After taking measurements of the 200-year-old suit, Philip De Paola assembled a mock-up, or toile, in muslin and then practiced hand-sewing a brown wool suit in preparation for crafting the replica in custom burgundy fabric.

Piecing together presidential history

Article by Megan M.F. Everhart Photos courtesy of Philip De Paola | Photo illustration by Aly Boyle February 17, 2025

UD alumnus is recreating a suit worn by America’s first president

In the 19th century, relic hunters paid high prices for a piece of “Washingtonia” — slices of wood from the first president’s Mount Vernon home, letters, scraps of clothing and even snips of his hair. A suit Washington wore on his inauguration day, April 30, 1789, has sections missing, as pieces of fabric were cut away and sold during the era when reverence for the Founding Father was at its peak.

University of Delaware alumnus Philip De Paola is also fascinated by the suit, but his appreciation is less about George Washington the icon and more about what historic textiles can teach us.

De Paola, who works as a collections management associate in the textile research and storage facility of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is constructing a replica of the suit, using tailoring techniques from the 18th century and bespoke silk fabric. The original is housed at the Morristown National Historical Park in Morristown, New Jersey, which is home to many other Revolutionary War artifacts. The park plans to display the reconstruction.

After graduating from UD in 2020 with a bachelor of arts with distinction in art conservation, De Paola entered a graduate program in fashion and textile studies: history, theory, museum practice at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and reconstructing the suit is his master’s project.

Learning from textiles

De Paola came to UD with a background in tailoring and sewing, and soon discovered his interest in art conservation, specifically working with textiles.

The UD undergraduate program in art conservation is fully run by art conservators in a range of specialities, giving students like De Paola unparalleled opportunity to learn from experts in conservation science.

A section of the original suit (above) had not been exposed to light and enabled De Paola to order the replica fabric (below).

While at UD, he worked with historic textiles during internships at Winterthur Library, Museum and Garden, and the American History Museum in Washington, D.C. He conducted fiber identification on 14 textile fragments associated with human remains that were found in an unmarked cemetery in Philadelphia for his senior thesis.

“Working with really old fibers that are very degraded is so different from working with something that's well taken care of, so having worked with archaeological fibers that were really brittle and degraded translated nicely into this project,” De Paola said.

He explained that Washington’s suit is in good condition, aside from the holes, but it takes experience to responsibly handle garments that are hundreds of years old.

Protecting and constructing

A project like this is not as simple as sitting down and sewing garments. The original has been kept in storage for 30 years after being extensively displayed in the 20th century, which caused damage, and there are no plans to put it back on display due to its condition.

George Washington’s family gave the suit to the Washington Association of New Jersey (WANJ) in the late 1880s, and WANJ deeded their entire collection to Morristown National Historical Park in 1933. This lineage adds to the suit’s value.

“What makes the suit unique is the provenance,” said Jude Pfister, park curator. “It helps us understand that Washington was human, not a mythical figure.”

When De Paola contacted Pfister about the project, the park was planning to rehouse the suit for archival storage, which meant it would be removed from storage for a short time and available to be studied. It was a lucky break as De Paola was able to get a true sense of the garment.

De Paola first helped textile conservator Dierdre Windsor make padded inserts to help the suit keep its shape after it went back in storage.

De Paola worked with a silk manufacturer to custom weave a fabric to match the iridescent quality of the original suit.

“The separate pieces have to be properly supported and not wrinkled. It is like a body form, but not so padded out to put stress on the fabric,” he said.

Then they made archival quality boxes to protect the suit from light and other environmental factors.

“While the suit was out of storage, I took all the measurements I could possibly take. Then I reproduced pattern pieces out of cotton muslin to make a mock-up, called a toile, before working on the real thing,” De Paola said.

Finding an appropriate fabric for the replica was a challenge.

“It wasn’t possible to find an exact color match,” De Paola said. “Most of the suit is faded, but there is an area inside one of the pleats that hasn’t been exposed to light over the years.”

He worked with a silk mill to weave a custom fabric in an iridescent burgundy that closely resembles the original.

Presidential fascination

Although relic hunting is no longer a popular pastime, Pfister explained that Americans still revere Washington, and having the suit on display can be a jumping off point for conversations about the first president, his legacy and his humanity.

“I also think it's also maybe shocking to some people to see George Washington in something other than a plain brown suit or the classic black velvet,” De Paola added. “Iridescent burgundy silk is not what people expect to see him wear.”

The suit can teach visitors about the history of style in part by revealing that Washington had a proclivity for high-end fashion of the day.

“I think maybe it challenges some people's preconceptions about George Washington's fashion choices,” De Paola said.