Why Melania Might Just Be Dressing to Show She Hates Trump
It’s only a theory of course, but the first lady’s recent outfits certainly seem to hinting at something.
Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters
At a time when high-net worth women, including Lauren Sánchez and Kim Kardashian, proudly display their womanly-coded curves, Melania Trump is covering hers. This week, Trump showed up at the Capitol in a three-piece man-tailored tan suit to speak in support of a bill that would safeguard children from, as she put it without irony, “mean-spirited and hurtful online behavior.”
Cross-dressing has long been in Trump’s fashion quiver, but she seems to be reaching for that arrow more and more. In the past the first lady has acknowledged wearing clothing to send a message, so what’s the message here?
First and foremost, Trump’s suits signal that she is not a trad wife. Donald isn’t the only one wearing pants in the family…and hers fit better. Here are seven other possible messages Trump’s wardrobe choices might be sending.
- I’M A LITERARY TITAN!
Trump’s memoir hit the top of The New York Times bestseller list which allows her to fill the spats of notable French memoirist George Sand. In the mid-19th century, Sand had to petition the Paris police to wear trousers in public. No word if Trump requires permission to wear hers.
George Sand (r) dressed as a student, and her lover Jules Sandeau in Paris, circa 1831, engraving by Paul Gavarni (1804-1866).
Bridgeman via Getty Images
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in the East Room of the White House on February 22, 2025.
Getty Images
- I’M KOOKY!
Diane Keaton pioneered the slouchy boho mannish look in “Annie Hall.” Trump channels this vibe and, like Keaton, accessories the look with an alleged sexual abuser.
Diane Keaton and Woody Allen in the film "Annie Hall."
Bettmann Archive
Melania went all Diane Keaton in October 2017 when she and Trump hosted the Trudeaus at the White House.
AFP via Getty Images
- I TAKE FASHION RISKS!
Fashion icon Princess Diana played with menswear in the 1980s, sporting a bowtie that was mirrored by Trump decades later.
Diana, Princess of Wales attends a charity greyhound racing event at Wembley Stadium in London, UK, 20th April 1988. She is wearing a green Hackett waistcoat and a Catherine Walker suit and a bow tie.
Getty Images
White House Communications Director Hope Hicks attends an official dinner thrown by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in honor of U.S. President Donald Trump at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan November 6, 2017.
Reuters
Oh wait, the woman on the left is not Trump. It’s actually former presidential assistant Hope Hicks who testified against her former boss. This is Trump in a similar look.
Melania went for the tuxedo look at the National Governors Association Evening Dinner and Reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 22 this year.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
- I’M AN OLD-TIMEY MALE IMPERSONATOR!
Is Trump’s official 2025 White House portrait sending a message to the LGBTQ community that she stands with them? Just add a top hat and Trump’s look connects her to generations of male impersonators.
Two male impersonators in Victorian England, circa 1870.
Getty Images
Melania Trump in her new official White House portrait.
White House
- I’M A DISNEY PRINCESS WHO’S READY FOR BATTLE!
Mulan dressed like a man so she could fight for her people and when Trump went to visit victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, she chose a similar cover up.
The Disney princess Mulan.
Disney
Melania wore the Mulan look for a Jan. 25 trip with her husband to North Carolina.
Getty Images
- I’M ALL THE MAN I NEED
Trump channeled movie star Marlene Dietrich in this outfit from the first administration. Dietrich loudly denounced Nazism in her native Germany and in the late 1930s, raised funds to support refugees and help Jews and dissidents escape. Trump has done her part, too, reassuring Americans that her husband “is not Hitler.”
Marlene Dietrich
Getty Images
Melania Trump visits the Giza Pyramids on October 6, 2018, during the final stop of her week-long trip through four countries in Africa.
AFP via Getty Images
- I HATE DONALD TRUMP
Maybe Trump isn’t cross-dressing… maybe she’s just cross.
This week she channeled renowned Trump-hater Fran Leibowitz who once told an audience, “Everyone says he is crazy—which maybe he is—but the scarier thing about him is that he is stupid. You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”
Author Fran Lebowitz attends the Diana Vreeland Memorial on November 6, 1989 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Melania Trump on Capitol Hill where her outfit has a distinct similarity to the invariably well-tailored Fran Leibowitz.
AFP via Getty Images
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