Fashion statement for Melania Trump’s inauguration

In 1961, John F. Kennedy made a statement on his inauguration day by removing his hat. This time, Melania Trump did it while keeping her hat on.

To be more specific, keeping the navy boater style hat matched with the navy double breasted coat, navy pencil skirt and ivory blouse, Mrs. Trump chose for her husband’s swearing-in.

It’s not that unusual to wear a hat to a presidential inauguration. Previous first ladies, including Mamie Eisenhower, Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy, wore hats on Inauguration Day. It’s just that the hats mentioned were usually of the pillbox type, specially designed not to hide the first lady’s face.

Mrs. Trump’s inaugural hat, on the other hand, had a brim so wide that it shielded her eyes. What she was thinking about was impossible to see – on purpose. (It also made it difficult for her husband to approach her cheek for a kiss, and drew some comparisons to Zorro.) Along with her tightly buttoned coat and high-collared blouse, the hat gave her an air of mystery and inaccessibility which was unusual for an inauguration, where the first family is traditionally presented as the new face of the nation.

It was, however, in keeping with the reserved image Mrs. Trump has cultivated since her husband emerged on the political scene. Not to mention the promise of an imperial presidency that President Trump has dangled.

The fact that she refused to remove her hat and coat even inside the Capitol rotunda, and even while Mr. Trump was being sworn in, only underscored the point. Mrs. Trump may have just written a best-selling memoir and produced a documentary about her second stint in the White House, but she’s drawing her own boundaries.