Jill Biden used her Inauguration concert dress to send a message of unity across the US.- The first lady's dress was adorned with flowers from every US state.
- She may have been inspired by Meghan Markle, whose wedding veil was embroidered with Commonwealth flowers.
Jill Biden wore a dress that may have been inspired by Meghan Markle's wedding veil for her first evening at the White House.
Biden paired a floral-embroidered dress with an ivory Gabriela Hearst coat and matching gloves for her appearance at the Inauguration concert on Wednesday. The dress was adorned with the federal flowers of every state and territory in the country, and is thought to have been chosen to symbolize unity across the US.
It's possible that the first lady took inspiration from the Duchess of Sussex, who used her wedding veil to send a message of unity between the monarchy and the Commonwealth in 2018.
Markle's veil was embroidered with the national flowers of each of the 53 Commonwealth countries.
The look symbolized the duchess' former role within the royal family. She became a representative for the Queen - who is head of the Commonwealth - when she married the Duke of Sussex.
"We understand how important this is for us, and the role that we play and the work that we're gonna continue to do within the Commonwealth countries," the duchess said of the veil in a documentary released after the wedding.
The veil was also embroidered with a California poppy to represent the former actress' home state.
The Bidens have a close friendship with Prince Harry
While it's unknown whether Biden has ever met Markle, her friendship with the duchess' husband has been widely documented over the years.
She was first photographed meeting Prince Harry back in 2012, during a reception for wounded soldiers at the British Embassy in Washington, DC.
In the years that followed, the pair have made several public appearances together, most typically at the prince's Invictus Games. Both Jill and Joe Biden are longtime supporters of the sporting tournament for injured or wounded service personnel, which Harry founded in 2014.
Read more: 11 photos show Prince Harry's friendship with Joe Biden is nothing like his relationship with Trump
The then-vice president later joked that he was "worried" about how much time Harry and Jill were spending together.
"I read in the Guardian, or one of them, and it says - I'm paraphrasing - everywhere Prince Harry went, he had this blonde woman on his arm. The vice-president's wife! I'm a little worried here, you know what I mean?" he told The Guardian.