One of a kind, Melania Trump is no one’s canvas

US First Lady Melania Trump is the personification of couture, writes Jenna Clarke. Picture: AFP

First Ladies are traditionally adored and revered for their adornments. All except Melania Trump. That could change over the next four years. The empire dress is set to strike back. Like the sequel to Star Wars, Trump 2.0 is set to be better than the original.

Mrs Trump is back in the East Wing and irony is in vogue as Melania is the personification of couture.

If Donald Trump is renowned for being a hothead, his wife is cool, calm, collected and no one’s canvas: not the media’s, not her husband’s. She’s one of a kind and is set to do things differently for her second tenancy in the People’s House.

Melania Trump dances at the Commander-in-Chief Ball. Picture: Getty Images

Eight years ago, and even in the lead-up to Tuesday’s inauguration, fashion designers refused to engage with her, some even dissuaded her stylist Herve Pierre (who designed her monochrome Commander-In-Chief Ball gown) from buying their clothes.

“I understand that you can criticise Trump,” Pierre told The Wall Street Journal, “but to say to someone who is coming to shop full-price, ‘You are not welcome here’. That is something that I would have never expected.”

Melania opted for a full-length navy woollen coat by New York designer Adam Lippes, with a matching boater hat by New York milliner Eric Javits.

“She has the inner grace, beauty and presence to transform what was really a very simple, restrained hat style into what became a ‘wow’ moment. The First Lady’s hat was made with love,” Javits said.

The hat was mocked.

Jimmy Fallon opened his late night TV show wearing a rip-off asking “who wore it better Jimmy, Melania or The Hamburglar?”

Melania’s hat was mocked, but got the seal of approval from Kim Kardashian. Picture: Getty Images

It also got the seal of approval from some influential folk. Kim Kardashian, herself once shunned by the fashion establishment, posted a solitary photo of Melania from inauguration day to her 358m Instagram fans with no notes. Internet speak for something being spot on.

Melania’s preferred style is covered up. Yet during a rare interview with Fox News last week she bared all.

She didn’t hold back in her own way, with a coaxed brow explaining how the Obamas withheld information during the Trumps’ first transition, the streaming platforms ignored her Be Best campaign (which aims to protect children from social media and improve their mental health) and the people around her previously had their own sneaky agendas.

This time her staff will be appointed on merit and “serve the American people”.

It was sassy but subtle. Odd considering her husband’s love of flashiness and brashness which the MAGA acolytes have adopted as their trademark style.

Second lady Usha Chilukuri Vance and Melania Trump. Picture: Getty Images

Most Trump supporters usually boast perfect, and glaringly white, veneers and are dripping in blinding sequins and bling. Mrs Trump, and her husband’s daughter Ivanka, are the opposite. They’re all about continuing the stealth wealth trend during the impending “golden age of America”.

Wearing a hat to your husband’s swearing in ceremony is not new. Choosing a wide-brimmed style is. The hat was Melania tipping her hat, not to history but to herself. It was so large her facial expressions were shielded from the public and no one – not even the President – could get close to her. It screamed – something she would never do publicly – mysterious.

The Trumps at the Commander-in-Chief Ball. Picture: Getty Images

The first family are usually the faces and clothes horses of the nation. The Trumps are positioning themselves as America’s royal family. That’s why this sequel – with Donald and Melania cast in leading roles – is showing elements of monarchy rather than megalomania.