Dateline Washington DC: Inaugural Fashion!

(This is Mademoiselle's assistant, writing up her notes from the Inauguration. I hope she gets good and looped at the post-Inaugural luncheon, she's been impossible.)It is absolutely frigid out here, even my silk knit lingerie does not help. I am bundled up top to toe. Thank goodness Bucky is back at the Willard Hotel; the little darling does not do well in these temperatures. The estimates of the crowd range from 1 million to 16 million, but all I know is that my toes are frozen.Hillary Clinton is wearing a cobalt blue coat that would be perfectly acceptable except for that strange ruffle across the back. Laura Bush is wearing a suitably toned down gray ensemble; considering how loudly her husband had been booed on his entrance, it wouldn't do to dress to be noticed.Dick Cheney is being wheeled out in a chair...how did I ever bring myself to sleep with him back in the day?Ah, Jill Biden is wearing a wonderful lipstick red coat with an assymetrical collar. It is a bit hard to tell, but I think she has on black gloves with large black bumps on them that resemble nothing so much as Elephant Man disease. Her husband, the Vice-President elect, has on more makeup than she does, it seems from here.

Michelle Obama is wearing a marvelous sheath with a matching coat over it, in gold with white embroidery by Isabel Toledo. She has accessorized it with green gloves and matching green pumps. This is definitely a First Lady with a style mind of her own. I don't care for the jeweled collar, but otherwise, this is an instant classic. (Pardon my fawning, but this is the new administration and your faithful correspondent knows which side her bread is buttered on.)They are beginning the ceremony--whose hair is stiffer, Dianne Feinstein's or Joe Biden's? Neither one's is moving in the icy wind.

What does Aretha Franklin have on her head? Oh, dear, she is not in good voice this cold morning. Somebody just called out "Sing good!" Poor Aretha cannot oblige. She must have a cold. All the moaning and melismas in the world can't cover up the fact that the woman is having a hard time hitting the notes.WAIT A MINUTE--I SEE A SPACE HEATER! MOVE IT OR LOSE IT, OLD MAN!Ha. Cheney thought he could hide it under his wheelchair. Oh, that is such a relief...to be continued!Ciao,Elisa sans Bucky the Wonderdog