Melania Trump donated her iconic off-white strapless with a black silk gazar zigzagging across the bodice Inaugural Ball dress to the Smithsonian.
“This is not a dress,” Trump said at an event marking her gown’s inclusion in the First Lady’s collection.
“This is more than 50 years of education, experience and wisdom realized with each thread, each stitch, each sharp edge.”
The First Lady described the dress designed by Herve Pierre to be “bold and dignified and ruthlessly chic,” saying the dress “speaks with a distinct point of view.”
The design of the dress and the dress fittings served as a plot in Melania’s documentary, which centered around her preparations the 20 days leading up to the inauguration.
“We must take pride, not only in the small rituals of self care, but in the courageous act of self expression,” Trump said. “Our outward appearance to the world, the art of presenting oneself can be cultivated over a lifetime.”
Trump will also be donating a replica of the 1955 Harry Winston broach. Trump borrowed the broach and pinned it to a black ribbon she wore as a choker at the three Inaugural Balls she attended with Trump.
“In many ways, the First Lady’s collection is as much a timeline of American history as it is a look in fashion,” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III said in his remarks.
Trump previously donated the dress she wore at her husband’s first Inauguration in 2017.
In addition to Trump’s two dresses, other dresses worn by First Ladies Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
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There are a total of 26 gowns displayed in the First Lady’s Exhibit at the Museum of National History.
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