First lady Melania Trump reintroduced us to President Donald Trump’s America with a fashion choice no one could ignore. She cut a sharp figure in a midnight blue (almost black) silk wool skirt and coat set commissioned by American designer Adam Lippes, framed by the collar of a white silk crepe blouse. And, of course The Hat: handcrafted by American milliner Eric Javits, the boater silhouette was pulled low, casting a shadow over her face and shading her eyes.
If you like the metaphor of fashion as armor, then Melania’s hat is a shield — separating us from them.
Much has been made on social media likening Melania’s hat and outfit to mourning attire. I disagree. The apparently intentional obstruction of her face, all but entirely eliminating our ability to build connection with her as our first lady through our television screens, doesn’t read as somber. The dark palette was not chosen so she would be relegated to the background, unseen in a sea of men’s overcoats. No. This hat feels defiant. If you like the metaphor of fashion as armor, then Melania’s hat is a shield — separating us from them.
The hat, in the boater style, is traditionally a men’s summer hat made of stiff straw. Coco Chanel is credited with elevating the boater hat to a fashion piece for women. Chanel’s first foray into the fashion world was as a milliner, creating boater hats for women that were more streamlined than what was fashionable at the time. According to “The Allure of Chanel” by Paul Morand, Chanel once said, “The women I saw at the race wore enormous loaves on their heads, constructions made of feathers and improvised with fruits and plumes; but worst of all, which appalled me, their hats did not fit on their head.” The boater hat has since become synonymous with political rallies. Although worn at both Republican and Democratic conventions for the past century, boaters have more recently been used to signal in a sitcom that a political storyline has been introduced.
While first ladies have donned hats for public events, including inauguration days, for decades, none are so synonymous with the accessory as Jackie Kennedy. Famously, Jackie wore a pillbox hat to her husband’s snowy Inauguration Day in 1961. That hat, actually fawn-colored and not light blue as was shown in the miscolored photographs from that day, was designed by a then up-and-coming New York City designer Roy Halston Frowick, who went by Halston. The accessory was significant, at least in part, because of how unexpected it was, with pillbox hats decidedly out of vogue in the early ‘60s.
For Melania, hats are becoming something of a signature accessory, similarly at a time when women’s hats are not necessarily in fashion. In April 2018, during Trump’s last tenure in the White House, Melania greeted French President Emmanuel Macron and his notoriously fashionable, Louis Vuitton-inclined wife Brigette Macron, in a true-white wide brimmed hat. The hat, also conspicuously pulled low, was commissioned by French-born designer and Melania’s personal stylist, Hervé Pierre.
Javits spoke to ABC News about his newly historic hat, explaining, “It’s a time of some restraint, and it’s really sort of a turning point to more conservative values […] and I think [Melania] was thinking of protocol and looking very elegant and very simple in a way.” He added, “It still was a very powerful visual message.” A powerful visual message, indeed.
Melania’s structured suiting and statement hat are a study in contrast to what she wore to her husband’s first inauguration in 2017. Then, Melania wore a sky-blue Ralph Lauren cashmere dress with matching suede gloves. Her hair was uncovered, pulled back in a soft chignon. Her face was open and approachable. The light blue color seemed to be paying homage to Jackie O’s famous outfit. It felt unnervingly classic and predictable, especially for the Trumps, as though Melania was reassuring us that the next four years wouldn’t be as dire as they seemed in that moment. Nearly a decade later, we know better. Melania’s outfit, austere and darkly beautiful, unapproachable and severe, conveys a steely readiness and an intentional distance. We do not get access to her, perceived or otherwise. As if to say, the next four years, it seems, are going to be as dire as they seem.