Paris Haute Couture Week kicks off tomorrow (presentations will obviously be redefined by the Coronavirus emergency), but there was already a moment of high fashion last week in the news.
Dr. Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States, opted to wear for the concert on Wednesday evening that followed her husband Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony, a design by Uruguayan-American designer Gabriela Hearst.
The outfit included an ivory double-breasted cashmere coat with an A-line silhouette and dress.
While the colour of the ensemble - white - was connected to the women's suffragist movement, the delicate floral embroidery that embellished the coat along the hem and the silk organza neckline and arms of the matching dress, represented the federal flowers from every state and territory of the United States of America (there was similar embroidery also on the matching face-mask and the look was accesorised with ivory gloves and a corsage, a tradition for first ladies that goes back to Mamie Eisenhower and Betty Ford).
The Delaware state flower, the peach blossom, on the silk wool cady dress at her heart level symbolised the fact that the Bidens have been Delaware residents since 1996 having a main home in Greenville, Delaware, in the Wilmington suburbs and a beach home in Rehoboth Beach on the Delaware Shore.
Besides, there was also a hidden detail in the outfit: a quote from Founding Father Benjamin Franklin - stating "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn" - was hand-embroidered inside the lining of the coat. The quote was a reference to Jill Biden's mission as a teacher and educator.
Gabriela Hearst shared more details about the design on her Instagram page on Thursday stating, "The message of Unity is the main inspiration for the creation of the Ensemble. Unity makes strength and it is needed for the road ahead."
The flowers also point at protecting the environment (Biden has already rejoined the Paris Agreement and ordered for a monitoring of the social cost of carbon) and the outfit could be considered as sustainable since it was made in New York City, in the garment district, using existing available fabrics to minimize the impact on the environment (so after all Bernie Sanders' sustainable mittens weren't the only eco-friendly design at last Wednesday's Inauguration celebrations). The dress was assembled at the in-house studio and it took around two hours to embroider each flower.
Hearst first met Dr. Biden in 2017 when she became Chair of the Board of Trustees at humanitarian organization Save The Children.
Dr. Biden often chose to wear Hearst's designs for important occasions, including debate nights (Hearst has also been a favourite option of former first lady Melania Trump over the last four years, but she purchased the designs directly from retailers and not from Hearst; Hearst has been a critic of the former President's administration). Hearst has also been actively working in support of Biden and Kamala Harris, designing products for the Biden-Harris campaign.
The last two years saw Hearst's star rising: in 2019, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton took a minority stake in her label; she received the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year Award last September and in December she was appointed Creative Director at the Compagnie Financière Richemont-owned Chloé.
Hearst, who became a US citizen soon after the previous presidential elections, prides in two things - handcrafted details and sustainability. To make some of her most iconic pieces such as a rainbow woven cashmere fringe coat, she turned to the artisans of a female nonprofit organisation from her home country, Manos del Uruguay; she has often been upcycling fabrics and buying deadstock to make her designs, making sure that in her label sustainability and luxury go together.
Dr. Jill Biden's dress and coat will be eventually donated to the Smithsonian's First Ladies' Collection, as most every first lady inaugural gown has been for decades. Embroidery remains instead a trend for this year, a craft that, as we have seen in previous posts, is being used not just to embellish a design, but also as an art form (but let's hope it won't be just a passing fashion...): expect to see more embroidery on the Haute Couture digital runways starting tomorrow and don't forget there will also be a major exhibition about embroidery - "Haute Bordure" - opening soon at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden.
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