Melania Trump started her second term as America’s first lady in style this week. The former model was covered up in a high-buttoned navy-blue coat by designer Adam Lippes at her husband Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, paired with a matching boater hat that shielded her eyes from public view.
The designer chosen by the 54-year-old first lady for the inauguration remains the subject of fascination- and again, and opportunity to transmit a message. That the former model decided to go with New York designer Adam Lippes and a coordinating hat by Eric Javits, was a marked shift of gear.
While she may have worn the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren to her husband’s last inauguration, much more frequently turns to the big European houses. And unlike Lauren, neither Lippes or Javits are such household, starry names.
Very much on-brand is the price tag: Melania Trump is widely known for her extravagant tastes- many of her outfits while previously first lady had price tags running well into the thousands- and Lippes’ dresses for instance, go from£1,000 up to over £7,500.
It also says a lot regarding her love of hats. The brim is wide enough and the contrast between the cream ribbon and navy hat big enough that it draws the eyes upwards. It’s not that wearing a hat to a presidential inauguration is so unusual. Previous first ladies, including Nancy Reagan, Mamie Eisenhower, and Jackie Kennedy, wore hats on Inauguration day.
It is simply that hats were usually of the pillbox sort, precisely conceived not to hide the first lady’s face. Mrs. Trump’s inaugural hat, by contrast, had a brim so board that it shaded her eyes. Together with her tightly buttoned coat and high-neck blouse, the hat gave here an air of mystery and inaccessibility that was unusual for an inauguration, when the first family is traditionally put on view as the new face of the nation.
Despite being a former model, Melania does not seem to care that she is yet to be featured on the cover of Vogue as other first ladies have been- apart from showing off her before her marriage to Trump. “ I don’t think she would do anything to won over Anna Wintour,” said MacDonell.
During the last Trump presidency, designers including Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen said they would not dress Melania, and her trusted stylist Herve Pierre told Women’s Wear Daily he was once told he was ‘not welcome’ in a swanky Madison Avenue store.