Everything Melania Trump Said Only With Her Clothes
The most mysterious of the First Ladies has also been the quietest. During her husband's tenure, Melania Trump rarely spoke publicly. But her outfits spoke for her, sometimes at her expense.
The Jackie Kennedy look
As everyone knows, Melania Trump never dreamed of becoming First Lady. On the contrary, she would have even made her husband promise not to win the presidential election ... On the day of Donald Trump's inauguration, January 20, 2017, the new First Lady fully immersed herself in her new role. To prove it, she copies a look already seen on Jackie Kennedy, the most illustrious First Lady in history, adored by all Americans.
The heels of discord
In August 2017, as Texas was hit by Storm Harvey - one of the greatest natural disasters in its history - Donald Trump and his wife went to the disaster beds. Before boarding the Marine One helicopter on the White House lawn, the presidential couple are strafed by photographers. For good reason, their outfits will remain in the annals: she wears beige pants (messy for such a trip), she is perched on heels of about twenty centimeters. A pair of Manolo Blahnik more precisely, a designer she is particularly fond of, but who does not seem the most suited to visit a devastated and completely inundated region. Internet users laugh, imagining the First Lady in stilettos hobbling in several meters of water. Others cry scandal: These black pointed-toe shoes prove that Melania Trump is completely out of touch with reality and the plight of her fellow citizens. But when she got off the helicopter in Houston, the First Lady changed her shoes. She now wears pristine white sneakers. Not necessarily a better choice as there is so much mud in the city. Would she have heard of the controversy during the trip or had she planned to take off her heels when she arrived?
The post-Stormy Daniels white suit
It denoted, amid the dark costumes of Congress. For her husband's first State of the Union address on January 30, 2018, Melania Trump chose an immaculate pantsuit from the French house Dior. And if this outfit is so symbolic, it's because a few weeks earlier, the Wall Street Journal revealed that the President of the United States had offered porn star Stormy Daniels $ 130,000 in 2016, when Melania was expecting their only son, Barron. After the revelation of this scandal, the First Lady had completely disappeared, and therefore reappeared in Congress. The choice of white is not trivial, because it is the color of feminism, especially used by suffragists and anti-Trump protesters. Discreetly, Melania Trump was therefore an affront to her husband. The first of a long series.
Zara jacket
"I really don't care, do you?" The phrase, tagged on the back of a Melania Trump jacket, caused quite a stir. For good reason, the First Lady wore it when she was going to visit a camp for undocumented children on the Mexican border on June 21, 2018. An astonishing choice of outfit, especially since this model came from the Zara brand. , and cost only $ 39, whereas the First Lady usually swears by Haute Couture houses. But above all, who was this casual message really addressed to? A few days earlier, Melania Trump had however taken the opposite view of her husband's migration policy by declaring to hate "to see children separated from their families. So how could she "not give a damn" now? Several months later, the First Lady explained, when interviewed by ABC News: “Obviously I did not wear this jacket in relation to the children. I only wore it to get on and off the plane. It was a message for the people and the media on the left who criticize me. I want to show them that I don't care. You can criticize as much as you want, that won't stop me from doing what I think is right. But an unauthorized biography, written by journalist Kate Bennett, a long-time CNN White House correspondent, gave another side to that story. The message, she said, was addressed to Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, with whom Melania does not get along at all. Even today, this jacket remains a mystery.
The colonial helmet
It was a great event. For her first official trip without her husband, in October 2018, Melania Trump chose the African continent, and a noble cause: childhood and access to education. But as soon as she got off the plane, the First Lady made her first stylistic blunder. In question, leopard pattern stiletto heels that did not go unnoticed. For several days, Melania Trump goes on safari-inspired outfits: large cream dress, white shirt, beige pants, riding boots. She certainly believes herself in Out of Africa. But the worst was to come. During a visit to Nairobi National Park, the First Lady chooses to decorate her ensemble with an immaculate pith helmet, straight out of Tintin in the Congo. The accessory, a vestige of a bygone era, seems more than out of place for a trip to the African continent. "Melania completes the perfect stereotype: elephants, orphans and even pith helmets," tweets a university professor from Kenya. “When people think of the African continent, they have all these clichés in mind. Her outfit is indicative of the image she has of the African continent in 2018. It's tiring, it's outdated and it's false, ”denounces Professor Kim Yi Dionne in the New York Times. Critics that will not prevent Melania from continuing her parade of clichés. Finishing her trip in front of the Pyramids of Giza, she dresses in a tie-necker and a large hat, which make her look like a James Bond villain.
The Armistice Dress
Under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, on November 11, 2018, for the Centenary of the Armistice of 1918, she was certainly the most elegant of the First Ladies, strapped into a gray dress by Dior. Alongside heads of state from around the world, also invited, Melania Trump paid tribute to France by choosing a French fashion house. A true diplomatic symbol, always in good taste. But this dress hid another message. From Dior's pre-fall 2018 collection, it is inspired by the work of French artist Claude Cahun. This writer, visual artist and photographer marked the surrealist movement with her daring spirit and her taste for freedom. His adage, in his life as in his work, was: “Under this mask, another mask. I will not stop lifting all those faces. A line that fits perfectly with Melania Trump, undisputed queen of poker face.
The warrior's tailor
For her husband's second presidential campaign, Melania Trump takes the Republican convention podium on August 25, 2020. For the occasion, she wears a khaki Alexander McQueen skirt suit, cinched at the waist with a double belt. An almost military outfit (but still chic) that some analysts will interpret as a combatant's uniform. As if Melania wanted to get involved in the re-election of Donald Trump this time around.
The black dress of despair
The two presidential candidates meet for a second and final debate, October 22, 2020. At the end of their exchanges, still as tense, they are joined on the set by their respective wives. One is already First Lady, the other is planning to become one. If Jill Biden wears a dress and a mask - pandemic obliges - flowery, Melania Trump is all black from head to toe, with a dark leather-look mask. Analysts see it as a message from the latter, who experienced her husband's mandate as a real ordeal. "I have the impression that this sums up all there is to know about the choice that awaits us between hope and despair," commented a user, opposing the two outfits.
