Christina Aguilera! Marc Anthony! Tom Hanks! Oprah! The Biggest Stars at the Opening of the Obama Presidential Center

The Story

Today in Illinois, the long-awaited Obama Presidential Center (OPC) celebrated its grand opening, welcoming a sprawling crowd of politicians, celebrities, and other well-wishers to its 19-acre campus in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side.

Notable attendees at the daytime dedication ceremony included former President Joe Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden; former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff; former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries; Sen. Dick Durbin; former White House Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; former US Attorney General Eric Holder; former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Among the other guests were former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Valerie Jarrett, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, and former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pose ahead of the dedication ceremony for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center.

The center, which spans a four-story museum tower, a recreation area, a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, and sundry landscaped lawns, paths, and gardens, was designed by the New York–based firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects in partnership with Interactive Design Architects (IDEA).

During Thursday’s event, former President Obama expressed his hope that the OPC would “serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious, our democracy truly is.” He was joined at the ceremony by former first lady Michelle Obama—dressed in a tweed skirt suit by Thom Browne—and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

A view of the Obama Presidential Center from the Great Lawn.

Helping to round out the bold-faced guest list were names from the worlds of media, filmmaking, and music—several of whom also took the stage to perform.

Below, a survey of the very biggest stars at the Obama Presidential Center’s dedication ceremony.

Derek Blasberg, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, and Karlie Kloss

Lots to Love! Items From the Estate of Diane Keaton Are Headed to Bonhams

Get Your Korean-101 On With a Little Help From BTS

Audrey Hepburn’s Fractured Childhood, in Six Touching Images

Nine Takeaways From Lena Dunham’s Famesick

Listen to The Run-Through with Vogue, a weekly podcast featuring the most exciting stories and hot takes from the worlds of culture, politics, sports and–of course–fashion

The Vogue Runway app has expanded! Update to the latest version to see all Vogue content, as well as new features like our Runway Genius quiz, Group Chats, and posts from Vogue contributors.

Become a Vogue Business Member—the ultimate resource for fashion and beauty industry professionals.

Never miss a story: Add Vogue.com to your preferred sources in Google.

Original report

Vogue

Read full story

Cookie Preferences

We believe privacy is a right, not a trade-off. Choose exactly what you're comfortable with. You can change these any time. Full privacy policy.

Essential Always on

Required for the site to function

Session management, security tokens, login state, and your cookie preference itself. These cannot be turned off. No personal data is shared with third parties.

Analytics Optional

Helps us understand what content you enjoy

We use anonymised analytics (e.g. Google Analytics) to see which articles perform well, how long people spend reading, and where traffic comes from. This helps us write better content. Your IP address is anonymised and no data is sold.

Personalisation Optional

Remembers your preferences across visits

Remembers your reading preferences and recently read articles so we can surface relevant content. All data stays in your browser — nothing is sent to our servers.

Advertising Optional

Used to show relevant ads that support the site

Allows advertising partners to show you ads based on your interests. If you decline, you'll still see ads but they won't be tailored to you. We work with Google AdSense and similar networks. You can opt out globally at youronlinechoices.eu.