Last week’s presidential inauguration may have lacked some of the pageantry and parties of a non-pandemic year, but flowers still played a meaningful role, particularly when it came to fashion. One example: First Lady Jill Biden — in a move noticed by flower lovers across social media — wore an evening dress embroidered with flowers and complemented by a white wrist corsage.

The purple attire of Vice President Kamala Harris also underscored the unity theme, while also paying homage to suffragettes and Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress. And Lady Gaga’s big, bold bird broach was, according to the singer: “A dove carrying an olive branch. May we all make peace with each other.”

But it was the First Lady who made sure flowers and their symbolism got center stage with her sartorial choices. Jill Biden’s white cashmere coat featured embroidered flowers representing every state and territory, each flower taking approximately two hours to apply, according to a press release from the designer, Gabriela Hearst. On Instagram, Hearst wrote: “The message of Unity is the main inspiration for the creation of the Ensemble. Unity makes strength and it is needed for the road ahead. The blooming symbol to represent this message are the federal flowers from every state and territory of the United States of America.”

The dress under the coat also featured the embroidered state flowers, placed along the organza bodice and sleeves. The Delaware state flower — the peach blossom — was positioned purposefully above Biden’s heart. She also sported a white corsage on her left wrist, in the tradition of several first ladies before her, including Mamie Eisenhower and Betty Ford.

No one knows better the Bidens’ specific love of flowers than former White House Florist Laura Dowling, on the job from 2009 to 2015, who recently recalled some of her favorite floral memories of the couple. Every year on their anniversary, then-Vice President Biden would call the White House flower shop and ask for a bouquet of as many yellow roses as years the pair had been married — a request that had the staff of volunteers and Dowling searching for upwards of three dozen roses. (Watch Dowling’s full interview on White House florals here.)

The Society of American Florists has led floral design and décor for inaugural balls and events during a number of past administrations, including for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Read one SAF former president’s memories of working with previous administrations here.

Amanda Long is a contributing writer to the Society of American Florists.