The best moments you might have missed from President Biden’s inauguration
By Lauren Heskin
25th Jan 2021
25th Jan 2021
From Ella Emhoff’s iconic Miu Miu coat, to Amanda Gorman’s poem and Michelle Obama serving as Kamala Harris’ hype woman, there is much to be digested from President Biden’s inauguration.
Something actually happened! That we could watch! Live! And it wasn’t Brexit-related or the storming of a public building or a desperately dry political meeting about mother and baby homes atrocities.
WHAT IS THIS LIFE!?
We’re taking this moment not to hit the political notes that happened yesterday but to highlight all the culture and fashion that we have been so starved of these long ten months. While the inauguration was severely limited in numbers by COVID-19 and was a relatively muted affair considering the recent attack on the Capitol and the climbing death toll of the virus, it still managed to have a few magic moments.
Lady Gaga singing the national anthem
Kicking things off for the inauguration was Lady Gaga in a fabulous custom Schiaparelli Couture gown. When she took the podium in front of a fairly small crowd (especially for her) she looked like a schoolchild whose getting their first turn on stage, an excited wave to a parent in the crowd would have tied it all off.
She also performed with a lot of excited gesticulation that seemed a little out of step with the sombre and even-slower-than-usual anthem. But we get it, these types of changing of the guards are always time for hope and anticipation. Plus, it means the end of Trump on the news every night for some insane thing he Tweeted, so I’ll drink to that.
It’s also interesting to see these opening scenes takes in images of a bedecked Capitol, a building we last saw quite literally crawling with Trump supporters as they besieged the Capitol two weeks ago. There was clearly an emphasis placed on the fact that the Capitol was stormed but not taken.
Ella Emhoff’s eyebrows
These January inaugurations are really a great day for coat lovers and when we all glimpsed Michelle Obama in her all-berry Sergio Hudson number, it looked like she would be the clear winner.
Look at Michelle Obama working it like a runway.
? #InaugurationDay pic.twitter.com/ZzwzaPMxUP— Siobhain (@summer0001) January 20, 2021
And then Vice President Kamala Harris’ step-daughter Ella Emhoff walks in in a killer Miu Miu coat and took us all by surprise. The oversized Peter Pan collar, and the embellished shoulder, yes please.
A unique reaction to Mike Pence’s presence by Ella Emhoff @CNN @CNNPolitics pic.twitter.com/VE2WRc6x8W
— amanda the good witch (@sloppymenace) January 20, 2021
To top it all off, as Mike Pence neared to speak to the Obamas who stood in front of her, cameras caught Emhoff’s eyebrows telling us all we needed to know about her thoughts on the outgoing vice president. Not even a mask taking up half your face can hide those kinds of emotions.
Amanda Gorman’s poem
We knew that the twenty-two-year-old’s poem was going to a highlight of the ceremony and Amanda Gorman did not disappoint. Reading her original poem “The Hill We Climb”, she brought some gravitas and emotion to the event that was inevitably quite dull at times.
Here’s just a taster:
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
This moment between Michelle Obama and Madame Vice President Harris
From the first Black First Lady to the first Black Asian-American female vice president, this small moment was another heart-warmer. And who wouldn’t swell up when Michelle Obama serves you such a face.
Michelle Obama reaction to Kamala Harris ??????? #queenshit #Inauguration2021 pic.twitter.com/k9yU0xfqf7
— The Official Destiny Jasmine ? (@Adore_dess) January 20, 2021
Probably one of only a few handfuls of Black people to have ever stood on an inauguration stage, you can feel how much this history-making moment means to both of them.
The Bernie Sanders meme
And finally, it wouldn’t be a big live event with a meme, would it? Bernie Sanders in his pretty epic mittens was captured sitting on his own (he is a high-risk for COVID-19) on a folding chair in a bundled up coat, looking a little… disgruntled.
Here’s just taste of what the Internet produced in a few short hours.
— The Amazing Atheist (@amazingatheist) January 20, 2021
We’re happy to confirm that it was our very own Tour Manager @Dan_Case who did this! https://t.co/Tyy3jjWB4h
— PUP (@puptheband) January 20, 2021
Out on the town having the time of my life with a bunch of friends pic.twitter.com/Qu7UpVTKgQ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 20, 2021
I’ve seen enough. This is the winner. pic.twitter.com/DuDeUGnGz4
— Fred (@WaywardWinifred) January 20, 2021
And my favourite…
“This could’ve been an email” pic.twitter.com/kn68z6eDhY
— Ashley K. (@AshleyKSmalls) January 20, 2021
Featured collage imagery via Instagram and Twitter
Read more: Biden’s inauguration is packed with star performers but this young poet you need to watch
Read more: We need to talk about the US Presidential Inauguration fashion
Read more: From the car-crash that killed his baby daughter to his son’s brain cancer; the heartbreaking tragedies Joe Biden overcame
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