Melania Trump donates her 2025 inaugural gown to the Smithsonian

First lady Melania Trump presented her 2025 inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on Friday. She wore an all-black outfit that coordinated with the dress: a double-breasted Bottega Veneta coat ($4,300), a knit turtleneck, leather leggings and knee-high, snakeskin-embossed Christian Louboutin boots.

The Hervé Pierre design is a strapless off-white silk crepe column accented with two bands of black silk gazar. At the unveiling she said, "This is not a dress. This is more than 50 years of education, experience and wisdom realized with each thread, each stitch, each sharp edge," and praised the gown as a "black and white masterpiece" that showcases America’s originality, engineering and creativity, thanking pattern makers, seamstresses and artisans for the "technical marvel." A replica of the 1955 Harry Winston brooch she styled as a choker at the inaugural ball will also be displayed.

United States

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