First Lady Summer Style: A Slideshow Retrospective

The first lady's garb is a great way to gauge what's hot for summer style. Michelle Obama often makes news with her warm-weather wear comprised of capris, madras shorts, and printed dresses -- but how did other First Ladies beat the heat?

From Eleanor Roosevelt to to Jackie O, right on up to modern-day Michelle, the presidents' wives have donned sunglasses, scarves, pearls, hats and light-weight dresses. Check out the executive ensembles that took them through the dog days of summer.

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Eleanor Roosevelt

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Comments

[Riss09]

Yeah, first Jackie then Michelle....they are both so refined....in different ways...LOVE these ladies:)

[Pambie]

First Jackie. Second Michelle. No other first lady comes close.

[Tugar]

They all look great, except for Eleanore Roosevelt, who had more brains then any of them. Eleanore must have suffered tremendously wearing all that gear in the dog days of summer !

[craphappens]

Is that the best you could do for Nancy Reagan? That's not a very flattering summer outfit. Everyone else looked great. But what was Bess Truman's outfit? It looked like a roaring 20's dress.

[Marina56]

So many of these women were not treated well in their marriages: Eleanor, Jackie, Lady Bird, Pat, Hillary. Betty's relationship with her husband seemed fine, but, obviously, she struggled, and Laura has always seemed, to me, to carry a deep sadness.

[singers]

Is it possible to stop judging our first ladies by their outfits?
Apparently not.

[GomezAdams]

I agree...

[Mij13]

Style has a lot to do with what we remember about our first ladies. It's much more than their outfits. Jackie's outfits in these photos were nondiscript at best, but she still comes out as the most interesting, IMHO. Of course, she didn't have much competition. Talk about frumpy! Even Hillary, with those fat legs. And Nancy must be screaming bloody hell if she knows they've put up those pics of her and Ronny on the beach again.

[craphappens]

They aren't. And why are you reading it if you don't like it?

[benne]

Isn't a big problem with rating their style that they each represent a period? Thus, someone might have a good style sense but have the misfortune to be born in a period with some ugly clothing.

A good story about first ladies might be one on famous fashion faux pas? When were first ladies, other than Michelle, criticized for wearing something supposedly inappropriate?

[kuinlam]

First Ladies, and their daughters, always have been commented on. The difference now its that there is the World Wide Web, and everything has become magnified.

[PKatherine]

love Eleanor Roosevelt!!!!!!!!!
she was the best first lady!!

[t iessa]

I agree! I admire her so much!

[rsprags]

Good for your era! Go with it, however, we love our current FL!

[RangeMoor]

And that picture with the Fords look like it was taken on their wedding day!

[truthartbeauty]

nobody did it better than jackie. Michelle is next I think.

[Mij13]

I couldn't agree more!

[RangeMoor]

Isn't that a picture of the Trumans on their wedding day?
Some of these pics seem misplaced and inappropriate to the topic.

[MagicalPossibilities]

The chosen photos do Michelle no justice.
She has worn much nicer outfits.
Jackie O is the only one pictured who looks great in her clothes.

[Rosewren]

photo

What a happy person Bess Truman (I meant Mamie Eisenhower) seemed to be, always that big smile. The smiles struck me more than the fashion.

[Rosewren]

What a happy person Bess Truman seemed to be, always that big smile. The smiles struck me more than the fashion.

[Caton]

Eek! The Reagans should never have been filmed in bathing suits, what a horrific sight that was. Mine eye mine eyes! Jackie O was just beautiful. She stands out. Timeless.

[FourSordidRms]

I was thinking the same thing about Jackie, just timeless. Esp that white dress. I've loved Betty Ford at every stage, but what a good-looking young couple they were!