The clothes they’ll swear-in by

The inaugural gown that First Lady Laura Bush will wear next week is an ice blue and silver embroidered tulle V-neck dress with a matching duchess satin coat by Seventh Avenue designer Oscar de la Renta.

The gown is youthful and feminine, not sexy -- the epitome of good taste. But it is almost overshadowed by the glamorous day suit that De la Renta created for the swearing-in ceremony. The inauguration day ensemble consists of a winter white cashmere dress with embroidered trim that is topped with a matching embroidered coat. The ensemble has classic lines, but it also reflects fashion’s current interest in ladylike daywear festooned with glitter or beading. It is not that Mrs. Bush has opted to indulge in fads for the president’s second inauguration. It is that, at the moment, fashion has come around to her. The combination promises to be splendid.

The president will wear a business suit to his swearing-in rather than a more formal morning coat -- a style last worn by President Reagan. The Bushes’ daughters, Jenna and Barbara, have chosen to show off their fashion savvy as well as their sex appeal by supporting one of American fashion’s more unproven talents and using the expertise of designers who take traditional beadwork and make it lighthearted.

When Laura Bush stands next to her husband at noon on Jan. 20, she will not be enveloped in the traditional patriotic primary hues of red or blue that have allowed so many first ladies to be spotted from a half-mile away. For President Bush’s first inaugural, she wore a peacock blue suit by Dallas-based designer Michael Faircloth. It was tasteful but safe, the inauguration day equivalent of a little black dress.

This time, she will be wearing winter white, a color that suggests a certain chic understanding that restraint can be the most powerful form of expression. The suit is a customized version of a blue-trimmed beige tweed style that originally appeared in De la Renta’s fall collection.

In winter white, there is also an unabashed proclamation of wealth. Clearly, one is not concerned with such banal issues as bad weather or the cost of dry cleaning. Winter white is crisp, pristine, a little aloof. It is not a warm and fuzzy color. Winter white -- a slightly more antique shade than the searing white one might wear in July -- is elegant.

Her inaugural gown also shows panache. In choosing a pale blue with hints of gray and silver, she again distances herself from the Washington cliche that one’s patriotism is in direct proportion to the amount of red, white and blue draped over one’s body.

In making her choices, De la Renta says, the first lady focused on her own sense of style and not on how a particular color or silhouette might look on television, from a distance or in the pages of history.

“She’s very precise in what she likes and what is right for her,” De la Renta says. “She can almost wear any color. First of all, she’s a very handsome lady. But some people, because of their coloring, some things they can’t wear.... She’s also a regular size, and so fitting isn’t a problem.”

Mrs. Bush has worn De la Renta’s clothes from her first days in the White House. But the designer, who counts Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) among his clients, was surprised when he first learned that Laura Bush was an admirer of his work.

When Mrs. Bush arrived in Washington, she was photographed for Vogue. In preparation for that shoot, the magazine asked De la Renta to lend clothes. “I said, ‘I don’t think Laura Bush would want to wear Oscar de la Renta,’ because I was so closely identified with Hillary Clinton,” De la Renta recalls. The designer had created Mrs. Clinton’s second inaugural gown.

“I completely misjudged her. The first lady is not that kind of person.”

Mrs. Bush arrived for that Vogue shoot wearing a red De la Renta suit that, he says, she’d purchased while in Texas. Later that day, she selected a De la Renta pantsuit to be photographed in as well.

Over the years, a small group of names has become associated with Laura Bush’s public wardrobe. De la Renta is one, as well as Carolina Herrera, who has created a raspberry awning-striped silk shirtdress for the Texas State Society’s Black Tie and Boots Ball on Jan. 19. It has a full skirt, placket buttons and a bodice that recalls the look of a western shirt. Mrs. Bush has also enlisted the services of designer Peggy Jennings, a favorite since her days as a governor’s wife. Jennings has created a pale moss long-sleeve dress with a jewel neckline and a boucle wool coat. Both are trimmed in ivory grosgrain ribbon. She will wear the suit for daytime events on Jan. 19. For the candlelight dinners that evening, Jennings created a rose quartz, beaded lace gown with an hourglass silhouette.

Whereas Laura Bush enlisted the aide of three designers for her inaugural week wardrobe, her daughters had the combined forces of four design houses: Lela Rose, De la Renta, Derek Lam and Badgley Mischka. With their choices, they have opted for the familiar, the traditional, the new and the va-va-voom.

They wore Rose’s girlie designs during their father’s 2001 inauguration. Their choice of De la Renta underscores his appeal to a broad range of women. Lam’s business is not even three years old, but he has established a reputation for sophisticated, unfussy sportswear with an urbane flair.

Most surprising, however, is their selection of the design team of Mark Badgley and James Mischka. The two designers had never met the twins. They had never made an inaugural anything. They were best known for their lavishly beaded, sexy evening gowns favored by Hollywood stars such as Ashley Judd. But when the White House called a couple of months ago to make an appointment for Jenna and Barbara Bush, the designers were happy to help.

Jenna Bush’s Badgley Mischka dress was designed for the official inaugural balls and is a Granny Smith apple green silk crepe slink with metallic leather and gemstone insets. Their dress for Barbara Bush is intended for the Black Tie and Boots Ball and is cut from aquamarine silk chiffon. It is held up by jeweled spaghetti straps and has an open back and a low V-cut neckline. Each dress has a small train.

The president, according to the White House, has not added a new suit for the swearing-in. But he will maintain a tradition established in 1995 when he was first sworn in as governor of Texas. He will wear gold cuff links inset with platinum Navy wings that were given to him by his father, who received them in 1943 when he was commissioned into the armed services in Corpus Christi, Texas.