Hoda Kotb pays stylish tribute to the Blazer that led to her big break

When Hoda Kotb limited to one week Today dubbed “Hoda-bration!” Commemorating the longtime host’s final day on Friday, January 10, she dressed the place up in an intimate white Veronica Beard blazer suit that, in layman’s terms, felt like a full-circle moment honoring her storied career.

While Kotb, 60, has been part of the web at NBC News for nearly 30 years (she announced she would be leaving in September 2024), it’s hard to believe she’s faced just as many rejections. She was turned down 27 times for a TV job before someone finally said yes, and said her big break was down to a jacket.

On her first day, an anchor got sick and filled in for the evening newscast. “The litmus test of who makes the news at Greenville, Mississippi’s WXVT News Center 15, is who shows up to work in a blazer,” Kotb said in an interview with PR for Anyone.

“Remember [Stan Sandroni, the late news director,] broke in and says, “Okay, who’s got a jacket?” I go, “What?” “A jacket. Who has a jacket?’ I go, ‘A jacket? I have a jacket. It hangs on the hanger.’ “Oh well, you have to anchor the news, why Anna [Martin] she’s sick,” he recalls. “I was like, ‘OK!'”

She often looks back on that moment and says it only takes one person (and a blazer) to change your life, which made her smart farewell suit feel all the more fitting. A proud wardrobe repeater, Kotb has always kept her work outfit simple and streamlined.

“I’ve worn the same dress I don’t know how many times. I wear everything again,” Kotb said in a 2020 interview Glamor. “One lady tweeted me, ‘I’ve seen this dress 57 times,’ and she was right!”

Kotb continued: “Our staff even uploaded pictures of how many times I wore the dress. I thought it was funny… There are people who are way cooler than me, who have way cooler fashion sense than I would ever have. It’s none of my business.”

Her pragmatic sensibility was echoed by Savannah Guthrie in a video shared via YouTube on Friday, January 10. She then jokingly held up Kotb’s “red purse,” which was a Ziplock bag of lip gloss, a compact, cash, and a banana to snack on. Guthrie ended on a more serious note: “I love you deeply whether you sit next to me or not whether we get up at 4 in the morning together or not, I will always be by your side.

Indeed, Kotb took a similarly sentimental approach with her accessories: stacks of bracelets, rings and necklaces for her latest episode that she said she holds near and dear to her heart.

She pointed out: “That top bracelet that says ‘With you’, a gift she got from Guthrie, before showing off a ring Guthrie gave her that said ‘Love.’

For her part, Guthrie chose a black dress for the farewell show, because she had “mourned” the last day of her beloved colleague. Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve — or the blazer.