[EXTERNAL] FLOTUS Pool Report #1 - background on donation of 2nd inaugural gown to the Smithsonian

Greetings,

First Lady Melania Trump arrived on stage in the Flag Hall of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History at 11 am for the program.

She is wearing a Bottega Veneta oversized black jacket, black narrow trousers and black Louboutin snake boots, according to the Office of the First Lady.

The First Lady is donating the strapless white and black trimmed gown and the black neckpiece adorned with a reproduction of the Harry Winston diamond brooch that she wore to three inaugural balls on Jan. 20 to the museum's First Ladies Collection.

Both were on display on a headless mannequin, stage left.

This is the second inaugural gown that Melania Trump has donated to the museum. She previously donated the cream colored, off-shoulder gown with red trim around the waist that she wore in 2017.

Both were designed by Herve Pierre, her longtime fashion designer and stylist, who is expected to attend.

Unclear if the event will be live streamed but I'm told Fox News is a likely choice. Please check there and other usual places but I will be sharing quotes and color.

Remarks are scheduled from:

Anthea M. Hartig, the museum director

Lonnie G. Bunch III, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

First Lady Melania Trump

Hartig returns to close

Notable guests attending, per the Office of the First Lady: (info in parentheses provided by your pooler)

Hervé Pierre

Marc Beckman, (an outside adviser to Melania Trump)

John Rogers

Tham Kannalikham (a New York-based interior designer who has work with Melania Trump)

Bill White - US Ambassador to Belgium

Guests of the Anthony R Abraham Foundation

Also in attendance are several spouses of governors who are in meetings at the White House, I'm told. Names weren't available and I'm unable to recognize any.

Background on the First Ladies Collection, courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History:

The First Ladies Collection

at the National Museum of American History

The Smithsonian’s First Ladies Collection originated in 1912 when Cassie Mason Myers Julian-James, a wealthy Washingtonian who had taken a personal interest in the National Museum, proposed that the Smithsonian establish a collection of American historical costumes to illustrate changes in women’s fashion from the Colonial era to the present day. Julian-James, and her co-founder Rose Gouverneur Hoes, a descendant of President James Monroe, planned to add a series of specialty cases highlighting the dresses of first ladies.

They collected the first inaugural gown in 1912 from Helen Taft, the current first lady. The original exhibition of first ladies’ gowns opened at the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building in 1914 and the gowns remained on continuous display, eventually moving into period room displays created by curator Margaret Brown Klapthor.

This exhibition gave American women visibility in the nation’s museum and paved the way for future

collections on women’s history.

When the Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History)

opened in 1964, the new First Ladies’ Hall included larger and more elegant period rooms that furnished to resemble the White House from different eras. The collection remained on view in this display until 1987, when a renovation of the museum required the dismantling of First Ladies’ Hall. This allowed for major conservation

treatment of the gowns and development of a larger and more interpretive new exhibition. “First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image” opened in 1992 and showcased selections from the gown collection while exploring the dimensions of the unofficial role of this often prominent and influential public figure.

For decades, the First Ladies Collection has been one of the most popular attractions at the Smithsonian and has undergone many iterations. In November 2011, the museum opened “The First Ladies,” featuring more than two dozen gowns from the Smithsonian’s 100-year-old First Ladies Collection, including those worn by Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Frances Cleveland, Lou Hoover, Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Bush, Michelle

Obama, Melania Trump, and Jill Biden, and now highlights a second gown from Melania Trump, the first first lady to have two non-consecutive inaugurations. Although the iconic collection of dresses are prominently displayed, this is more than a collection of fashion.

The exhibition explores the way that different first ladies shape their own version of this important position that has no official job description, and the museum works to document the first lady’s time in office and her impact on American society.

Today some 1,000 objects in the First Ladies Collection represent a range of materials from inaugural gowns and other dresses to personal effects and White House ephemera. The collection resides within the museum’s Division of Political History under the curatorial supervision of curator

Lisa Kathleen Graddy.

.

Darlene Superville

AP White House reporter

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