cnn
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With her eyes almost completely obscured by the brim of her wool boater-style hat, Melania Trump stood behind President-elect Donald Trump on stage in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda as he took the oath of office.
Melania Trump’s hat, made by New York-based hat designer Eric Javits, was an austere detail to an elegant, military-style ensemble. Her navy wool and silk double-breasted coat was fitted at the waist and worn with bare legs and stiletto heels.
The piece was designed by Adam Lippes, a New York-based designer who dressed Biden and Michelle Obama. (Melania Trump had already worn Lippes several times, most recently choosing a shirt dress from the fashion house last summer while in New York, and she wore the brand several times during her husband’s first term.) Beneath the fitted coat was a silk wool pencil skirt and an ivory silk crepe blouse folded into a plunging neckline, all hand-sewn by Lippes’ team in New York. “The tradition of the presidential inauguration embodies the beauty of American democracy, and today we had the honor of dressing our first lady, Mrs. Melania Trump,” Lippes said in a statement. “Mrs. Trump’s outfit was created by some of the best artisans in America and I am proud to show that work to the world.”
The only sign that this was the coldest inauguration ceremony in 40 years came from his black leather gloves.
But it was the hat that caught everyone’s attention. “With her face half hidden by her hat, Melania remains distant,” Professor Nichola Gutgold, author of “Electing Madam Vice President: When Women Run, Women Win,” said in an email to CNN.
She seemed elusive, with a slight combative edge to her attire, something that is usual for Trump. Throughout her first term as first lady, from 2017 to 2021, Melania Trump’s stylistic evolution came to include more structured, military-inspired dresses and skirt suits in khaki, navy, and gray. “As she emerged as a public personality, she still craved privacy,” former CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett said before the inauguration. “His clothes, in my opinion, really reflected that. (…) Their silhouettes became long sleeves, tight waists, marked shoulders, longer hems, almost like a military vibe. “I think that’s because it felt like armor… Because it underwent four years of really intense scrutiny.”
The incoming first lady’s precise, structured outfit stood out even more when she stood close to Jill Biden, who had chosen a softer silhouette, on the steps of the White House. Biden’s loose-fitting tie-waist coat and blouse, both in the bipartisan purple color, were designed by Ralph Lauren. The historic American brand was recognized for creating the pale blue look for Trump’s inauguration in 2017, which was widely compared to Jackie Kennedy.
If eight years ago Melania Trump hoped to embody an image as one of the most revered first ladies in history, this time she was trying something new. Others interpreted the look through a more regal lens. Gutgold said Trump’s hat evoked a “queenly aura,” while New York Times chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Trump looked “more like a royal family governess than necessarily an American first lady.” In 2017, she used the soft power of fashion to align herself with perhaps the most accessible presidential wife. Now, it seems like her outfit is all about creating distance: a physical shield to the outside world.
Instead, it was Usha Vance, the wife of new Vice President JD Vance, who appeared to follow in Kennedy’s footsteps. Vance was seen in a pastel pink paisley dress custom made by Oscar de la Renta, a hue that seems inseparable from Kennedy’s legacy, from the bubblegum pink Christian Dior dress she wore to greet France’s culture minister at the House. Blanca in 1962 to the Chanel suit she wore the day her husband was killed. Similarly, Priscilla Chan arrived with husband Mark Zuckerberg in a two-piece ensemble in baby blue and three rows of pearls — a ’60s-inspired look that appeared to be a nod to the late first lady.
But not everyone followed the rules of fashion history. The American journalist and wife of Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, arrived at the ceremony in a white suit without a shirt, revealing her matching lingerie-style top. And while Melania Trump made sure to wear an American designer, Ivanka Trump adopted a continental style in her attire, attending the event wearing a forest green beret-style hat and a Christian Dior bag.
