At least everyone can agree that Melania Trump's hat didn't accidentally become the standout star of the presidential inauguration.
Fashion experts and biographers alike agreed that the ex-model and famous clothes horse, a woman who clearly pays a lot of attention to her outfits, wore the elegant, yet rather severe, navy blue headpieces to make a strong statement .
What that statement was, however, was subject to wide interpretation.
When Donald Trump repeatedly had trouble navigating the wide bezel to plant a kiss on his First Lady's face, his critics were quick to suggest that she had deliberately carried him to prevent him from getting anywhere near would come to her.
Even the designer, celebrity keeper Eric Javits, fueled such speculation by noting that “going back to Victorian times, a brim defined a woman's space.” Indeed, the brim was so wide that much of her face was in shadow.
For those who continue to insist that Mrs. Trump is not only trapped in a loveless marriage but also fundamentally at odds with her husband's career, this was clear evidence that she hid her emotions and distanced herself from the event.
However, others who claim to know Melania better countered that the hat meant something entirely different: a new-found confidence.
Mrs. Trump wore a much more feminine and crowd-pleasing light blue Ralph Lauren outfit for the 2017 inauguration. This time, said people like her biographer Kate Bennett, the look was much more confident. Mrs. Trump didn't feel like she had to please anyone.
When Donald Trump repeatedly encountered difficulty navigating the hat's wide brim to plant a kiss on his First Lady's face, his critics were quick to suggest that she had deliberately worn the hat to prevent him from even kissing him. would come near her.
Mrs. Trump wore a much more feminine and crowd-pleasing light blue Ralph Lauren outfit for the 2017 inauguration.
Having just celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary on Wednesday, the truth, say experts, is that the couple understands each other better than ever.
“He knows his wife is watching it and he's not going to mess with it,” Bennett explained of Trump's decision at the Capitol to give Melania an air kiss after an earlier attempt to get over that edge.
On Wednesday, the president posted to his social media accounts — both personal and now official — in recognition of the couple's porcelain anniversary, writing, “Celebrating twenty years with my beautiful wife and our incredible First Lady, Melania. You are a special woman and a wonderful mother.' And Trump also shared photos of the smiling couple at their $2.5 million wedding, held on Jan. 22, 2005, at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea near Mar-a-Lago.
Certainly, those who are still convinced that Melania's hat was a metaphor for the dark heart of the Trump marriage should have looked at other moments on Inauguration Day and they would have seen evidence that the Trumps hardly seem estranged from each other.
For example, when the couple waved goodbye to Joe and Jill Biden during their helicopter flight from Washington, it was 54-year-old Melania — infamous for being filmed swatting Donald away as he tried to hold hands — who reached out and shook her hand man grabbed. hand.
And if Melania's hat was a point of contention, neither Donald nor the First Lady showed it. The president joked to supporters after sending the Bidens away, “We went to the helicopter right before and said our goodbyes as usual, and the wind is blowing like crazy, and with the hat she's wearing, it almost blew them away.” almost lost her. She was lifted off the ground.”
Melania looked on and smiled serenely.
Later, at the Commander-in-Chief Ball, they exchanged a joke on the dance floor and her face was once again wreathed in a smile as she watched her husband use a saber to cut a celebratory cake. After Donald was done, Melania even joined him for an unplanned dance at the Village People's YMCA.
Instead of looking like a woman who hates every second of it, she appeared to let her hair down (in this case, literally too) after a day of trying to live up to the solemnity of the occasion.
The idea that Mrs. Trump — who has been accused of being one of the most reluctant First Ladies in U.S. history — wants nothing more to do with her husband's political career has taken a beating recently.
Instead, she has made it clear that she is more than ready to be First Lady again.
“I'll be in the White House. And if I have to be in New York, I'll be in New York. If I have to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach,” she told Fox News in an interview a week before the inauguration. “My first priority is being a mother, being a first lady, being a wife. And if you are there on January 20, you will be serving the country.”
She has made clear that circumstances have changed since her difficult first term as First Lady, when she spent the early months of Trump's presidency in New York.
The official reason was that she had to stay there so Barron could finish school, but it was widely interpreted as a desperate attempt to stay away from Washington and her new responsibilities as long as possible. Melania admits in her memoir that she is comfortable with “the lonely life.” But according to Melania biographer Mary Jordan, the real reason was so Mrs. Trump was able to “change her financial arrangement” with her husband.
When images emerged during the first Trump term of the new First Lady looking miserable (and apparently smiling only when she knew her husband was looking at her), some Democrats — especially women — consoled themselves with the fact that she was a reluctant was a member of his government.
The 'Free Melania' movement was born. It was a very patronizing assumption, but Mrs. Trump had no trouble correcting it, just like the Sphinx. She has said she owes her critics no explanation.
“I just feel like maybe people didn't accept me,” she told Fox News of her first stint in the White House. “They didn't understand me the way they do now, and I didn't get much support. Maybe some people just see me as the president's wife, but I stand on my own two feet, independently. I have my own thoughts… I don't always agree with what my husband says or does, and that's okay.”
Another factor that Trump insiders say could improve the mood in the White House is that Melania won't let her stepdaughter Ivanka breathe down her neck.
There was reportedly no love lost between the couple during the first Trump term, and Melania is said to have felt that the ambitious apple of her husband's eye – who she called “the princess” – was doing her best to replace her. Former aides say Mrs. Trump responded by doing everything she could to thwart efforts by Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner, both senior administration aides, to talk their way into presidential events and trips.
Another factor that Trump insiders say could improve the mood in the White House is that Melania won't let her stepdaughter Ivanka breathe down her neck. (Photo: (LR) Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on January 20, 2025)
The 'Free Melania' movement was born. It was a very patronizing assumption, but Mrs. Trump had no trouble correcting it, just like the Sphinx.
Melania has said she doesn't owe her critics an explanation. (She's pictured wearing an “I really don't care” jacket in 2018).
A well-placed source within Team Trump told the Daily Mail that Melania was “furious” when it was suggested that the administration would create an “Office of the First Family” in place of the traditional First Lady's office in the East Wing of the White House, after she remained in New York until the first summer of Trump's first term.
The insider said, “Ultimately you can respect the role a stepchild plays, but there is only one First Lady.” They also noted that Mrs. Trump “certainly seems to be enjoying herself more than ever.”
It seems Melania isn't the only one in the Trump camp who is happy to see the back of Javanka – as the first daughter and husband were called. The Daily Mail hears that someone from Trump's inner circle was recently heard joking to campaign staff: “we can all get a lot more done now that they [Ivanka and Jared] away'.
It may be too much to hope that Mrs. Trump will become a modern-day Eleanor Roosevelt filling the role of First Lady. But the woman who Ivanka in turn called “The Portrait” because she spoke so little certainly now has a lot more to say.
