First ladies face scrutiny under fashion microscope


Mamie Eisenhower's 1953 inaugural gown was designed by Nettie Rosenstein of New York City. The pink silk was embroidered with 2,000 rhinestones

In this story:

GALLERY: Gowns through history

Walking a fine line

Jackie's elegance, Mamie's elation

Fashion-conscious Lincoln

Modern first ladies

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By Thurston Hatcher
CNN.com Writer

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- When Jimmy Carter became U.S. president in 1977, his wife, Rosalynn, donned the same inaugural gown she wore when he was elected governor of Georgia.

But her sentimental attachment to the blue chiffon dress didn't carry much weight in the fashion world.

"The fashion industry was just merciless to her because she wasn't buying a new, up-to-date gown," said Edith Mayo, curator emeritus of women's history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The first lady isn't elected, doesn't hail from Hollywood (with one notable exception), and presumably never intended to be a trend setter.

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Inaugural gowns through history

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Yet before her husband even completes his inaugural address, she's bombarded with the kind of intense public scrutiny few other women endure.

Walking a fine line

When it comes to what they're wearing, we want them to be fashionable, but not too fashionable.

"We have a tendency to want them to be the American version of royalty, but at the same time, if they start dressing that way, we get really offended and very critical," Mayo said.

Ex-actress Nancy Reagan, for example, pushed the envelope with a fashionable white-lace over silk satin dress with a strap over one shoulder.

"You're placing these women in a sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't position," Mayo said recently, as the Clinton administration readied to make way for that of President-elect George W. Bush. "It's very difficult to select something that's going to please."

At the Smithsonian, Mayo helped assemble an ongoing exhibit exploring the lives of the first ladies, including a collection of dresses they wore to inaugurals and other formal events.

Jackie's elegance, Mamie's elation

Among those who struck just the right note, Mayo suggests, is Jacqueline Kennedy, who wore a strapless gown that she designed herself.

"She was such a beautiful, elegant, stylish first lady, and everybody wants to see that gown," she said.

Mayo also cites the pink, tight-waisted dress Mamie Eisenhower wore at her husband's first inaugural in 1953.

"All of the photographs of her wearing that gown, she looks like she's Cinderella going to the ball," Mayo said. "Older women remember her fondly and younger women, I think, get a kick out of how elated she was at being the center of attention going off to the inaugural ball."

Others earning high marks include Barbara Bush's gown, featuring a blue velvet bodice and blue satin skirt, by New York designer Arnold Scassi.

"It was gorgeous, but it was very very plain, very stylish," Mayo said.

The least flattering and most unattractive of the dresses, Mayo said, is Bess Truman's.

"It is quintessential dowdy `50s," she said.

Fashion-conscious Lincoln

Although the scrutiny intensified with the growth of television, it started much earlier.

Mary Lincoln shopped at Lord & Taylor in New York, believing she needed to dress in the finest fabrics.

"She was following in the tradition of the first lady displaying this kind of elegance as a statement about the power of the presidency," Mayo said.

Even Eleanor Roosevelt, hardly remembered as the embodiment of high style, offered extensive details to the media about the Depression-era inaugural outfits she wore when her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, assumed office.

"That will give you some idea of the constancy of this interest in the first lady," she said.

Modern first ladies

Hillary Rodham Clinton managed to escape some of the attention devoted to most first ladies' wardrobes, Mayo suggests.

"I think people realized that was not her main interest," she said. "When it was very apparent has main interest was politics and social policy, then she was criticized for that."

So Laura Bush, who will head to the inaugural gala in a red, scoop-neck gown by designer Michael Faircloth, will have to quickly learn how to play the game.

Of course, she already has been first lady of a sprawling state, and she'll have a little extra help back in Houston from another former first lady with whom she's on a first-name basis.

"I'm sure Laura Bush will be getting a lot of advice from her mother-in- law," Mayo said.