I saw an X post recently from a left-wing feminist that summed up First Lady Melania Trump’s treatment by the fashion press so succinctly.
“If her husband were a democrat, we’d worship her,” Brianna Wu, a former Democrat congressional candidate from Massachusetts, wrote. Have truer words ever been spoken about a First Lady in these modern times?
On her husband’s inauguration day last year, Melania Trump set the tone for what has become her second round in the White House. It was an expression of a new attitude for Mrs. Trump, a vibe shift that even Kim Kardashian couldn’t help but notice.
The world saw that vibe shift loud and clear — no one was going to set the narrative for this first lady. The fashion industry took note of Mrs. Trump and the Eric Javits hat she donned and, as though directed like an army by commander Anna Wintour, ignored it.
Kim Kardashian/Instagram
Now with Melania, opening in theaters worldwide and in 30 different countries across the globe on January 30th, there’s a sort of revenge element intertwined in the look, the access, and the tone of the movie about the first lady’s 20 days leading up to her husband’s inauguration.
And if conservatives flock to theatres to support the most short-changed first lady in American history, her revenge will be complete.
You can’t ignore the big American box office feel of Melania, from the roaring, dramatic score, the iconic MGM lion at the intro, and Mrs. Trump’s turning directly into the camera lens at the start of the trailer and declaring, “Here we go again,” as if to say, I’ve done this before, I know what comes next.
That stare into the lens is a metaphor for what Mrs. Trump is doing here, in taking the unprecedented move as first lady to allow cameras behind the scenes and subsequently releasing the footage in film form through Amazon MGM Studios and Muse Films, her own production company.
The project is an art form in which the first lady is taking full creative control, like French couturier Hedi Slimane axing the accent mark off Celine when he took over the house from Phoebe Philo.
Melania’s vision is her vision. Much like what the internet has done to the corporate media, the first lady is doing to the fashion press.
Why must there be a middleman between FLOTUS and Americans? Why can’t a FLOTUS be seen through the lens she put stake in, rather than that of a fashion journalist with cliché gotcha questions and a photographer hoping to catch that rare glimpse where the perceived mask slips.
In the film’s trailer, we see this come to life as Mrs. Trump meticulously ensures the color palette tells a story on its own. We see Mrs. Trump at the start in her Inauguration Day look, an Adam Lippes navy coat the Javits boater hat, and black leather gloves.
From there, it’s a fierce camera flash of a quiet luxury wardrobe — black acetate Saint Laurent shades, a three-piece camel-hair suit from Ralph Lauren, a black wool Dior cape, a stark Saint Laurent white coat, a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo, and perhaps most famously, her black and white Hervé Pierre inaugural gown.
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
It’s a Valentino Garavani, who passed last week and whom Mrs. Trump once called her favorite fashion designer, approach to image-making.
Whereas Melania is marked in black, hues of grey, camel, and ivory, Valentino made red his trademark — so much so that Pantone declared the color “Valentino red.”
Designer Valentino walks the runway at the end of the Valentino fashion show, part of the Paris Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture Fashion Week on January 23, 2008 in Paris,France. (Photo by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage)
Designer Valentino walks the runway at the end of the Valentino fashion show, part of the Paris Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture Fashion Week on January 23, 2008 in Paris,France. (Photo by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage)
A model walks the runway during the Valentino fashion show, part of the Paris Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture Fashion Week on January 23, 2008 in Paris,France. (Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage)
But in this film, there’s a singular fashion statement that defines Mrs. Trump. When stepping out of her security detail motorcade, we see a black leather Christian Louboutin boot with a stiletto heel and pointed toe.
It’s sort of a her way or the highway, take it or leave it moment.
When I see this film, I can’t help but think about how absolutely meticulous Mrs. Trump has been about giving access to a media that has treated her so poorly. With Melania, she tells them to take a hike and does it all on her own terms.
The step out of the car is also a nod to Mrs. Trump’s choosing to be more public this go around, but without the middleman of the media.
Amazon MGM Studios
Months ago, it was widely reported in the media that Vanity Fair had called Mrs. Trump and offered her a cover and photospread of some kind. Reportedly, she laughed and told them in no uncertain terms, absolutely not.
Then, in December of last year, all her instincts and suspicions about the media were proven correct (yet again) when Vanity Fair published a dreadful spread of Vice President JD Vance, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, senior advisor Stephen Miller, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
As if the write-up of the president’s inner circle wasn’t bad enough, the photography of the crew that accompanied the article was jarring and shocking. Close-ups of the faces of the team were published with every blemish and pore heightened to the highest contrast for visibility.
Mrs. Trump has been right all along about the media, much like her husband. Unless given creative control, they will try to destroy you at every turn. Why take the risk? And in the digital age, for what gain exactly?
The promotion of Melania has been the near opposite of that Vanity Fair piece, another untraditional route for filmmaking that only Mrs. Trump could pull off at this stage.
There’s been no early access for the media, the fashion press has been totally cut out, and instead, Mrs. Trump has chosen to highlight the artistic work of the artisans who graciously brought her vision to life in those 20 days, and gone is the conventional media tour that the subject of such a film would do.
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios
The vibe this year is, who needs them? Mrs. Trump didn’t need them during her first four years in the White House when they time and time again snubbed her from Vogue covers.
In fact, it was in spite of the fashion establishment that the first lady would become one of, if not the most, fashion-forward first ladies in American history, surpassing the likes of Grace Coolidge and Jaqueline Kennedy.
The fashion winds are blowing in the direction of high glamour and carefully crafted wardrobes with intent, purpose, and meaning. Who else embodies this more than Mrs. Trump at the moment?
And yet, Vogue has taken no interest in a cover for a first lady who is defining the look of America’s high society.
Vogue covers via Condé Nast
Then again, I have to wonder — would we be getting a Melania if there’d been a Vogue cover in the first term and an upcoming Vogue cover this term? The chances are slim. Other first ladies needed these covers not only for validation but also because they had not envisioned the role as one that could have creative autonomy over, say, a documentary.
If there’s a layered undertone to Melania it’s certainly c’est la vie. Perhaps this is what Mrs. Trump has been saying all these years.
Things are the way they are; get on with it. She never needed Vogue covers, and luckily for us, we get Melania at her most authentic yet.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
