10 best inauguration ball gowns: From Michelle Obama to Mamie Eisenhower
Naomi May
When Dolley Madison, wife of the fourth President, James Madison, hosted the first Inauguration Ball in 1809, she sported a scoop-necked, hand-embroidered cream velvet gown with a long and winding train. According to one attendee, Madison’s ensemble “answered all my ideas of royalty.”
In the years since First Ladies have followed in Madison’s footsteps, embracing the grandeur of the Ball while also setting the tone of their agenda by painting a visual narrative of the incoming administration.
In some cases, the cost of the gown worn to the Ball has made the biggest splash. To make an economical statement amid a recession in 1977, Rosalynn Carter recycled an off-the-rack Mary Matise for Jimmae frock which she’d worn twice before; while in 1981 and 1985, financial boom years in America, Nancy Reagan opted for gowns by American couturier, Jamas Galanos, who once famously remarked: “I’m only interested in designing for a certain type of woman. Specifically, one that has money.”