OSCARS, SCMOSKERS. YOU want to see some fashion, sisters? Forget the red carpet, eschew Joan Rivers chewing over (and spitting out) those unfortunate Academy Awards fashion faux pas, and sink your teeth into some genuine glam. We’re talking gowns–with shoes and bags to match–that have all not only been oggled by millions, but are in part owned by you. That’s right: you.
Michelle Obama’s inaugural ball gown is among the items just being added this week in a new gallery called “A First Ladies Debut,” part of a larger First Ladies show that opened in December at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The Smithsonian’s vast and wildly popular overall collection of First Lady memorabilia, nearly 100 years old, includes such iconic possessions of the people who really run the country.
The First Ladies Gowns Collection was begun with the dress worn by Mrs. Helen Herron Taft at the Inaugural Ball of President William H. Taft on March 4, 1909, which was then accessioned by the United States National Museum. Mrs. Taft, in turn, solicited additional dresses from the descendants of earlier First Ladies. These days, the collection is the place to go to see everything from those iconic sunglasses (and dresses!) of Jackie Kennedy, to White House china patterns, and, as of March 10, that one-shouldered white chiffon, floor-length, Jason-Wu design worn by Michelle Obama for the 2009 ball.
Can’t get to Washington, but want to see what’s in your national closet? You can, in the video above. And it is your national closet. In the same way the way the Hope Diamond is your bling, this, too, is part of the wonder that is the America we share.
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