Jill Biden and the Statement of No Statement Dressing

The day after President Biden released a video announcing he would be running for a second term, he and the first lady, Jill Biden, stood in black tie and evening gown on the red carpet outside the north entrance to the White House to welcome President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, to the second state dinner of the Biden administration. It was interesting timing.

After all, what better way to show just how at home you are in your current role — how graciously you play it — than to welcome the world to your home (relatively speaking) in the ultimate pantomime of national hosting that is the … well, meat, of this particular political ritual?

If the dinner itself largely takes place behind closed doors, one photo always goes wide: the greeting portrait, the two couples, side by side, dressed in pomp and circumstance and symbolism. It tells an implicit story of soft power and priorities.

So what does it say, exactly, that while Dr. Biden and her office were happy to engage in the usual preview of the evening’s menu, décor and entertainment — the blue tablecloths were chosen in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Republic of Korea alliance! The chairs were bamboo, with cushion designs evoking traditional Korean brush painting! — the one subject they did not officially communicate on was what the first lady was wearing?

Amid all the hosting details, it seemed a pretty glaring omission.

It’s not as if everyone couldn’t see her dress, thanks to that greeting photo: a long, mauve column by the Lebanese designer Reem Acra (as reported by the White House press pool), whose work Dr. Biden has worn for many of her public events since the 2009 Obama inauguration. She wore Reem Acra to her granddaughter Naomi Biden’s wedding at the White House in November, and to the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021.

It’s not as if she (and her office) doesn’t understand her power as a role model: She is the first first lady to continue her day job while also being the human face of an administration. What she wears is a signal in all sorts of ways — about who she is and who and what she represents — just as it has been for every first lady before her. Never more so than in moments of great pageantry like a state dinner.