Usha and JD Vance host Night at the Museum with Trump Cabinet Committees

Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha dressed to the nines Saturday night to host the private dinner for President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.

The former Ohio U.S. senator and “Hillbilly Elegy” author followed the dress code for the black-tie affair wearing a tuxedo, and his wife, a former corporate attorney, accompanied him in a tailored noir black velvet strapless Oscar de la Renta gown with asymmetrical floral accents and a sweet neckline. Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put a different spin on black tie by wearing a black and white printed tie with a white shirt and black suit. He was photographed sharing a laugh with Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s pick for defense secretary and former Fox News commentator, who spent much of last week being questioned by senators in a confirmation hearing. Lutnick, the former head of Cantor Fitzgerald, was also pictured smiling with Trump’s pick for Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

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Like Lutnick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, went with attire that wasn’t your standard gala or wedding tuxedo by wearing a two-tone jacket with a white tuxedo shirt that had black piping and black buttons. He accentuated the tailored look with a white handkerchief. His actress wife Cheryl Hinesof “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame, wore a feathery black off-the-shoulder ensemble. Kristi Noem, Trump’s choice for secretary of homeland security, wore a black strapless dress and a single strand of large pearls.

The Trump-Vance Inauguration Committee organized the fundraising dinner at the National Gallery of Art ahead of Trump’s second inauguration. All of Trump’s 24 cabinet picks — seven of whom are women — posed for a group photo at the museum.

The Washington, DC, museum has its own cabinet connection. Financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon, who served as Treasury Secretary under four presidents from 1921 to 1932, conceived and endowed the National Gallery of Art.

As to whether Vance’s strapless black velvet dress might have been inspired by John Singer Sargent’s famous painting “Madame X,” Jean Strouse, author of “Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers,” was unconvinced, except for the fact , that both dresses are full-length black dresses. “The bust line of the ‘Madame X’ dress is very different. The waist is much narrower and there are straps, although one slipped off the shoulder in the original portrait,” Strouse said via email Sunday. “And I don’t think there was a side slit in the skirt.”

The Vice President-elect, dressed for the occasion, was far more formal than usual. Recognizable by his neatly trimmed beard, Vance, who has three children with his wife, entered politics in 2021 and was elected to the Senate in 2022. He often sports traditional single-breasted suits with navy blue or gray ties, which he reportedly buys from a Italian Tailored in Cincinnati. Pundits and social media posters have noted how Vance has stepped up his attire in recent weeks and appeared to have lost some weight.

While the Vance dinner was in full swing Saturday night, the former and incoming president and his wife Melania attended a reception and fireworks display at the Trump National Gold Club in Potomac Falls, Va., with a few hundred supporters. Her arrival look was far from black tie – an extra roomy Dior gray coat and a white Baroque-inspired Dolce & Gabbana pantsuit.

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