美国第一夫人捐出就职典礼晚礼服

Here we are, it’s the dress.

And I have to say to be honest, I am very honored and very humble, but I have to say that I am also a little embarrassed by all the fuss being made over my dress. Like many of you, I am not used to people wanting to put things I have worn on display. So all of this is a little odd, so forgive me.

But at the same time, I truly recognized the significance of this day. This gown and all of the items that we’ll see in this wonderful exhibit, help us connect with a moment in history in a very real way. When we look at the gown that Jackie Kennedy wore 50 years ago or the one that Mary Todd Lincoln wore more than 100 years before that. It really takes us beyond the history books and the photographs and it helps us understand that history is really made by real life people. The detail of each gown, the fabric, the cut, the color, tells us something much more about each single First Lady. It’s a visual reminder that we each come from such different backgrounds, from different generations and from different walks of life. Each gown places us right in the moment and makes us wonder about the intimate details of that evening, like how does she feel in her dress? Did her feet hurt in those shoes? How many times did her husband step on that train?

But more importantly, these gowns and this exhibit uniquely define a moment in our American history.