For her presentation to Washington society in 1903, Marjorie wore an Edwardian, two-piece evening dress created by the two Baker sisters who had a small dress shop in their home. From then on, Marjorie’s fondness for fashionable apparel never waned.
As an adult, her wardrobe consisted of an impressive array of dresses and suits, expertly designed and coordinated with matching hats, shoes, gloves, handbags, handfans, and furs. To enhance her statuesque beauty, she bedecked herself in gems from Cartier, Tiffany, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels, and historic jewels from the royal courts of Europe.
As was the custom of the time, it was not unusual for Marjorie to change her clothes four times a day to suit the day’s events, or to carry a matching clutch while entertaining in her own home. She often purchased two identical dresses in order to have one at at Mar-a-Lago, her Palm Beach estate designed by Florenz Ziegfeld’s set designer and architect Joseph Urban, and another at one of her other residences, including Hillwood, her Washington, DC home, which she purchased in 1955.
Today, Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens is entrusted not only with the care of Post’s decorative arts collections, historic mansion, and its grounds, but also with her historic collection of dresses, gowns, shoes, jewelry and accessories. This is the only collection of twentieth-century fashion apparel and accessories in Washington, DC, and is shared with the public through rotating displays in Post’s dressing room, temporary exhibitions, and public lectures about the role that Post and her collections played in the history of fashion.
Marjorie Merriweather Post made significant contributions to the National Symphony. Still, the greatest of all her gifts was her unfailing belief that WDC was destined to be a world-class city like Paris, London or Moscow. In 1973, at the age of 86, Mrs. Post was still considered one of the most significant and bestdressed women in the world. Her resplendent beauty, business acumen, propriety, grace, charm and generosity made her one of Washington, DC’s most celebrated fashion leaders of the twentieth century.
The lavish 25 acre grounds of the Hillwood Mansion, located on Linnean Avenue in northwest DC, and its contents, are among the magnificent gifts bestowed on Washington by Mrs. Post.