Smithsonian to display Melania Trump gown featured in documentary
Melania Trump will once again donate her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian, continuing a century-old tradition.
The first lady wore a Hervé Pierre-designed white gown to her husband Donald Trump's second inauguration Jan. 20, 2025, that will now go on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s First Ladies Gallery, reported The Hill.
The recent documentary film "Melania" showed her process for selecting and fitting for the gown, the second of hers to go on display in the exhibit, which the first lady's X account described as "a rare distinction held by only a few First Ladies in history."
The popular museum exhibit features more than two dozen gowns worn by Frances Cleveland, Lou Hoover, Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and others.
“I must tell you that it can be a daunting task to choose an outfit that will be [memorialized] and become a part of our nation’s story and forever history," Melania Trump said in 2017, when she donated her first inaugural gown.
Other areas of the exhibit highlight the roles played former first ladies Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson.