Melania’s Declaration of Independence (from FLOTUS expectations)
I woke up on the 4th of July to this message from one of my most treasured *FaceBook friends:
So on the eve of our celebration of independence from the British, America’s first lady wore a British designer to the Mount Rushmore rally for her husband, the president of the United States, re-election campaign. I….. Like… I…. Can’t..
There’s a lot to unpack there. Let’s start with clarifying what my friend’s message was not: a fashion critique of Melania’s dress. While the interwebs had a field day with the white linen Alexander McQueen midi, my friend was unconcerned with the aesthetics of Mrs. Trump’s July 3rd look. Rather, she was upset by the connotation of Melania’s choice.
Melania wore a dress by a British designer to an event celebrating America’s declaration of independence from British rule. The contradictory symbolism inherent in that choice is clear.
She wore this dress in front of a huge monument to the American presidents who wrote the Declaration of Independence, defeated the British Army, freed American slaves, and **Teddy Roosevelt. That spot is intended as a symbol of American ideals and achievement.
At the same time, the site of Mount Rushmore is highly controversial. The US government granted the Black Hills to the Lakota nation in perpetuity in an 1868 treaty, then reneged just 8 years later. Holding a campaign rally in a place that represents the betrayal of native peoples during a moment of heightened awareness of systemic racism activated by the Black Lives Matter movement and following closely on the heels of the Dakota XL pipeline protest symbolizes a belief that only rich white men are allowed to make and benefit from the rules. It is a visual representation of the outdated belief in manifest destiny.
The speech Melania’s husband made in that place, on that day was full of the rhetoric of American exceptionalism, consistent with Trump’s America First and Make America Great Again message. His remarks were equal parts inflammatory comments about his opponents, highly stylized history lesson, and stump speech, including morsels like:
We will state the truth in full, without apology: We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on Earth.
We are proud of the fact that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and we understand that these values have dramatically advanced the cause of peace and justice throughout the world.
We recognize the solemn right and moral duty of every nation to secure its borders. And we are building the wall.
I’m not even going to touch the hateful, regressive symbolism of the speech.
So why this dress? And why does it rankle so much? I have been pondering the meaning of Melania’s clothes for the past four years. My first #SartorialPolitics post on FaceBook, which got the ball rolling on this project, dealt with the dress Melania wore for her controversial 2016 convention speech on July 18, 2016: another white frock, that time by Serbian-born, London-based designer Roksanda Ilinčić. I linked to this astute analysis and commented “I’m fascinated by this dress and the message it sends.” It led to an interesting discussion of the meaning of the dress and some fashion criticism. My favorite comment contained a bit of both: “The sleeves say, ‘I am George Washington.’ The color says, ‘I don’t do childcare.’ The rear says, ‘Look at my butt.’”
A Trump-supporting relative took issue with the post, so I explained my take as clearly as I could:
I’m actually not at all critiquing her dress. I’m pointing out that she is the first candidate’s wife in ages who wore a non-American designer to a convention. For a candidate who is focused on ending free trade, keeping jobs in America, and boosting American business, this is a big inconsistency. And given that Trump repeatedly tells us about his attention to detail, it tells me one of two things: either he lies about his attention to detail, or he lies about his commitment to American business. Which is worse for a potential president?
(My uncle did not answer the question posed.)
This, of course, brings us back to the idea of consistency between what we say and what we do and Carroll and Wheaton’s differentiation between two kinds of authenticity: type authenticity, how true something is to the category to which it belongs; and moral authenticity, how true something is to its own projected self, its sincerity. I argued previously that the Trump brand has nothing to do with type authenticity and everything to do with moral authenticity. His fans are ok with the billionaire’s populism because they believe Trump to behave in a way that is consistent with the image he projects of himself.
The problem is that Melania’s clothes have little to do with the Trump brand’s moral authenticity. They are not America first, made in the USA, woman-of-the-people, anti-globalist — they are precisely the opposite. It does not surprise me, therefore, that we have been collectively poring over the meaning of Melania’s fashion choices. What is she trying to tell us? Was she expressing disdain for her husband’s crass remarks when she wore a pink Gucci pussy-bow blouse to the October 2016 presidential debate? Was she sending us a message about her willingness to step into the First Lady’s role with her robin’s egg blue, Ralph Lauren-designed inauguration suit? Was she intentionally using fashion to build bridges to our allies with the cornflower-bedecked dress she wore on a 2017 Bastille Day visit to France, or was she just fancifully free-associating, as with the questionable colonial-style pith helmet and safari gear from her 2018 visit to Kenya and the odd, sari-like-but-not-at-all-a-sari dress from her 2020 state visit to India? Was her rainbow-striped 2019 4th of July dress a nod to Pride month? Is her penchant for immigrant designers like Carolina Herrera and Herve Pierre a nod to her own life’s journey? Or does she just like a pretty fit-and-flare dress? And what would be wrong with that?
A friend recently asked why First Ladies’ clothes are subject to such intense scrutiny. I believe there is meaningful symbolism here: if clothes are the stories we tell about ourselves, who we wear reveals something about our world view and our values. First Ladies’ clothes ought to reflect their position at the pinnacle of American political life, which provides a platform from which to promote American designers. Type authenticity requires them to take this role seriously.
Most recent First Ladies have reconciled their clothes with their social positions by wearing American designers. While in the White House, Jackie Kennedy often wore Russian-American designer Oleg Cassini. Nancy Reagan favored Bill Blass and James Galanos. Barbara Bush almost always wore dresses from Canadian-born Arnold Scassi (né Isaacs) and bags by Judith Lieber. Hillary Clinton favored Donna Karan, while Laura Bush wore Texan designer Michael Faircloth to her first inaugural ball. Michelle Obama promoted new American designers like Jason Wu, Brandon Maxwell, and Thakoon, mixing in more accessible pieces from J. Crew. Almost all wore Oscar De La Renta, a Dominican immigrant to the US; in fact, many of their favorite designers were hyphenated-Americans, and what is more consistent with American values than that? Of course, they also wore international designers and nodded to local designers when on foreign visits — let’s call it sartorial diplomacy — but the authentic First Lady type champions American creativity.
Melania, however, defies our expectations of what an authentic First Lady should be, just as she defies the Trumpian notion of authenticity. Her theme is almost entirely paradoxical: the wife of the man who rails against chain migration brought her European parents to the U.S. and helped them become citizens. The woman whose husband belittles foes on Twitter, mocks people with differences in speeches, and eschews physical exertion chose Be Best as her White House project, promoting the development of “positive social, emotional, and physical habits” for kids and aiming to prevent online bullying. (Though let’s be honest, refusing to move into the White House until your prenup is renegotiated is kind of on-brand for a Trump.)
If we agree that Melania is neither what we expect of a First Lady nor what we expect of a Trump, we are justified in searching for insight into her inner life. What story is she telling with her clothing?
In truth, her message is so scattered and inconsistent that deriving a coherent narrative is almost impossible. From what I can discern, Melania’s predominant theme is that she likes pretty dresses that flatter her figure.
To the extent there is a deeper message, it is almost certainly what her most controversial article of clothing — that infamous Zara jacket — told us so clearly. “I really don’t care, do U?”
* We are actually friends in real life, but since she lives clear across the country, most of our relationship is currently conducted on FaceBook
** I love TR, just saying he probably doesn’t rise to the stature of the others
