A First Lady A Day: Michelle Obama!

from www.smh.au.comOkay,I have avoided all other posts and assessments so far. So here is my own response.The coat and sheath dress by Isabel Toledo. Wonderful color, bright and fresh and popped beautifully in both single and crowd shots. It was great on the screen, unique to the First Lady, and I loved that. Great lace texture and the gold shimmer gave it life. I thought it worked well in going

A First Lady a Day: Harriet Lane

The 2009 Inaugural Balls have started! So this installment will be brief. Harriet Lane was the 27 year old niece and ward of bachelor President James Buchanan. They had a rather good partnership, and she was highly thought of in the European capitials from his time there as an Ambassador. Harriet served as his offical hostess from 1857 - 1861. She was accomplished and polished beyond her years,

A First Lady A Day: Hillary

It has been fascinating to take a look back at Hillary Clinton’s inaugural gowns from the 1990s. I have gotten so used to the visual of her in tailored business pantsuits that it was a treat to see her 1993 and 1997 gowns again. There is a fascinating parallel between Mrs. Clinton’s and Mrs. Laura Bush’s Inaugural gown experiences. Both chose lesser known designers for their first gown and were

A First Lady A Day: Nancy

Well. Certainly a gal who loved her clothes. She generally dressed well for her figure, although more Hollywood than most First Ladies or political figures’ wives, that is for sure. She did love her red and her white.That said - let’s do The Dresses. Okay, she went for the white beaded column look both times. Both dresses are by James Galanos. She didn’t pay for the first one - it was a ‘loaner’

A First Lady A Day : Nixon/Johnson/Truman Update

It’s only the 12th, and we have plenty of time until Jan. 20th, so thanks to the help of Vintage Fashion Guild members, I have full length photos of some of our MIA Inaugural dresses. from www.time.com Bess Truman 1949, Gala Dress. we saw this beofre, but it was a half length shot. I know that Time credits it as the Inaugural Ball gown, but the Truman Library says it's the Gala, and I am going

A First Lady A Day : Barbara Bush, 1989

You will have noticed I am not doing mini bios on the more recent First Ladies. You know who they are. You may well remember what they wore.I must say that Barbara Bush successfully presented herself as a soft, grandmotherly figure. I suspect there is a lot more steel in there than my grandmothers had, but hey. She was smart not to try to glamorize her look. The white hair, the fuller figure, the

A First Lady a Day: Crete, 1881

Lucretia Rudolph Garfield definitely wins the Best Nickname of any American First Lady Award. Crete. I think that’s cool. A Very interesting woman. She was well educated, studying French, Greek and Latin languages and classical, British and French literature. She was an independent woman , a teacher and an intellectual. Crete was also a fine hostess, although not at all interested in publicity.

A First Lady a Day: Laura Bush

Lizzie, our cohort in vintage fashion blogdom, gave us a shout out on her wonderful ( and top rated) blog, The Vintage Traveler the other day. She mentioned that we had not yet covered Laura Bush's inaugural gowns. Well, let’s have at it shall we? from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1322353/postsFirst up is the 2001 red lace Michael Faircloth gown. This is the most flattering photo I

A First Lady a Day: Julia Dent Grant

from www.wikimedia.org: Library of Congress description: "Grant, Mrs. U.S. and son (Jesse) and daughter (Nellie) also her father Mr. Dent" photo by Mathew Brady or Levin Handy, ca 1865 - 1869.After Ida McKinley, we need a Happy story. Julia loved being First Lady. She loved the White House. But she was always adaptable. She traveled to army camps, she moved to Illinois, she switched from Army

A First Lady a Day: Ida McKinley, 1897 & 1901

This is a sad story. Poor Ida. She had a very difficult time of it. Her childhood and younger years were fine. But she lost both her children and her mother within in few years, and after that - she seems to have become very delicate both emotionally and physically. It is thought now that she had phlebitis and epilepsy. She certainly had seizures, some of them in public. She spent her days as a

A First Lady a Day: Bess

Bess Truman was an intensely private woman. She has seen what the press could do. And she was having none of it. She had no intentions of being an activist First Lady like Eleanor Roosevelt. That was one hard act to follow. Bess was an active partner in Harry Truman’s career, she supported him in 1948 when no one thought he could win, she was a shrewd judge of character, and she even helped write

A First Lady A Day: Jackie

Well I had to do this one sooner or later. It very hard to even have an original thought, much less express anything new, about someone whose style has been discussed, written about, photographed, and analyzed to the nth degree for 48 years. She is a Fashion Icon. A real one, not one of those people who did a popular clothing ad once, or wore a costume designer’s cute clothes on a television show

A First Lady a Day : Pat

You know, I have respect for Pat Nixon. The Nixon years are ones I lived through and frankly, don’t feel any nostalgia for. Waaaay too much trauma. But she was a hard worker. Went to Vietnam and flew into a combat zone. Held it together in tough circumstances, played the hand she was dealt. She knew what it was to have to work for living and to pay her own way. A classy lady. Bio: http://

A First Lady a Day: 1861, 1865

This may be the most difficult installment of this series. Mary Todd Lincoln. Talk about a Complex Personality. On the plus side: Bright, well educated, polished, supportive of her husband’s career, believed in Lincoln when few others did. Deeply loved her husband and children. On the minus: high strung and high maintenance, jealous, given to occasional inappropriate outbursts. A compulsive

First Lady a Day: 1965

Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson, best known as Lady Bird. Today, she would be called an environmentalist. She was active - big supporter of Head Start and Vista. Lady Bird was made of sturdy stuff. To be married to LBJ, and survive with personality intact, one would have had to be. I always though she got a bum rap. Being First Lady after Jacqueline Kennedy was a tough act to follow under the best of

A First Lady a Day - Helen in 1909

Christmas break is over and we come back with Helen. Yes, we are still in the 20th C. That’s Helen Taft. A woman who wanted the job if ever there was one. She had been First Lady of the Philippines while her husband William Howard Taft was the Governor. Apparently she liked the job, and had ambitions for more. Even her official White House bio ( and these are always kind) refers to her

A First Lady a Day: Caroline, or 1889

You are wondering - who’s Caroline? Carrie Harrison. Lovely woman, well dressed. Elegant, yet fun loving. I have seen some of her clothes at the President Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis. Very, very nice. And the house is great too - right downtown, easy to get to. Go if you have a chance. They had a spiffy display on the third floor when we were there - Death in the White House. She was

A First Lady A Day: 1977

Rosalynn, Rosalynn. I do admire Rosalynn Carter’s contributions, her sense of self and the work she has done. I even admired the goal of taking the First Family back into the realm of average folks and losing some of the Imperial Presidency trappings. And she was pushing us to take a First Lady seriously with her political work and missions abroad. She is due a great deal of recognition for that.

A First Lady a Day: Grace

Ahhh. Grace. By all accounts, Grace Coolidge was a lovely woman and aptly named. I have never read a single negative thing about her. She was charming. Popular and warm. Loved animals. Worked with the deaf. Was the engaging, social, friendly one in the Coolidge marriage. As frugal and, well, reserved as Calvin was, he loved her to be stylish and well-dressed. She was 5'-5" , had black hair, was

A First Lady A Day - 1953/1957

That means it’s Mamie Day!I have to say it. She reminds me of my grandmother. Something I think I actually said in my grandmother's hearing once. Only once. Mamie was 10 years older after all. So - she was well liked. She was considered stylish, and with the whole pink thing, she owned the 50s. She wore designer dresses. But I always had the nagging suspicion that under that 1950s , vivacious,