Nancy Reagan brought luxury to White House

Just like her signature colour - a bold red, of course - there was nothing shy or retiring about Nancy Reagan's approach to style and fashion. For better or for worse, depending on whether you were a fan, she brought with her to the White House a unabashed penchant for luxury and high fashion, epitomised by her 1981 inaugural gown by John Galanos a sparkling, crystal-laden, one-shouldered white sheath.

A wax figure of former US first lady Nancy Reagan with former president Ronald Reagan is unveiled for the first time at Madame Tussauds in Washington in 2014.

That sheath is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution, not far from the one-shouldered inaugural gown of another fashion-conscious first lady - Michelle Obama, notes Lisa Kathleen Graddy, curator at the National Museum of American History.


"Nancy Reagan had a very clear sense of style," says Graddy. "She enjoyed fashion, and she believed it was part of her job to promote American fashion. She knew she was looked to, to see what she was wearing and WHO she was wearing. She felt this was a very public and often formal position, and so one dressed accordingly."

Often, that meant opulent creations from Oscar de la Renta, for example, or the California-based Galanos. She also favoured Bill Blass. But it wasn't just her own individual style that the first lady was interested in, Graddy notes. "She believed in making a certain look for the White House,"

Graddy says. "She had a definite vision of how the White House and the presidency should present themselves, and [also] the United States, on an international level."

Not surprisingly, one of the exhibit sections in "The First Ladies at the Smithsonian" that features Mrs Reagan is entitled "Fashionable First Ladies." Her outfit isn't red, but many of her famous photos feature her in that hue.