Of course Etiquetteer is going to comment on the Perfect Propriety of what people wore to the inauguration yesterday. Proper Dress at such an important Occasion is a source of absorbing interest. And among other things, yesterday we got to celebrate the cloth coat as an institution of proper dress for ladies. (You can get chapter and verse on all yesterday’s looks at Vanity Fair.) For Etiquetteer this was underlined by the sight of one official wife being escorted down the stairs wearing a zip-up down coat with a hood.
Few remember how popular fur was sixty years ago and more; a mink coat was seen as the ultimate essential luxury for Ladies Good and Bad*. In his famous “Checkers” speech, Richard Nixon put it on the line: “Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat.” Etiquetteer feels the change in fashion since then can be credited to anti-fur activism as well as changing tastes. The “respectable cloth coat” finally came back into its own yesterday, for all political persuasions.
Jacqueline Kennedy created the modern era’s most iconic Incoming First Lady look in 1961. Her Oleg Cassini greige suit with matching coat has become the standard to which her successors are held. Notice the fur collar and matching muff, and also her elegant fur-trimmed snow boots; it turned out to be bitterly cold that year.
First Lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both achieved Perfectly Proper ensembles from shoes up. The best part of the First Lady’s ensemble from Markarian was the contrasting velvet (?) lapels and cuffs, and especially the matching gloves, though black would have served as a striking and appropriate contrast. Laura Bush achieved the same sort of effect with the black lapels on her slate blue coat.
We saw lots of bold color yesterday, which Etiquetteer loves. Amanda Gorman’s yellow coat and her arresting red Arc of Control made her the most commanding presence at the podium all day — and this in spite of a wonderful inaugural speech from President Biden! Hillary Clinton’s exceedingly purple pantsuit was topped by a sort-of burgundy-ish coat that — how to say this? — that didn’t quite harmonize with all that purple. Bess Truman used to say “You can never go wrong with black,” and there’s some wisdom in that.
Amanda Gorman
Speaking of pantsuits, many have forgotten the furore in the early 1970s when women began wearing pantsuits instead of skirt suits**. Everybody has calmed down since then, but Michelle Obama is perhaps the first female dignitary to wear a pantsuit to an inauguration — and won’t be the last. Her flowingly cut wine-red pantsuit could be the 21st-century version of Jackie Kennedy’s greige suit.
Regal and American, and Perfectly Proper.
The white pantsuit has become a powerful symbol of the suffragist movement for women, but the only one we saw at the inauguration was that of Jennifer Lopez, who sang following the Oaths of Office. And Etiquetteer has no trouble with that, because an all-white ensemble on the podium might have detracted from the speakers. It’s never a good idea to upstage the President.
Which leads Etiquetteer to Lady Gaga. Now Etiquetteer just loves a diva dress as much as any gentleman who loves divas. But an evening dress outside at midday at a presidential inauguration, and with a skirt even larger than the President Himself . . . Etiquetteer has reservations. Aretha Franklin defined the Diva Dressed for Daytime look at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009; that’s a Perfectly Proper template from which to work. That said, that enormous dove of peace brooch put the Statement in Statement Jewelry. Fabulous.
Among the gentlemen (all of them in pantsuits . . . ) we saw the usual array of dark suits and neckties. Etiquetteer knows better than to mourn for club coats and high silk hats; the United States has grown beyond them. That said, an inauguration still requires an effort to dress up. While the internet is going wild for Bernie Sanders in his raincoat and mittens, Etiquetteer wishes he had taken a little more trouble. And when Garth Brooks took the stage, Etiquetteer could just hear the words of Frau Blücher: “I suggest ya put on a tie!”
This photo doesn’t reveal that Melania has switched out her high heels for flats.
Now let’s look at the outgoing administration. Melania Trump’s black ensemble for departure from the White House was Entirely Appropriate, but then Etiquetteer was surprised to see her exit the plane in Florida in a different outfit. This unbelted dress in white with a graduated pattern of blue and orange called to mind the better aspects of early 1970s interior design, but . . . but it somehow didn’t look like a dress you’d wear outside the house. (See them both at Vanity Fair.) But then, that might also be her way of communicating “I really don’t care, do U?”
The Trump family lineup outside Air Force One revealed Ivanka’s black-accented coat of winter white; Etiquetteer does love a jewel neck. Camel’s hair always represents conservative good taste, and Tiffany Trump gets extra points for that hot pink lining. But button up, dear, it’s cold outside!
You can never go wrong with black, or Black Watch.
Good housekeeping, it’s said, is what you don’t see, and the must-have accessory for this inauguration was, of course, the face mask. Everyone’s seemed to blend with their wardrobes — this was hardly the occasion for novelty! — but Etiquetteer awards an honorable mention to Chasten Buttigieg for his Black Watch plaid mask, just because it’s a favorite plaid.
*To get an idea, review the first two or three seasons of Perry Mason, which overall celebrates the middle-class aesthetic of the mid-century. You’d be surprised how many women wear fur stoles or coats to court.
**This episode of All in the Family when Archie reacts to Edith wearing pants for the first time sums it up nicely.