Despite the heat wave that has gripped the Northeast and a delayed start due to the threat of thunderstorms, thousands turned out Saturday night to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary in Washington, D.C.
While red, white and blue are a given on the Fourth of July, attendees, who checked out the Freedom 250 site, were offered some free fashion advice. With the temperature forecasted to hit 102 ºF Saturday in the nation’s capital, visitors were advised to wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing and wide-brimmed hats. In the end, the choice was theirs, since fashion is a form of self-expression.
First Lady Melania Trump dressed for the elements wearing an Adam Lippes white midi cotton shirtdress with tiny dots woven into the jacquard fabric. FLOTUS has selected the American designer for other key photo-ops like President Trump’s 2025 inauguration and a private tea with Queen Camilla and King Charles III at the White House in April.
She polished off the look with white leather Christian Louboutin pumps. The French designer provided the custom footwear that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce sported for their wedding Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.Her choice was similar to the Thom Browne cotton poplin A-line shirtdress with a sharp collar that she wore to last year’s Fourth of July picnic. Last year’s choice, however, featured a grosgrain tab at the waist with the designer’s signature red, white and blue stripe – a subtle salute to the federal holiday’s unofficial preferred colors.
The “Salute to America 250” celebration on the grounds of the Washington Monument caps off what has been a full day of festivities around the National Mall that was expected to attract thousands of visitors to the grounds and the surrounding area. Despite the searing heat, the Great American State Fair and the FIFA Fan Zone opened as scheduled at noontime, but the extreme heat caused the fair to be evacuated early on Saturday. (Attendance at the 16-day Great American State Fair has reportedly been sparse despite such attractions as a ferris wheel.)
There were 33 flyovers planned throughout the day including ones by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey and even Air Force One. Complimentary water stations, cooling stations, misting areas and shaded rest areas were set up to help attendees beat the heat.
President Trump was slated to speak at 9:45 p.m. but it was after 11 p.m. before he took the stage, due to the unsettled skies. That change in plans also pushed back the scheduled fireworks. He jumpstarted the Fourth of July weekend Friday night by delivering a speech at Mount Rushmore. Beforehand, Trump posted a video on social media of his likeness etched beside Abraham Lincoln in what looks like a gold-foiled version of the National Memorial in South Dakota, which also features the visages of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Washington Post in a statement, “There would be no better addition to the iconic Mount Rushmore than the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump.”
FLOTUS wore a similar look last year. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during a Fourth of July celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. on July 4, 2025.
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Presidents and fireworks have a long lineage, thanks to President Thomas Jefferson, who first established the tradition of a Fourth of July celebration at the White House in 1801, by welcoming people, as well as diplomats, civil and military officers, and Cherokee chiefs into what is now the Blue Room, according to the White House Historical Association.
Lippes wasn’t the only American designer to have a hand in the nation’s 250th anniversary. In May, the U.S. Postal Service invited Ralph Lauren to create a collection of commemorative stamps.
