How Melania Trump met Donald Trump and went from supermodel to First Lady

The US President was going through a divorce and on another date when he spotted supermodel Melania Trump and made a bold move.

When you think age-defying celebrities Melania Trump might not be the first name to spring to mind.

But when you look back at photos of the First Lady over the past 20 years it’s sometimes hard to spot the differences.

Formerly Melania Knauss, the 50-year-old already had a name for herself as a Slovenian supermodel before she met real-estate mogul Donald Trump at a party in 1998.

Then 28, Knauss caught the eye of 52-year-old Trump who was at the New York Fashion Week party with cosmetics heiress Celina Midelfart.

When his date went to the bathroom, Trump wasted no time, asking for Melania’s number and making sure she had every possible way to contact him too.

“The office, Mar-a-Lago (Trump’s Florida estate), home in New York, everything,” she said of the number exchange.

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Donald Trump and Melania pictured on May 1, 1999 in the early stages of their relationship at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky for 125th Kentucky Derby.

Trump with Knauss at the Bloomberg pre-dinner party on April 28, 2001 for the White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC. Picture: John Harrington/AFP

The couple at the film premiere of Moulin Rouge in New York on April 17, 2001. Picture: Stuart Ramson

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The pair broke up several times among controversial incidents, including one where Trump was in a panel discussion at the University of Pennsylvania and sought her out by bellowing, “Where’s my supermodel?”

In 2001, Knauss got her Green Card and moved into the penthouse in Trump Tower.

They got engaged in 2004, two weeks after the finale of season one of Trump’s hit show The Apprentice, with the reality star sealing the deal with a $1.5 million diamond ring.

They married a year later, which was her first wedding and his third.

She wore a Christian Dior gown with a 4m train that reportedly took 1000 hours to make.

“We’re together five years, and these five years for whatever reasons have been my most successful,” he told tabloid columnist Cindy Adams.

“I have to imagine she had something to do with that.”

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Melania Knauss at the Operation Smile Couture Event in New York on May 17, 2004.

Donald and Melania Trump pose for photographers after arriving for the US premiere of the film War of the Worlds in New York on June 23, 2005.

The couple at the celebration for Time magazine's annual '100 Most Influential People' issue in New York on April 19, 2005. Picture: John Smock

From then: Melania pictured at The Apprentice after-party on April 15, 2004. Picture: Diane/Bondareff

To now: Melania at the reopening of the Washington Monument on September 19, 2019. Picture Olivier Douliery/AFP

MELANIA’S FASHION EVOLUTION

While the First Lady has always been stylish, it was her fashion choices as the wife of the US President that she’s became known for.

These days her choices are, unsurprisingly, more modest and reserved, accentuated with luxe accessories and mostly big-name, designer brands.

Interestingly Melania is rarely seen without a pair of large, square-shaped sunglasses – even at night.

Fashion psychologist Dawnn Karen told the Mirror the glasses were her way of saying, “I really don’t want you to look at me, I’m not really a people-person but because of this presidency, because of this administration, I have to go out here and shake hands and be interactive”.

In the past, she’s also said she wishes, “people would focus on what I do, not what I wear.”

She was actually branded “disrespectful” and “rude” in 2019 for wearing her shades during a D-Day commemoration in Normandy, France.

Melania has also become known for her signature stilettos – often a pair of sky-high Christian Louboutin pumps she’s stepped out in on multiple occasions.

Melania is rarely seen without a pair of sky-high stilettos. Pictured here next to the wife of Australian Prime Minister Jenny Morrison during an official Visit by the Australian PM at the White House last year. Picture: Alex Edelman/AFP

Trump motions toward the belly of his pregnant wife Melania as they arrive to the Fashion Group International's 22nd Annual Night of Stars in New York. Picture: Diane Bondareff/AP

Melania’s known for her sunnies which are usually a pair of Gucci’s signature square framed, oversized lenses. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

While the stilettos have a hefty price tag at $995, they pale in comparison to some of Melania’s other fashion choices, such as the $70,000 Dolce & Gabbana coats she’s been known to sport.

And her custom-made Herve Pierre pieces don’t even come with a price tag, they’re that expensive.

Jewellery wise – despite being married to one of the world’s richest men and having any choice of jeweller at her disposal, Melania often opts to keep things simple and wear the same few key pieces.

She actually has two engagement rings and a wedding band so big she often has to wear it on her other hand.

“I always loved fashion. My mother was a fashion designer so it was always in my blood,” Melania told People in 2015.

Originally published as How Melania Trump met Donald Trump and went from supermodel to First Lady