Sonia stuns White House
WASHINGTON,Wednesday. — “How beautiful,” said President Nixon.
One of the “most-talked about costumes yet to appear in the White House,” said the “Washington Post.”
And while the Prime Minister,Mr McMahon,spoke for 15 minutes at the State dinner in his honour last night,his wife,Sonia,put Australia on the map for Americans without saying a word.
Mrs McMahon and Mrs Nixon follow their husbands downstairs at the White House.Supplied
She wore the most daring but tasteful gown seen at the White House during the Nixon Administration,and she looked stunning.
The dress was a regal cream full-length,slit to the thighs,with continuing side-panels filled with flesh-coloured material.
The ladies of the White House press were agog for the President’s reaction and called his attention to the dress while he was chatting with Mrs McMahon.
“Is it Parisian?” the President asked. “No,Australian,” Mrs McMahon replied.
South Yarra designer Victoria Cascajo on November 10,1971.Staff photographer
To a group including the Prime Minister and Mrs Nixon — charming herself in a formal yellow evening dress — Mrs McMahon explained that her husband had picked the dress from a display in Sydney.
“I wouldn’t have dared.
“When he saw it,he said:‘That’s for you.’”
Leading Washington social writers said it was the most daring dress to appear on the scene since the days of Joan Kennedy,Senator Edward Kennedy’s wife.
Mrs Kennedy was famous for her lowcut dresses.
The dress did not seem to faze the President as he escorted Mrs McMahon into the East Room to hear Metropolitan Opera star Richard Tucker sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and other old favourites.
In Melbourne last night South Yarra fashion designer Victoria Cascajo,of Balencia Couture,was thrilled with the impact Mrs McMahon’s dress had made — she designed and made it. She said Mrs McMahon had asked her to make it after seeing a similar one in Sydney.