First Lady Jill Biden brought her sartorial A-game to Inauguration Day — and symbolically championed a young American label at the same time — by sporting a tone-on-tone ensemble designed by Alexandra O’Neill, founder of the barely four-year-old New York-based label Markarian. The custom-designed look included an ocean blue wool tweed coat embellished with Swarovski crystals that caught the light and a matching dress with a chiffon bodice and scalloped skirt. The icing on the matchy-matchy cake? A silk face mask (also by Markarian) in the same shade of blue and a pair of matching gloves (provenance unknown). According to a press release issued by the designer, the color blue was chosen “to signify trust, confidence, and stability.”
By going with an emerging American-made label, Biden sent an unmistakable message that she was taking a page from the Michelle Obama playbook and plans to use her role as first lady to elevate and amplify the work of up-and-coming designers. By opting for a tonal look — and one that played off the color of her husband’s necktie to boot — she visually telegraphed a departure from the colorful chaos of the previous administration. (For those of you in trend-spotting mode, the tonal thing turned out to be the big style story of the day.)
President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden depart the Capitol after watching a military pass in review ceremony on the East Front of the Capitol at the conclusion of the inauguration ceremonies, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
