Hillary Clinton Reveals the Story Behind Her Off-the-Rack Wedding Dress from Dillard's
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The Drew Barrymore Show/Ash Bean
Hillary Clinton took the spontaneous route when it came to saying yes to the dress.
During an interview for an episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, set to air Thursday, host Drew Barrymore asked Hilary whether or not her wedding dress was really purchased from Dillard's, to which she simply responded, "Yes it is."
Hillary's daughter Chelsea Clinton, 42, who accompanied her mom on the show, then prompted Barrymore to inquire about how many attempts it took before finding the dress.
"Only one, I found what I wanted," Hillary, 74, admitted, which earned a shocked look from the Wedding Singer actress.
"But here's what happened," Hillary went on to explain. "My husband [Bill Clinton] had asked me to marry him twice, and I said, 'Not now, no.' The third time was the charm. And then he said, 'Well let's hurry up and do it before you change your mind'."
Hillary Clinton/instagram
It turns out, finding a dress totally escaped Hillary's mind and by her wedding weekend a trip to the department store was the only solution.
The dress in question is a bohemian smock dress with bell sleeves and crochet lace detail. In February 2020, the former Secretary of State shared a throwback photo from their wedding day in 1975 on Instagram that showed off the wedding-day piece as well as Bill's groom suit (which he paired with a polka dot tie).
Hillary has previously opened up about her trademark style, including her signature pantsuits.
Speaking to CBS News on Sept. 6, ahead of the premiere of Gutsy, the Clintons' Apple TV + docuseries inspired by their best-selling The Book of Gutsy Women, the former first lady revealed that her now-uniform tracks back to her decision to wear a skirt during a state visit to Brazil.
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RELATED: Hillary Clinton Says She Started Wearing Pantsuits After 'Suggestive' Photos Came Out in Brazil
"I was sitting on a couch and the press was let in," Hillary told CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell. "There were a bunch of them shooting up."
She then revealed that the photos were later used in lingerie ads. "All of a sudden, the White House gets alerted to these billboards that show me sitting down with, I thought my legs [were] together, but the way it's shot, it's sort of suggestive."
The incident in Brazil wasn't the only uncomfortable encounter. "I'd be on a stage, I'd be climbing stairs, and they'd be below me," the best-selling author shared. "I just couldn't deal with it. So, I started wearing pants."
Empowering women is also the premise of Hillary's work, from her legislative action to her on-screen projects to her red carpet fashion.
In May, she attended the 2022 Met Gala in an ensemble dedicated to a catalog of powerful history-making women. Designed by Joseph Altuzarra, her burgundy off-the-shoulder gown was embroidered with the names of 60 famous women in American history, Vogue reported.
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RELATED: Read the Names of Women in History Hillary Clinton Admires, Stitched into Her Met Gala Gown
"A lot of these names are going to be well known to be people, but some of them are women who inspired me that maybe others don't know that much about," Hillary told the publication.
Rosa Parks, Lady Bird Johnson, Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman and Hillary's mother, Dorothy Rodham as well as Elizabeth Blackwell and Rebecca Lee Crumpler, were some of the figures featured on the dress' neckline and hem.
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"When someone like Hillary goes to The Met, it's not just, like, 'There's Hillary at The Met and she's wearing a dress.' It has a lot of significance," Altuzarra told the outlet on dressing the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate. "I felt like I had to be very thoughtful about what the dress would mean to the theme and to the occasion."
For the French-American designer, the ensemble was also an homage to the "homemakers, and quilters, and seamstresses" from 1870-1890s, the decades referenced in the gala's "Gilded Glamour" dress code.
Hillary and Chelsea's interview on The Drew Barrymore Show airs on CBS Thursday.
