Dressing the first lady: What fashion-watchers expect from Melania Trump’s second turn as FLOTUS

It’s one of the most important jobs never applied for. Unelected, yet inextricable from politics; constantly visible on the world stage, but rarely the one behind the microphone — for all its glamour, the first lady of the United States is a role of unsolicited duty, often bringing with it intense public scrutiny, including over what they wear.

For previous first ladies, fashion has been an important communication tool signposting what they stand for individually. Michelle Obama — who could transform a designer’s career with a single photograph — used clothes as a vehicle to platform and support diversity in the fashion world. During former President Barack Obama’s term, she diligently wore looks by up-and-coming talents such as Jason Wu, Fe Noel, Jonathan Simkhai, Pyer Moss as well as Isabel Toledo (the Cuban-American designer became a household name after she created Obama’s 2009 inauguration dress). And though Dr. Jill Biden has reached for more traditional labels in the last four years — Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren, to name a few — symbolism was, at times, literally stitched into her outfits. During her husband’s inauguration concert in 2021, Biden wore a custom Gabriela Hearst gown embroidered with federal flowers from every state and territory of the US.

Melania Trump, who will soon resume her post as first lady, has yet to follow suit on such sartorial storytelling. During President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, the Slovenian-born former model arrived perfectly coiffed and statuesque in her vertiginous Louboutin stilettos and tailored Christian Dior skirt suits. But there was seemingly little narrative depth to her wardrobe choices, aside from a few eyebrow-raising exceptions: the fuchsia pussybow blouse she wore just days after her husbands’ controversial comments about groping women, or the “I Don’t Really Care, Do U?” Zara jacket worn to visit an immigrant children’s shelter on the US-Mexico border. (She later clarified the phrase was a message to the leftwing media).

And while many first ladies have made a point of wearing American-made looks, Trump appeared to worship at the altar of European luxury in Valentino, Versace and Chanel. She even wore a black tuxedo jacket from Dolce & Gabbana for her official first lady portrait. Despite her husband’s mantra at the time being “Buy American, Hire American,” Trump was rarely seen in anything homegrown after her sky-blue Ralph Lauren inauguration outfit. It was baffling, and to some, disrespectful. “I believe that if you are (associated with) an elected official and if you are representing American workers, then you should give that a high priority in your decisions about what to buy,” said New York-based designer Nina McLemore, whose designs have been worn by Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “Whether she likes it or not, she has a responsibility. And that is to represent the constituency that elected her (husband).”

Though how much choice Melania had in the matter is up for debate. Dressing the first lady is a career-defining achievement most American labels can only dream of. But the former president’s divisive politics meant the outwardly liberal-leaning fashion industry often kept his wife at arm’s length. Independent designer Sophie Theallet, whose clothes were worn regularly by Obama, wrote an open letter in 2016 refusing to “dress or associate in any way with the next first lady.” Marc Jacobs told WWD he had “no interest” in working with Trump, while Christian Siriano echoed that, as a gay man, he couldn’t “support a campaign where I might not have the same rights.” Instead, Trump often turned to off-the-rack Net-a-Porter pieces she had bought herself, according to Kate Bennett, CNN’s former White House correspondent and author of the 2019 biography “Free, Melania.”

“Melania was coming off (the back of) Michelle Obama, who really viewed fashion as an art form,” Bennett said in a phone call. “She was also lacking the backbone of what the industry wanted to reflect, which was not, quite frankly, the policies of her husband.”

What has changed?

Eight years later, where does the fashion industry stand on her? The question is met with a wall of silence. Several top American designers — including Tom Ford, Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors and Hearst — who have each dressed at least one first lady, did not reply to CNN’s request for comment on whether they would be open to working with Trump. Ralph Lauren, who recently received the presidential medal of freedom from the Biden administration and made her first inauguration coat in 2017, also did not respond. However, a spokesperson for Oscar de la Renta’s eponymous label — whose designs have been worn by every presidential wife since Jackie Kennedy — said over email that the brand is “always honored when asked to dress the first lady of the United States,” adding that its mission is to “make her look and feel her best regardless of politics.” And smaller, emerging designers may be more enthusiastic about dressing the incoming first lady, but Bennett speculates “that’s not really interesting” to Trump.

