplace.

The acquisition was delayed until the fall of 1958, when the Eisenhower Birthplace officially became a Texas State Park. In 2008 the administration of the property, along with a number of other historic sites overseen by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, was transferred to another state agency, the Texas Historical Commission. Today the Eisenhower Birthplace is officially the Eisenhower Birthplace Texas Historic Site, open six days a week with a staff of four full-time and two half-time employees and receiving some fourteen thousand visitors per year.

AP IMAGES

of the window sashes, changes to the front balustrade and porch, and changes to the south and east elevations of the rear ell. This work was carried out in 1956 by a local contractor, Mickey Guise, and a local architect, Donald Mayes.

In 1957 Governor Price Daniel recommended that the Texas Parks Board (now the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) acquire the entire site, and at its August 1957 meeting the Parks Board voted to do so. The next month President Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation at Central High School, and the Parks Board was deluged with letters from members of the public who objected to the

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opposite

A float boasting of Eisenhower’s Texas birth and bearing a replica of his family home in Denison moves past the U.S. Capitol in the president’s inaugural parade, January 1953. right

TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION

In July 1973, Julie Nixon Eisenhower unveiled this bronze sculpture by Robert Lee Dean Jr. of her fatherin-law, which stands within the Eisenhower Birthplace State Park. The president is portrayed in uniform as he appeared during World War II. The inscription reads “This memorial is dedicated to young people everywhere that they may be inspired to greatness by the example of our most distinguished son, Dwight David Eisenhower.”

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REFLECTIONS

Honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower: The 2019 Christmas Ornament each presidents’ day, the white house historical association reveals the design of the next annual White House Christmas Ornament. For the past thirty-eight years, these ornaments have not only been the most identifiable public aspect of the Association’s work but have represented, for hundreds of thousands of Americans, an opportunity to bring a small part of the White House into their homes for the holidays.

As a reader of White House History Quarterly, I want you to be among the first to learn of the 2019 design.

This year, the annual White House Christmas Ornament will honor America’s thirty-fourth president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. For collectors of our ornaments, the choice will not be a surprise, as we feature the presidents sequentially in the order in which they held office, with occasional detours to commemorate significant anniversaries, such as the Bicentennial of the White House in 2000.

The White House Christmas Ornament is a unique teaching tool that gives insight into the administration of each president. In the past, the Association has chosen designs that highlight important “firsts” in presidential and White House history, from President Benjamin Harrison’s introduction of a Christmas tree in the

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Executive Mansion in 1889 to President William Howard Taft’s first use of an automobile for presidential transportation in 1909. The 2019 ornament continues this tradition, but the design is distinctly different from any previously produced by the Association.

In three-dimensional form, the 2019 ornament recognizes Eisenhower as the first commander in chief to use a helicopter for presidential transportation. Selecting both Army and Marine helicopters, President Eisenhower frequently lifted off and landed on the South Lawn of the White House, initiating a scene that has remained iconic for nearly every subsequent administration. Throughout 2019, the Association will engage in collaborations featuring

the presidential use of helicopters, and a future issue of this quarterly journal will tell that story in greater detail.

In addition to their decorative appeal and educational role, the annual White House Christmas Ornament is a fund-raiser that is essential to the ability of the White House Historical Association to provide educational resources, public programs, and support for the conservation and preservation of the White House. The Association is a private, nonpolitical, and nonprofit organization. We receive no government funding or support but are wholly dependent on the generosity of Americans who support our mission through the purchase of these ornaments, our other educational materials, and traditional philanthropy.

Although the 2018 holidays are still recent memories, we hope you will remember this Presidents’ Day to look for the new Eisenhower ornament. The ornament will be available for purchase directly from our website (shop.whitehousehistory.org) as soon as it is unveiled, and corporate and bulk purchases can be arranged through our retail team.

W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N

STEWART D. M C LAURIN PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

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C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : N AT H A N P FA U / W I K I P E D I A / A P P H O T O / G E T T Y I M A G E S

clockwise from top

The VCH-34 presidential helicopter, which carried President Eisenhower, on display at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum.

President Eisenhower arrives via a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter on board the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Des Moines, December 15, 1959.

President Eisenhower and his guest Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev board a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter on the White House lawn for a sightseeing tour over the Nation’s Capital, September 15, 1959.

British former Prime Minister Winston Churchill joins President Eisenhower for a helicopter flight from Gettysburg to the White House.

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WHITE HOUSE HISTORY Quarterly

WHITE HOUSE HISTORY QUARTERLY FEATURES articles on the historic White House, espe-

cially relating to the building itself and life as lived there through the years. The views presented by the authors are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the White House Historical Association.

FRONT COVER: Oleg Cassini’s sketches of his dress designs for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The white silk evening gown with train was worn by Mrs. Kennedy on her trip to India. She wore the red wool dress to lead a televised tour of the White House, February 14, 1962. [ JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY] BACK COVER:

A day day suit suit in inred red wool wool with with matching matching beret designed designedby byOleg OlegCassini Cassinifor forFirst FirstLady LadyJacqueline Jacqueline beret visit to Kennedy’s visit to Canada Canadain inMay May1961 1961was wasone oneofofmany many exhibiiconic examples of her fashions featured in the exhibition tion Jacqueline Kennedy: White House Years the “Jacqueline Kennedy: TheThe White House Years” atat the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.

[PHOTO BY GEORGE DESOTA/NEWSMAKERS] THE WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

was chartered on November 3, 1961, to enhance understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the historic White House. Income from the sale of White House History Quarterly and all the Association’s books and guides is returned to the publications program and is used as well to acquire historical furnishings and memorabilia for the White House.

ADDRESS INQUIRIES TO :

White House Historical Association Association, P.O. Box 27624 Washington, D.C. 20038 books@whha.org © Copyright 2019 by the White House Historical Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the White House Historical Association.

ISSN:

2639-9822

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