
Rosalynn Carter caused some hand-wringing when she announced her wardrobe prior to the inauguration in 1977. She had donned this gold-trimmed blue chiffon number twice before, and the American public didn’t kindly to their First Lady recycling an outfit for the inaugural ball; some critics said she was missing an opportunity to champion the American fashion industry. The notion of re-wearing a dress, however, fit the couple’s temperament. “It enhanced the incoming Carter presidency’s notions of modesty and frugality,” Graddy explains. This is the couple, after all, who turned down the heat in the White House and purposefully threw “parties” instead of “balls.”