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White House History 32: "Fashion"

The new issue of White House History, the award-winning journal of the White House Historical Association, focuses on fashion in the White House. Looking good speaks for itself. At the White House, it is a requirement. The desired image for presidents and first ladies traditionally mingles simplicity with appropriateness. They needn't be fashion plates, although some have been that. The cover features a ball gown worn by First Lady Sarah Polk in the late 1840s. Mrs. Polk had her place among other fashionable first ladies such as Dolley Madison and Jacqueline Kennedy, and as you will see in this issue of the journal, Frances Cleveland and Edith Wilson. Also included are articles on Thomas Jefferson, presidential valets, and the uniforms of White House domestics.

This issue showcases newly commissioned photography of clothing in the collections of the James K. Polk Ancestral Home, the Woodrow Wilson House, and the Grover Cleveland Birthplace.

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White House Historical Association

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