CNN
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Her eyes almost entirely obscured by the brim of her wool boater hat, Melania Trump stood behind President-elect Donald Trump on stage in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol as he took the oath of office.
Designed by New York milliner Eric Javits, Trump’s hat was an austere touch to a neat military-style ensemble. Her navy blue silk wool double-breasted coat was nipped at the waist and worn with bare legs and stiletto heels.
The piece was designed by Adam Lippes, a New York-based designer who has dressed Biden and Michelle Obama. (Trump has worn Lippes several times before, most recently choosing a shirt dress from the fashion house last summer while in New York and wearing the brand several times during her husband’s first term. ) Beneath the tailored coat was a silk wool pencil skirt and an ivory silk crepe blouse folded into a pointed 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, Ms. Melania Trump,” Lippes said in a statement. “Mrs. Trump’s outfit was created by some of America’s finest artisans and I am very proud to show such 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 millinery that turned heads. “(With) her face half-hidden by her hat, Melania stays aloof,” 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 side overall – not unusual for Trump. Throughout her first term as first lady from 2017 to 2021, Trump’s stylistic evolution came to include more structured, military-inspired dresses and skirts in khaki, navy and gray. “As the public persona emerged, she always craved privacy,” Kate Bennett, a former CNN White House correspondent, said before the inauguration. “Her clothes, in my opinion, really reflected that. … His silhouettes became long sleeves, cinched waists, hard shoulders, longer hem, like an almost military vibe. I think it’s because it looked like armor… Because it underwent four years of very intense scrutiny.
The new first lady’s precise, structured outfit was on full display as she stood near Jill Biden, who chose a softer silhouette, on the steps of the White House. Biden’s casual tie-waist overcoat and blouse — both in bipartisan purple — were designed by Ralph Lauren. The famous American brand was credited for creating Trump’s powder blue look at his inauguration in 2017, which was heavily compared to Jackie Kennedy.
If eight years ago Trump hoped to emulate one of the most revered first ladies in history, this time she was trying something new. Others interpreted the look in a more regal light. Gutgold said Trump’s hat evoked a “royal aura,” while New York Times chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Trump appeared “more like a royal housekeeper than necessarily like the American first lady.” In 2017, she used fashion’s soft power to align herself with perhaps the most accessible presidential spouse. Now it seems his outfit is meant to create distance – a physical shield from the outside world.
Instead, it was Usha Vance, wife of new Vice President JD Vance, who seemed to take inspiration from Kennedy. Vance was spotted in a pastel pink Oscar de la Renta cashmere coat dress – a shade that seems inextricable from Kennedy’s legacy, from the bubblegum pink Christian Dior dress she wore to receive the French culture minister at the White House in 1962 at Chanel. costume worn the day her husband was murdered. Likewise, Priscilla Chan arrived with her husband Mark Zuckerberg in a sky blue twinset and three strands of pearls: a ’60s-inspired look that seemed to be a nod to the late first lady.
But not everyone used the rules of fashion history. American journalist and wife of Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, arrived at the ceremony in a white suit worn topless, exposing her matching lingerie-style top. And while Melania Trump made sure to wear an American designer, Ivanka Trump took a continental twist to her attire, attending the event in a forest green beret-style hat and a Christian Dior bag.
This story has been updated to include new details as they emerge.