Pat Nixon

=== Fashion and style ===
[[Image:Pat Nixon poses 1970.jpg|thumb|left|Pat Nixon posing in the White House, 1970]]
The traditional role of a First Lady as the nation's hostess puts her personal appearance and style under scrutiny, and the attention to Pat was lively. ''[[Women's Wear Daily]]'' stated that Pat had a "good figure and good posture", as well as "the best-looking legs of any woman in public life today".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900581,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114112758/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900581,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 14, 2007|title=Redoing Pat|access-date=July 25, 2008|magazine=Time|date=January 24, 1969}}</ref> Some fashion writers tended to have a lackluster opinion of her well tailored, but nondescript, American-made clothes. "I consider it my duty to use American designers", she said,<ref>{{cite news|author=Weinman, Martha|title=First Ladies—In Fashion, Too?|work=The New York Times|date=September 11, 1960}}</ref> and favored them because, "they are now using so many materials which are great for traveling because they're non crushable".{{sfnp|Anthony|1991|p=192}} She preferred to buy readymade garments rather than made-to-order outfits. "I'm a size 10," she told ''[[The New York Times]]''. "I can just walk in and buy. I've bought things in various stores in various cities. Only some of my clothes are by designers."<ref name="cc-nyt"/> She did, however, wear the custom work of some well-known talents, notably [[Geoffrey Beene]], at the suggestion of Clara Treyz, her personal shopper.<ref name="cc-nyt"/> Many fashion observers concluded that Pat Nixon did not greatly advance the cause of American fashion. Nixon's yellow-satin inaugural gown by Harvey Berin was criticized as "a schoolteacher on her night out", but Treyz defended her wardrobe selections by saying, "Mrs. Nixon must be ladylike."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Pat's Wardrobe Mistress|magazine=Time|date=January 12, 1970|access-date=November 9, 2007|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942153-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114112809/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942153-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 14, 2007}}</ref><ref>Nixon also frequently wore wigs that replicated her short blonde hairstyle, especially on political trips when access to a hairdresser was difficult. {{cite news|author=Curtis, Charlotte|title=Pat Nixon: 'Creature Comforts Don't Matter'|work=The New York Times|date=July 3, 1968}}</ref>

Nixon did not sport the outrageous fashions of the 1970s, because she was concerned about appearing conservatively dressed, especially as her husband's political star rose. "Always before, it was sort of fun to get some&nbsp;... thing that was completely different, high-style", she told a reporter. "But this is not appropriate now. I avoid the spectacular."{{sfnp|Eisenhower|1986|p=187}}