A first lady and fashion
First Lady Nancy Reagan was known for her sleek, understated designer look and her love of red.
Decades before First Lady Michelle Obama began turning heads in her sleeveless frocks and designer looks from Isabel Toledo, Michael Kors and Jason Wu, actress- turned- presidential wife Nancy Reagan received attention for her high- fashion outfits and gowns at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Reagan, who died March 6 at age 94, was not only inf luential during President Reagan’s eight years in the White House as her husband’s closest adviser and protector, but also was known for her fashion and style choices. There was even a paper- doll book of her looks released in 1983 called “Nancy Reagan Fashion Paper Dolls in Full Color” by Tom Tierney.
She was both lauded and criticized for her sometimes lavish tastes, from her days in Hollywood through her years as f irst lady of California and then the U. S.
“I don’t like a lot of frills and fusses,” she told W magazine in 2007 before the opening of a Ronald Reagan Presidential Library exhibition, “Nancy Reagan: A First Lady’s Style,” in Simi Valley that featured some of her outfits. “I’ve always gone for the more understated look.”
Nancy Reagan always looked the part, polished and photoready, and on special occasions wore her 1980s- style helmet of brown hair pulled back, giving her a more youthful look.
During her White House days, Reagan helped define ’ 80s American glamour; she was often photographed wearing red, or in lavish gowns, some one- shoulder f lowy pieces, and Chanel- inspired power suits. She favored American designer James Galanos ( Reagan wore beaded Galanos gowns to the 1981 and 1985 inaugural balls) and fashion icons Oscar de la Renta, Valentino and Carolina Herrera.
For the Reagans’ December 1988 Vanity Fair cover before leaving the White House, she wore a belted red dress with a gold statement necklace and earrings. Decades later, in 2009, she was photographed in a sitting- room chair on the lawn of her Bel- Air home, wearing a red pantsuit and shoes for a Vanity Fair story.
Reagan stood 5 feet, 4 inches tall and was a size 2 during her White House years, and her festive 1981 inaugural gown, which Galanos provided for free ( the f irst lady was sometimes criticized for taking freebies from her fashion designer friends), was estimated to be worth $ 10,000. The gown became part of the Smithsonian’s collection, W reported.
Reagan’s style tended to be a reminder of Old Hollywood, as with the Adolfo suits she wore for her “Just Say No” anti- drug campaign.
She wasn’t without fashion faux pas, however, drawing criticism for the rhinestone- studded Galanos pants she wore to an American Embassy dinner in Paris in 1982, among other outfits. However, for her official White House portrait, she wore a f lowing deep- red gown by the designer.
“I always liked red. It’s a pickerupper,” she told W in 2007. “I didn’t give it the name of Reagan red, but that became its name.”
Galanos, who first met Reagan at Beverly Hills boutique Amelia Gray in 1949, told The Times in 2007, “She knew her style very well, and it was always simple and elegant. If I tried to experiment, I could tell from her expression that she was thinking, ‘ No, Jimmy.’ ”
In 2007, Herrera, who designed an emerald- green velvet gown that Reagan wore to an opera in 1987, also told The Times, “It’s important that a first lady be fashionable and glamorous because she represents the country and its style.”
According to the story, “The f irst lady even name- checked the designer to the press by announcing, ‘ This is Carolina Herrera,’ ” while at the opera.
Beverly Hills- based designer Mark Zunino, who has made pieces for Beyoncé, Sofia Vergara and others, created dresses and gowns for Reagan, as did his mentor, designer- to- the- stars Nolan Miller, during the 1980s and ’ 90s.
“Nancy’s sense of style was truly elegant and glamorous, never garish, especially when fashion tended to lean in that direction during those decades,” Zunino said in a March 6 statement. “Though we were never sure whether it was the Hollywood studio system that had cultivated her style or it was an innate talent, Nancy was always dressed appropriately, glamor- ously, elegant and always in good taste.”
Long before Instagram, Reagan was well aware of the statement her looks made to the rest of the world, especially during her White House days. In 1981, Reagan f irst wore a Kelly- green Galanos wool coat to the Iran hostage release ceremony, “which became the sartorial equivalent of eggnog, when she began modeling it every year at Christmastime,” according to a 2007 Times story. And for the 1981 afternoon wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, Reagan opted against her “primary color palette of red, blue and green for a soft peach silk blouse and skirt by Galanos, with a matching shirt-coat and chiffon scarf,” The Times reported.
However, American media weren’t always fans of Reagan’s taste or style.
Unlike her folksy predecessor Rosalynn Carter, Reagan had a taste for style more akin to that of another first lady: Jackie Kennedy, who wore Christian Dior, Balenciaga and Givenchy.
Reagan, who was said to be media shy, remained politically active after her stint as first lady, and she stayed true to fashion.
According to The Times’ obituary, Reagan “was photographed visiting her husband’s grave on the 10th anniversary of his death. Though in a wheelchair, she looked elegant in a cream- colored pantsuit and earrings by a favorite designer, Kenneth Jay Lane.”
In one of Reagan’s f inal official public photos, at her 94th birthday party in July 2015, she wore a rosecolored top, f loral- print scarf and gold earrings while seated and smiling near a birthday cake with pink posies.