"The Barbara Bush Gown"

A floor-length evening gown with a boned bodice made of deep indigo cotton velvet and a royal blue silk satin draped skirt; a bodice with Viennese seams and a wide square neckline is asymmetrically slanted towards the right hip, with long sleeves tapered towards the wrists, where they closed on single hooks, with raised and pleated caps. A flared skirt draped from the left hip, where the drapery secured with a bow; the gown has a rear zip fastening, blue viscose silk bodice lining with push-ups and a blue nylon skirt lining, which reinforced with buckram at the hem, and the middle underskirt made of nylon tulle with a frill of very stiff blue tulle sewn onto it and also reinforced with buckram.

This dress is Scaasi Boutique ready-to-wear version of the iconic 1989 inaugural ball gown worn by First Lady Barbara BUSH. Arnold SCAASI custom-made the original version of this deep-blue velvet and royal blue satin-taffeta gown for Barbara BUSH to wear to her husband George H.W. BUSH's presidential inauguration in January 1989. That historical piece was later donated and is famously displayed at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. Following the widespread media attention of the inaugural ball, SCAASI repeated this design for his Scaasi Boutique ready-to-wear line later that year.