Future First Lady Appoints Her Designer-Elect for Inaugural Finery

The election is over, and the countdown to the inauguration is on. What to wear? Laura Bush’s entire inauguration wardrobe will be designed by Dallas-based Michael Faircloth.

The 41-year-old designer said Thursday that he is working on six outfits for the “perfect size 8” Bush. But he was mum on the details, saying that sketches of the clothing will be released the first week of January. Faircloth designed the periwinkle blue and charcoal gray suit Bush wore at her husband’s acceptance speech. He had created a bright pink suit with a long jacket for the occasion, but it was deemed “too bright.”

Faircloth has been designing for the Texas first lady since 1994. His clothes are available exclusively at Lilly Dodson, a Dallas retailer.

The Bush twin teenage daughters Barbara and Jenna, named for their grandmothers, will also get a dose of Texas chic for the Jan. 20 festivities. Their outfits for the swearing ceremony will be designed by Texas-born Lela Rose, who’s dressed stars like Ashley Judd, Sharon Stone and Jenna Elfman.

The 31-year-old designer, now living in New York, is known for couture-like touches such as lace inserts, floral appliques and handkerchief stitching.

As a student at the University of Colorado, she sewed vests from vintage scarves with buttons made from Monopoly game pieces. The vests were snapped up by Fred Segal in Los Angeles.

After graduation, Rose attended Parsons School of Design in New York before joining Richard Tyler in Los Angeles. In 1996, she left to start her own label.

Rose’s father, Edward “Rusty” Rose, owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with President-elect George W. Bush. They sold the team two years ago.

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Academy Award winner Jean Louis will be next year’s inductee into the Hall of Fame of the Costume Designers Guild. The designer, who died at age 89 in 1997, will be honored at the third annual Costume Designers Guild Awards on March 17 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Louis designed costumes for more than 60 motion pictures and won an Oscar for 1956’s “Solid Gold Cadillac.” His most famous creations included a black strapless gown worn by Rita Hayworth when she sang “Put the Blame on Me” in “Gilda,” the shimmering dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she serenaded President Kennedy with “Happy Birthday” in 1962 and costumes for Doris Day in “Pillow Talk.”

Louis, a Paris native, was head designer at the house of Hattie Carnegie in New York before moving to Hollywood to become chief designer at Columbia Pictures. (He later switched to Universal Pictures.)

In 1992, at 85, he married Loretta Young. They had known each other since the 1950s, when he designed gowns for the actress’ legendary entrances on “The Loretta Young Show.”

Louis ran his own couture house in Los Angeles in the 1960s and ‘70s. He was a favorite of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who wore a simple black Louis jacquard dress the night her husband was elected president in 1980.

Past Hall of Fame inductees include Adrian, Travis Banton, Edith Head, Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff.

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E-mail: booth.moore@latimes.com.