Melania Trump, a big problem for fashion
The future first lady of the United States is far from arousing the same enthusiasm as Michelle Obama among creators. Some immediately distanced themselves, others fear Donald Trump's protectionist economic program.
What - or rather who, which couturier - will Melania Trump wear on Friday, the day of the inauguration of her 45th president of the United States of the United States? Granted, the question is secondary. The raout already generates enough reasons to pull their hair out in handfuls for Donald T's teams: many demonstrations are on the rails, entertainers worthy of the name are declining the invitation (for the time being, only one has accepted a obscure semi-finalist of a telecrochet and the dance troupe Les Rockettes), even the establishment is sulking an event generally taken by storm ... It remains that since Jackie Kennedy, who made the concept of First Lady glamorous, the looks and wardrobe of "Flotus" (First Lady of the United States) are a real subject that have seized on social networks.
Shelled from head to toe for eight years, Michelle Obama is doing it handily. Its strengths: an ability to go from the most casual to the most formal, from ready-to-wear for the general public (J. Crew) to haute couture, without ever losing its splendor, its large body (1.80 m) totally jolly. assumed, in particular her arms and shoulders sharpened by sport and which she willingly discovers in a sleeveless or strapless dress. The Conservatives gasped, called for more orthodoxy. They can go get dressed: echoing her plea for educated and independent women, Mrs Obama has never allowed herself to be corseted. And hay of the discretion pegged to the "women of" past walls, the lawyer likes colors that strike well on her black skin (yellow, fuschia, chlorophyll green, gold, lavender ...) and sparkling, floral or geometric patterns. These bursts bring a dose of pep that counterbalances the innate but classic elegance of Barack. Conclusion, a style that is sometimes risky but undoubtedly strong, personal, embodied, a real "signature" in a register often dictated by stylists-gurus-nannies. So much so that Michelle O. succeeded in a soft power coup: while the iconic Jackie O. seemed screwed ad vitam on the highest step of the polit-fashion podium, she established herself as his dusty, contemporary succession. and charismatic, for the public as well as for the brands. Knowing that Michelle, if she obviously pampered American designers, has also shown openness to those from the rest of the world, from Europe to Asia.
Challenge
To the point of provoking a very serious study, carried out by David Yermack, professor of finance at New York University (NYU) and entitled "How this first lady is moving the markets". Vanessa Friedman, the chic boss of fashion at the New York Times, deciphers: “Like Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, Mrs. Obama has understood that fashion is a means of creating the identity of an administration. But unlike any other first lady, instead of seeing her as a uniform to which she had to conform, with the rules and limits that implied, she saw it as a possibility to develop her independence and her difference. " In short: Michelle Obama has associated character and intelligence, and transformed a sluggish obligation into a weapon of mass seduction.
In turn, the challenge (to do as well if not better) appears lost in advance for Melania Trump. On paper, however, the new Flotus has the profile of the ideal coat rack. Born in 1970 in Sevnica, a small town in central Slovenia, this daughter of a mechanic and a seamstress in a textile factory has made a career in modeling. It is in the exercise of this function that she met Donald Trump in 1998, during a New York fashion week. They married with a lot of bling six years later (in the presence of the Clinton couple among others), Melanija Knavs then became the third Mrs Trump before giving birth, in 2006, to the billionaire's fourth child. Logically, with her cat eyes and her “dreamy” figure (to understand thin but bodied), Melania should attract the American fashion designer like the filings magnet. Alas, like their counterparts in music, the aces of frou-frou do not jostle to dress the new first lady of the United States.
Trench warfare
Already, there is this major misstep committed during the campaign and which remains in everyone's mind: the verbatim repetition of excerpts from a speech by Michelle Obama. Potiche godiche versus brilliant role model, the comparison is cruel, humiliating. What torpedo the image of Melania, already weighted by that of her thunderous husband. From the presidential campaign, fashion designers have also emerged from the woods, including Sophie Theallet. The French designer based in New York, who has dressed Michelle Obama on several occasions, published a letter on November 17 advocating the boycott of Melania Trump: "Attached to celebrating and encouraging diversity, individual freedoms and respect for all lifestyles, I refuse to be associated in any way with the first lady. The racist, sexist and xenophobic rhetoric that her husband's presidential campaign unleashed is incompatible with my brand values. ” If his appeal has made pschitt, sizes like Humberto Leon (Kenzo, Opening Ceremony), Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs or Tory Burch have more or less expressed the same reservations.
The sector press has also stepped up to the plate. Her Empress Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue US (Condé Nast group), served as an image advisor to the Democratic candidate and organized galas to raise funds. But the trophy of the bête noire of Trump returns in the glamor sector to Graydon Carter, editor-in-chief since 1992 of the American Vanity Fair (Condé Nast group). The reciprocal enmity dates back to the 1980s. Carter then ran Spy, an anti-establishment magazine and "hype" pen haunt that impeccably ridiculed the rich, the powerful and the famous. And Trump paid the price for Carter's biting irony, notably finding himself stamped "vulgar with short hands." The expression - "short-fingered vulgarian" in original version - has remained in the annals and the future president has never digested it, regularly sending Carter pictures of his hands to prove that no, they were not short ... And Carter persisted, strangled without softening the "brute" who "at the slightest whisper contrary to the very vain image he has of himself, stirs like a ferret caught in a cage". This sentence comes from a vitriolic editorial that appeared in Vanity Fair in October 2015.
And then there was the Trump Grill affair. On December 14, Vanity Fair publishes from the pen of political journalist Tina Nguyen a column that ravages the restaurant located in the billionaire's tower-HQ on 5th Avenue in New York. “Potentially the worst restaurant in America”, distressing from the decoration to the dishes, such as the taco bowl “unfortunately not good enough to dissuade Trump from deporting millions of Hispanics”. The president-elect's mortar response rocketed via Twitter. "Has anyone taken a look at the really bad sales figures for Vanity Fair?" Very low, great difficulties, death! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be fired! ”
This trench warfare has evolved since the election. Just as he met representatives of “enemy” media (New York Times, CNN, NBC), Donald Trump went on January 6 to the headquarters of Condé Nast… at the invitation of Anna Wintour. All the group's headliners were present, including Graydon Carter and New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick, author of a resounding "Trump, an American tragedy". The one-hour and transversal exchange (from Russia to abortion through racial crimes), one would have said well, in a "courteous and frank" tone ...
We observe the same inflection in the world of fashion, which seems to have entered a phase of observation or downright realpolitik, like Diane von Furstenberg. After having campaigned for Hillary, the queen of the wrap dress plays appeasement: “Donald Trump has been elected and will be our president. Melania deserves the same respect as all the first ladies who came before her. The role of the fashion industry is to promote beauty, equality and diversity. We should all behave in the best possible way and serve as examples. ” Tommy Hilfiger, for his part, sees no ideological stake in the affair and advocates a very convenient sanctuary: “I think that Melania is a very beautiful woman and that any designer should be proud to dress her. […] People should not have a political approach to this issue. Everyone was delighted to dress Michelle. ”
