Jill Biden’s inaugural wear to go on display at Smithsonian
WASHINGTON: Jill Biden says her Inauguration Day oufits, now featured in a Smithsonian museum exhibit about first ladies, were a “voice for me on one of the most important days of my life.” The dresses — one blue, one white — with matching coats and face masks “spoke to the American people then, and now they will continue speaking to generations to come,” she said on Wednesday, before mannequins dressed in her clothes were formally added to the exhibit. “They will help tell not only my story, but the story of what Americans experienced together,” the first lady said at the museum. It was her first public appearance in two weeks, following the removal of a cancerous lesion from her face and another one from her chest.
“This day is so much more emotional than I ever imagined it to be,” she said.
First ladies typically donate their inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian Institution, but President Joe Biden had no such celebrations. He took office at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when such large indoor gatherings were discouraged.
So Jill Biden parted with the ocean blue tweed dress and coat that she wore to her husband’s swearing-in at the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, and the ivory silk wool dress and cashmere coat she wore at the White House that evening. They were designed by Alexandra O’neill, founder and designer of Markarian, and Gabriela Hearst, founder and creative director of Gabriela Hearst, respectively.
In recognition of the historic nature of the inauguration, the face masks the first lady wore were also added to The First Ladies Collection at the National museum of American History. She praised both designers, who spoke at the ceremony. Jill Biden said she met O’neill when the designer was just starting out.
“Her designs seemed both timeless and new, and that was exactly what I was hoping to find, because young people showed up and voted for Joe in historic numbers, and I wanted to reflect the passion, creativity and hope that day,” the first lady said.
She credited Hearst with always pushing her to “step out of my comfort zone” and try new things. “But I didn’t need any convincing about the design of this dress,” Jill Biden said. “My focus on Inauguration Day was being a first lady for all Americans,” and Hearst understood.
“She adorned this dress with the flowers of every American state and territory. And she placed Delaware, my home, just above my heart,” Jill Biden said.
Hearst said it’s hard to believe her work will be in the exhibit.
“I have to pinch myself,” she said. Addressing the first lady, Hearst said, “As a designer, I couldn’t think of a beter muse.” Jill Biden said the face masks are small pieces of cloth but they “represent the enormity of what we all faced at the time: A pandemic that has changed our world forever.”
Aterward, the mannequins were installed in the exhibit, which is among the Smithsonian Institution’s most popular atractions. It features inaugural gowns worn by first ladies Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Melania Trump and others. The museum reopened to the public on Thursday.
Since Helen Tat in 1912, every first lady who has been approached by the Smithsonian and who has an inaugural gown has donated it, said Lisa Kathleen Graddy, a curator of American political history at the museum. The museum is “always interested” in having both the daytime and evening oufits to “show a different aspect of the day and the first lady’s participation” in the inauguration, but most of them just give up the inaugural ball gown, she said. “We are very lucky that we have the space in this particular case to be able to display both” from Biden, Graddy said.
Jill Biden thanked “the team” for helping her “at a time when we just couldn’t fly to New York to do in-person fitings,” as well as her family and staff for their support.
“It’s really an honor to serve as your first lady,” she said, as her voice cracked with emotion.
For the ceremony at the Capitol, Jill Biden chose an ocean blue wool tapered tweed dress embellished with pearls and crystals, a matching overcoat with a dark blue velvet collar and cuffs, and a face mask. They were designed by Alexandra O’neill, founder and designer of Markarian. In the evening, she slipped on an ivory silk wool dress, an ivory double-breasted cashmere coat and a face mask, all embroidered with the flowers of every U.S. state and territory. They were designed by G abriela Hearst, founder and creative director of Gabriela Hearst.
The Smithsonian says its exhibit about first ladies is among its most popular atractions. It currently features 10 inaugural gowns. The broader collection, meanwhile, holds some 1,000 items ranging from inaugural gowns and other dresses to personal effects and other White House memorabilia. Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History seeks to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by examining, preserving and sharing the complexity of their past.
NEW York:spoiler alert: J.LO looks fantastic in a wedding dress. You surely knew that, given not only the plethora of wedding-themed movies Jennifer Lopez has made over the years, from “The Wedding Planner” to “Monster-in-law” to the recent “Marry Me,” but also her own offscreen life, of course.
And now comes “Shotgun Wedding,” where the ageless pop star and rom-com queen dons a pouffy white concoction that gradually sheds layers of tulle to become increasingly atrcative as Lopez fights off not only cringey wedding guests but machine-gun toting pirates.
She switches at one point to combat boots — plucked from a dead guy! — over wedding heels, and here’s another spoiler alert: if anyone can make combat boots work with pouffy tulle while running in slow motion, it’s Lopez.
But all the charm and style in the world, and J.LO has more than anyone, can’t make up for the bizarre tonal imbalance of “Shotgun Wedding,” a movie too violent to be funny and too funny (in the odd, weird sense) to be fun. The movie, directed by Jason Moore, also commits the unlikely crime of under-using that other bulletproof
Jennifer of the moment, Jennifer Coolidge, who oten seems to be searching palpably for decent lines. Come on, people! You had both Jennifers! This should have been a slam dunk.
Kudos, though, to whoever picked the stunning resort for this particular destination wedding (the shoot took place in the Dominican Republic, standing in for the Philippines). It’s here that we first meet Darcy, our bride, at the rehearsal dinner, already looking so much beter than everyone else, in resort wear and turquoise chunky jewelry — but we digress.
Darcy is navigating a guest list filled with proverbial hand grenades, even before the real grenades start flying. There’s her icy mother (Sonia Braga, also sadly underused), who is divorced from her father (Cheech Marin) and appalled at the oddly ditzy new girlfriend he’s brought to the wedding (D’arcy Carden). Mom tells Darcy she should have accepted her dad’s millions (or billions?) to make the wedding perfect, but Darcy replies that the couple wanted to do it their way. Besides, they’re grownups.
The groom, you ask? We’re geting to that. Initially the part was to be played by Ryan Reynolds, a tantalizing comedic possibility. Then it was to be Armie Hammer, who stepped aside for obvious reasons, and now we have Josh Duhamel, perfectly handsome and agreeable but … the chemistry rests with Lopez, and not between them.
In a clever twist, Tom is the “groomzilla,” obsessed with wedding details, and spray-painting the pineapples all night long. As for his mother, well, she’s the delighfully ditzy Carol (Coolidge), obsessed with “South Pacific” and eager to have a good time. (Coolidge, hot off “White Lotus,” knows her way around a resort).
It must be said that Coolidge — who at this point in her career would be anyone’s top choice to play any mother — more than pulls her weight. But there’s only so much she can do with dialogue that seems slapped together with minimum effort. True, Coolidge can make almost anything sound funny, but at times it feels like her script instructions said nothing more than “Carol says something wacky.”
Anyway, things get wacky overall prety fast, starting with the arrival of a surprise guest by helicopter — it’s Sean, Darcy’s ex-fiance, a swaggering, shirt-unbutoned, walking Y chromosome played by Lenny Kravitz. Tom is immediately perplexed by Sean’s presence.
But there’s no time to fret. The next day, with everyone dressed for the wedding, more unexpected guests arrive — and they definitely weren’t on the list. They’re pirates, and they’re ater Darcy’s dad’s money.
The pirates take everyone hostage, confining them to, well, OK, an infinity pool, but still confining them! In a stroke of rom-com luck, the bride and groom are elsewhere, having a litle talk about their relationship. Soon, though, the relationship is beside the point — they have to save themselves and everyone else, too. And that’s when the killing starts.