Jill Biden Outfits That Totally Missed The Mark

Jill Biden loved having fun with fashion as a first lady, whether embracing the Barbiecore trend in a pink statement coat or stepping out in one of her favorite floral frocks. Unfortunately, Jill has also worn several inappropriate outfits, and some of her looks wouldn't perform well at the ballot box if Americans were allowed to vote on them.

Jill was actually encouraging her fellow citizens to exercise their right to vote in 2024 when she suffered one fashion flub. After Joe Biden's dismal debate performance, she attended a campaign rally in a black-and-white Christian Siriano sheath dress with the word "vote" splashed all over it. If you've got a message that you want to get out and you use a bold print to display it, you better slay it. Unfortunately, some netizens felt that Jill's patriotic garb was a swing and a miss. "It looks way more Etsy than designer," one person tweeted. Another snarked, "You chose to wear that? You are the First Lady. Not a Batman villain." They were seemingly comparing her dress to the Riddler's cheesy suit covered in question marks.

Using printed words to make a style statement is a risky endeavor, as Melania Trump discovered when she wore her controversial coat with the question "I really don't care, do u?" emblazoned on the back. However, as Jill has learned, florals, stripes, and sequins can also offend people's sartorial senses if they aren't worn right.

If Jill Biden were to hang the dress she wore to the 2015 Lincoln Awards in the window, it would make a great Halloween decoration. The flared skirt of the sleeveless green garment was adorned with black tufts of tulle that resembled a swarm of spider-centipede hybrids from a distance. The details were a strange addition to the well-tailored dress, which appeared to be made of satin or a similar material. There was also some disunity between the creepy-crawlies and Biden's footwear: Her slingback stiletto sandals were topped with dainty little bows.

Some public figures can place the blame on their stylists when they wear a look that doesn't make the grade. However, this isn't the case for Biden. According to Vogue, the college professor chooses her own outfits. She told the magazine in a 2021 interview, "It's kind of surprising, I think, how much commentary is made about what I wear. ... It's amazing how much people pay attention to every little detail." Of course, when you're walking around with critter props from a B-horror movie skittering all over your ensemble, people are going to have opinions about it.

In 2020, Jill Biden got all gussied up to place a letter in her mailbox. She was trying to encourage her Instagram followers to use snail mail, and she was dressed like she was expecting the Pony Express to deliver her message. Jill was clothed in a cottagecore frock that featured seersucker material, bell sleeves, and yellow rick rack trim. The bodice and upper arms of the sleeves were shirred, which reminded some users on X, formerly known as Twitter, of a diaper's stretchy waistband. Another absorbent item the garment was compared to was a roll of paper towels. "Someone needs to teach Jill Biden how to dress. She's always wearing a tablecloth, couch throw, or drapes when she's out. It's like she went to the 'Bag Lady School of Fashion,'" read one harsh review of her garb. It looked like it could have been swiped from the closet of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which must be stuffed with bad outfits.

Jill was also wearing the dress wrong. She had it pulled up so the neckline covered her shoulders, creating stiff corners that weren't supposed to be there — it was obviously designed to be worn off-the-shoulder.

In 2022, the Daily Mail published photos of Jill wearing the same mini dress during an outing with her daughter-in-law Melissa Cohen and granddaughter Finnegan Biden. Before the group went shopping together on South Carolina's Kiawah Island, neither of Jill's companions told her that she needed to tug her dress down until the neckline fit snugly against her upper arms to create the appropriate silhouette.

Getting adventurous with print is a tricky business. It can pay off in praise for daring to be different, but sometimes, people don't appreciate the atypical. In 2023, Jill Biden taught a lesson in sustainable style by re-wearing a tea-length Akris dress more than once. She first rocked it during a trip to Mexico. The following month, she packed it in her luggage when she jetted off to Namibia. It made yet another appearance in her wardrobe repertoire when she headed to a D.C. middle school to meet with students who were starting a new school year. The garment featured a large pixelated print that reminded many social media users of the popular "Minecraft" game.

Some netizens weren't fans of the frock, which was collared with a button front and belted waist. One person reacted to it with the "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme. But instead of taking a page from Steve Buscemi's playbook by using skateboards and rock music to prove that she's hip to what the youngsters are into, she was playing to their love of online gaming. Another person wrote, "Jill Biden's Life hacks #634 when you get tired of wearing the curtains and want to spice up your look, try wearing your grandchildren's Minecraft sheets." The 8-bit print reminded someone else of an internet video screen that isn't loading properly. Some people also dated themselves by comparing it to a Game Boy classic. "She looks like a broken Tetris game!!" read one tweet.

Jill Biden loves a floral print, especially if it's large and colorful. She's worn multiple Oscar de la Renta designs splashed with patterns that incorporate blooms and leaves, and the 2022 White House Easter Egg Roll was the perfect occasion to sport a pink dress that embodied the spring season with its embroidered flowers in a variety of vibrant hues. She was even rocking a floral dress when she posed for her 2021 Vogue cover. However, she shouldn't have attempted to force spring to come early by wearing a flowery design in early winter.

In December 2022, Jill attended the Kennedy Center Honors in a long-sleeved Monique Lhuillier gown. The top half was black brocade fabric, while the skirt was covered with midnight blue sequins. The materials were a random pairing, and the floral appliques scattered on the dress did nothing to tie it all together. Pale peaches, pinks, and whites had been used to create the delicate embroidery, which looked out of place against the garment's dark material.

On their way to the awards ceremony, Jill and Joe Biden smiled for photos as they walked past the White House's decorated Christmas trees. A frock in silver, gold, or a more festive color would have looked so much better with the holiday décor. "Jill Biden has terrible fashion sense. Her dress looks like an ugly vintage tablecloth," read one X critique.

For a 2023 virtual appearance on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," Jill Biden got all decked out in clusters of colorful sequins. The bodice of her black dress was covered with glittering blossoms, and additional flowers decorated the sheer sleeves. Trumpworld personality Roger Stone probably shouldn't be criticizing anyone's fashion sense, considering that he sometimes dresses like a '60s-era Batman baddie. However, on X, he unfavorably compared Jill's gown to Melania Trump's wardrobe (which does include several inappropriate outfits, by the way). "Jill Biden is no Melania Trump," he wrote.

Stone's tweet was met with a flood of responses from Jill's supporters, who opined that they'd rather have a first lady with substance than one with style. But there were plenty a lot of naysayers who chimed in to roast the dress. "She is wearing a saloon lampshade," one of them wrote. Her look was also likened to a decorated Christmas tree and a much-reviled dessert. "A holiday Fruitcake dress!" read another post. Joan Rivers herself might have found that barb a little too insulting.

When some of Jill's dresses were put on display at the Smithsonian, Town & Country quoted her as saying, "When I became first lady, I knew people would start to care a lot more about what I wore, and there have been times when I welcome that spotlight, because I knew that my clothes could help me say something important." Her New Year's Eve dress was probably just meant to convey that she was feeling merry, but it proved to be the wrong choice to get that message across to the American people.