The message behind Melania Trump's military look at the Republican convention
The keynote address on the second day of the Republican National Convention was given to Melania Trump, the president's wife. And, in addition to her words, a singular element caught the attention of many: the clothes that the first lady decided to wear for that occasion, which was presumably the most important public intervention that she has made in her life.
Some believed that she was dressed for combat. Because as Vanessa Friedman, fashion critic for the New York Times, commented, the outfit Melania wore in the White House Rose Garden had an undeniable military tone.
It was a set consisting of an olive-colored jacket, with a military-style cut, with broad shoulders, large pockets and bronze buttons. She completed her outfit with a wide belt and an olive-colored skirt in tune with the martial look. The jacket, Friedman said, is from British brand Alexander McQueen. A selection that, for Friedman, is unusual as it is a suit for the wife of the protagonist of a political-electoral event such as a party convention.
The allusion to the military was thus clear, and given that Melania's speech occurs in the context of the official nomination of her husband as a presidential candidate for re-election, many have wondered why she chose an outfit with such connotations. Did she try to send a message with it or was it a haphazard or thoughtless matter?
The fact that she is a former model and the president's wife (and thus subject to strong scrutiny on fashion matters) suggests that Melania consciously opted for such military-style clothing, perhaps to denote discipline, loyalty, or courage.
His choice could have been appreciated by many, but others will have found it shocking, since this allusion to the military, and therefore to the use of force and the destruction of the enemy, is not exactly an auspicious message in the context of a democratic election. , especially when the country is in a state of emergency due to the covid-19 pandemic and suffers severe tensions due to recent cases of police brutality and the violence with which some have tried to take advantage of the legitimate and peaceful demonstrations against racism and systemic injustice.
For example, a few steps from the Rose Garden where Melania Trump wore her military-style jacket, her husband ordered a few months ago that members of the National Guard and other federal agencies disperse protesters by force. Peaceful buildings located in Lafayette Square, adjacent to the White House, so that the president could take a provocative photo in front of a church.
If to this are added Trump's continuous calls for the deployment of military troops to silence the protests (the president has often and equivocally stigmatized all protesters, including peaceful ones, placing them on the same level as those who have committed vandalism) and her rudeness and authoritarian behavior, the first lady's look adds to the suspicions.
And if, instead, she chose to wear that outfit regardless of what she alluded to, that would speak of a lack of proper assessment of the situation and of her role.
It is true that Melania has the right to choose her outfit and it has been a constant reproach that first ladies are continually being judged on her appearance and not on their work or her message. In that sense, although the speech he gave has received criticism, it has also been pointed out for being one of the few who in the Republican National Convention have alluded to the almost 180,000 deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic showing empathy towards the victims, your family and friends.
In contrast, other participants have spoken as if the pandemic were a thing of the past or have praised the questioned performance of the president and his administration before it. And in the face of social tensions and polarizations, Melania called for unity and reflection, a position that is certainly different from that of Republicans who have stigmatized social protest and even mistakenly stated - including President Trump himself - that the Democrats will set fire to the country and promote chaos.
Melania did not resort to fear and catastrophism, but she has been criticized for hypocritical attitudes: campaigning against bullying online when her husband is the maximum bully on social networks, or talking about reflecting on tension that the country suffers when she supported the false and offensive racist theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States that her husband, Donald Trump, propagated with intensity.
Thus, these tensions and contradictions result in a kind of combat between appearance and reality that spreads in the White House, a situation that has a curious correlate in Melania's selection of a military-style outfit. If it were just a matter of fashion, it would probably be a mere anecdote. And there are those who will say that the desire to denigrate Trump and his wife is such that he resorts to any element, including the selection of his clothes, to bring water to that mill.
But in the present situation of rude polarization and social unrest, with a president who has not said that he would recognize, if it happened, his electoral defeat and who has launched an incendiary attack to delegitimize the vote by mail in the November election, that military look it certainly gave rise to reproaches and suspicions.
