Dressed to thrill: Inaugural ball gowns

“They’re on the world stage, every camera that’s available will be here photographing the inauguration and that first dance in the inaugural gown,” said Ann Stock. She should know; as a former White House social secretary and a former Bloomingdale’s executive, she believes that inaugural gowns tell an important story.

“It’s the history of who we are,” Stock told Braver. “it’s our humanity and our history unfolding before us.”

And so, the “First Ladies” collection at the National Museum of American History is one of the the most popular exhibits in the whole Smithsonian.

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