‘Proud' Lauren Sánchez reflects on controversial inauguration outfit

Lauren Sánchez has broken her silence on the outfit that set the internet alight, and she is standing by it, even if she has taken one small note for future reference.

Speaking to the New York Times, the helicopter pilot and wife of Jeff Bezos looked back on the look she wore to Donald Trump's second inauguration last year: a fuzzy white Schiaparelli coat over a white McQueen pantsuit, layered over a lace that caught considerably more attention than she had anticipated. 

Sánchez said she had expected the ensemble to read as conservative. "I was super proud of myself," she said.

The backlash was swift and came from several directions. 

Megyn Kelly was among the most vocal critics. 

"Have some dignity and some respect for your setting in your circumstances," she said at the time. "No one should be talking about your tits. Sorry. They should be talking about the inauguration."

Sánchez placed some of the blame on circumstances beyond her control, noting the last-minute switch to an indoor ceremony altered the context of the look. 

But by all accounts, the criticism did not land particularly hard. 

She quietly responded by liking supportive comments on social media, and a friend told Page Six the reaction simply was not something that kept her up at night. 

"Lauren just doesn't give a s--t. She does what she wants," the source said.

Sánchez herself seemed genuinely puzzled by the impulse to criticise. 

"I can never imagine writing something mean on somebody's Instagram. It would actually break my heart," she told the Times. "I want to just give everyone flowers. Why wouldn't you?"

It was not the first time a Sánchez outfit at a political event had caused a stir. 

She faced similar criticism for wearing a lacy corseted red Rasario gown to a White House state dinner in 2024. 

She appears to have absorbed at least one lesson from the combined experience. "I get it," she said. "No lace at the White House. Noted."