Hillary Clinton hasn’t always gotten rave reviews when it comes to her fashion choices. During inaugural week in 1993, she made a particularly unpopular decision about a hat. But the purple dress she chose for the inaugural ball was well received. “Sarah Phillips, until now a little-known New York designer, is responsible for the blue violet lace dress with the mousseline overskirt that won thumbs-up reviews from just about everyone who saw it,” wrote the New York Times. Like it or not, imagining the outgoing Secretary of State in a glitzy sheath number crafted by a theater costume designer is quite the throwback.
Belles of the Ball: An Insider’s Look at Inaugural Gowns
As the fashion industry speculates about what Michelle Obama will wear this Monday, we look back at other memorable inauguration gowns through history
Hillary Clinton, 1993: Picking Purple
Full List
Inaugural Gowns
- Inaugural Gowns Through History: The Way They Wore
- Edith Roosevelt, 1905: A Practical Matter
- Helen Taft, 1909: The Dress That Started It All
- Eleanor Roosevelt, 1933: The Inauguration Veteran
- Mamie Eisenhower, 1953: Pretty in Pink
- Lady Bird Johnson, 1965: Thinking Long Term
- Pat Nixon, 1969: A Bolero for the Ball
- Nancy Reagan, 1981: California Glam
- Rosalynn Carter, 1977: Something Old, Something New
- Barbara Bush, 1989: A Close Call
- Hillary Clinton, 1993: Picking Purple
- Laura Bush, 2001: Scouting Out the Competition
- Michelle Obama, 2009: An Obsession Begins