Melania Trump certainly didn’t seem happy to be back in Washington DC.
With just 11 days until her husband’s inauguration, the mood seemed a little somber as she walked her husband down the nave of Washington National Cathedral and took her place at the other end of a second-row pew for the state funeral of the late president. Jimmy Carter.
With no nearby neighbors to chat with in either the front or the back, Melania sat quietly as Trump chatted animatedly with his former foe, President Barack Obama.
Melania, meanwhile, seemed oblivious, even glacial, staring impassively at what was happening around her.
She seemed completely uninterested in catching up with members of the most exclusive club, the former First Ladies, sitting a short distance away.
Melania’s solemnity seemed quite excessive even by the standards of a state funeral, while the absurdity of her enormous white collar – which featured a neoclassical sculpture of kissing lovers in black and white prints – could almost have been a sign of mockery. disdain.
But when it comes to Melania, there’s always an element of surprise. After all, he had memorably worn gray instead of the usual black for the 2023 funeral of Carter’s late wife, Rosalynn.
Now she’s confounded her critics again, this time with an outfit that had a hidden meaning that only she, and perhaps her stylist, would really know.
Melania sat quietly as Trump chatted animatedly with President Barack Obama on Thursday.
Melania seemed completely uninterested in catching up with her fellow members of the most exclusive club, the former First Ladies, sitting a short distance away.
Melania defied convention at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral in 2023 and chose to wear gray instead of traditional black.
The long belted black wool coat, and its white collar protruding not so subtly from underneath, were two pieces from a unique three-way collaboration between house designer Pierpaolo Piccioli and Jun Takahashi of Japanese label Undercover (specializing in urban clothing and experimental tailoring). and a group called the Movement for the Emancipation of Poetry, whose members paste lyrical lines on the walls and monuments of Italian cities.
For this look, I’m told, Melania delved into her archives (rather than running to a designer’s door), for the two pieces from Valentino’s Fall 2019 collection.
At that show, titled ‘Valentino in Love’, Piccioli had built an illuminated sign at the end of the catwalk adorned with the words: ‘The people you love become ghosts inside you and that’s how you keep them alive.’
Audience members found a small volume of verses on each seat. And it was explained that, with a touch of ‘undercover’, Piccioli had selected lines from this special anthology to hide inside clothing, so that only the wearer would know what they were hiding and what they were saying.
What thoughts are behind the fashion pieces chosen by Melania last week?
Only she would know the answer, but I think it’s very likely that, like her sober demeanor, the decision to wear this particular outfit had something to do with the memory of her mother, Amalija Knavs.
Amlija’s death a year ago, on the day of President Carter’s state funeral last week, was a life-changing moment for the model-turned-political consort.
A mother she described as her “dear friend and irreplaceable treasure” had been a key, if barely visible, presence in Melania’s life.
Amalija and Melania’s father became practically a full-time resident of the White House.
Like Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, Amalija was tasked with providing some normalcy to the cocoon-like existence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for both her daughter and grandson Barron.
However, unlike Marian, Amalija rarely appeared on the political stage.
Few outside the DC bubble knew she was present, and like almost everything else in Melania’s private life, she remained exactly that: private.
Amlija’s death a year ago, on the day of President Carter’s state funeral last week, was a life-changing moment for the model-turned-political consort. (Pictured: Melania Trump with her mother at Olympus Fashion Week Fall 2004 in New York City.)
In the photo: Melania at the funeral of her mother Amalija Knavs on January 18, 2024.
Melania’s decision to deliver the eulogy to a packed congregation at Amalija’s funeral in Palm Beach was a rare occasion when she mustered the resolve to confront her natural aversion to public speaking.
On the anniversary of her death, Amalija would undoubtedly have been on her daughter’s mind, even more so now that Melania is preparing for a second leading role on the most important political stage.
It was written big on his face.
Refusing to use the sad anniversary as an excuse to duck the occasion, or blame it on a “scheduling conflict” as Michelle Obama did, Melania decided it was yet another moment to defy expectations, which has become something of a habit.