Of course, the incoming first lady can wear whomever she wants, regardless of whether the labels actively participate in sourcing, styling or designing outfits for her. With or without the help of US designers, there’s no doubt she strives to look her best — with the Washington Post’s fashion writer Rachel Tashjian noting last April that the incoming first lady “dresses more like a woman who enjoys a good afternoon at Neiman Marcus.”

“She’s driven by the beauty of clothes,” said Bennett, who added that Trump probably won’t amp up the soft-power messaging during her husband’s second term. “She’s into what she likes, what looks good, what her taste is… When I talk to people in Washington, they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m so glad fashion is coming back. No matter what you think about (Donald Trump), I can’t wait to see (Melania Trump’s) outfits.’”

Even if the elusive ”American-made” fashion houses were to start lining up at the White House, Bennett believes it might be a case of too little, too late. “I think everything is partisan. Even fashion. Should that be the case? I don’t know. It’s not for me to decide, but no one experienced that more than Melania Trump,” Bennett said. “She has a long memory. She’ll remember the people who supported her and she’ll remember the ones who didn’t.”

But the designer McLemore — who said she would “absolutely” dress Trump if the opportunity arose — suggested that the first lady might do well to consider the symbolism of her clothing this time around. “It’s a fine line between dressing the way you see yourself and your personality, and understanding that you are, in fact, on stage and wearing a costume,” McLemore said.

Nichola D. Gutgold, a professor and member-at-large of the First Ladies Association for Research and Education (FLARE) — a university-affiliated initiative examining the impact and legacies of first ladies — predicts we might simply see her less. In November, CNN reported that Trump, who was notably absent from the campaign trail, is unlikely to move to the White House full time. “She is very aloof,” Gutgold said over Zoom. “I think (events) will be carefully chosen and the schedule will be much lighter. And maybe she won’t need as large a wardrobe as a very active first lady.”

A triple standard

It’s no secret that the president’s wife faces a particular type of double standard: their appearance is dissected under a microscope, while their husbands’ often non-descript tailoring is often taken at face value. “I suspect when we elect a woman president of the United States, the first gentleman is not going to be tortured too much over the kind of suit he wears,” said Gutgold.

Throughout history, first ladies have struggled to please everybody with their outfit choices — no matter the decade or political party. “I remember Nancy Reagan getting into trouble because she had very expensive clothing,” said Gutgold. Rosalynn Carter similarly outraged designers when she chose to re-wear a dress to the late Jimmy Carter’s inauguration in 1977. “She (re)wore the dress she wore when her husband was inaugurated as the governor, because she loved it so much and was naturally very thrifty. But that sent American designers into a tailspin,” Gutgold added.

Even Jackie Kennedy — who was celebrated for her ever-appropriate, timeless dress sense — sometimes eschewed the unwritten mandate of wearing American apparel. “She recognized that there needed to (be) some fashion diplomacy,” said Gutgold, “and chose more American designers, but I would say not always. The day her husband was assassinated, as we sadly all remember, she had a pink Chanel suit on.”

In Trump’s case, the double standard intensifies by one more degree. “She’s beautiful and dresses in a high fashion way,” said McLemore. “So people are going to comment on her, her clothes, no matter what.”

Bennett agrees that Trump comes across as less relatable than other first ladies. While the press wrote fully priced round-ups of her costly outfits, Biden, was lauded for her down-to-Earth dress sense. “(Jill’s) taste is very expensive,” said Bennett. “But just because she’s Jill from Philly, and she wears it in a different way… But that’s still a $5,000 dress she’s wearing to an elementary school visit.”

Studying Trump’s image-making is, for better or worse, one of the few windows into the worldview of an otherwise impenetrable figure. With limited press access and few speeches to interpret, onlookers are forced to analyze her carefully curated exterior.

“It’s very hard for anybody who’s been with Donald Trump for 20-plus years to make their voice heard,” said Bennett. “The oxygen of the room is sucked out by the person next to you. You have to find another way to make people look, and I think she’s been very effective.”

Gutgold hopes that, one day, optics will matter less. “I think that it would be progress for the spouse of the president to express themselves as they wish,” she said. “But so much of American politics, of politics globally, is played out visually,” she added. “Many people around the world will have their TVs on (during) inauguration day. They might not even have the volume turned up, but they’ll be half-watching while they’re going on with their lives.”

“That’s one of the reasons why so much of this matters, because it’s going to be a global event. It’s the visual nature of our world.”

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