Virtual Gallery Talk: RBG’S Official Robe & Jabot

You don’t have to enter the Maltz Museum building to go inside the special exhibition, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, presented locally by PNC Bank. Explore the gallery from the comfort of your own home when you join us for a virtual gallery talk that focuses on a specific artifact representing a particular part of RBG’s life and legacy.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg might seem an unlikely fashion icon, but this petite Supreme Court Justice used every opportunity to make towering statements about equality, including what she chose to wear. In an interview with the Washington Post, she explained why she chose to wear a jabot with her robe. “You know, the standard robe is made for a man because it has a place for the shirt to show, and the tie,” she said. “So Sandra Day O’Connor and I thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman. So I have many, many collars.” In fact, RBG associated meanings to her different collars, including her famous “Dissent Collar.” Using her Court robe, jabot, and signature scrunchie as a starting point, fashion expert Dr. Einav Rabinovitch-Fox discusses how RBG, and others like her, used fashion as a way to make statements about race, class, gender, and equality.