Viva Fashion Editor Dan Ahwa weighs in on Melania Trump’s fashion statement during migrant-children crisis.
Melania Trump - who is she and what is her game? To some, she is a fashion icon and a source of inspiration; to others she is secretly working to overthrow her husband through her not-so-subtle digs.
Is she a discreet First Lady with as much political influence as a teapot? Or a crafty, calculated observer, with a knife at her husband's back? Or is The Donald in on it all, with every perceived slight - from her improbable cause de choix, cyberbullying (yes, really) to THAT jacket - all part of a grand plan to soften his image?
Melania Trump - who is she and what is her game? Photo / Getty Images
We're unlikely to find out what Melania truly thinks of her husband and his presidency until the couple leave the White House and she writes her tell-all autobiography (pretty please). But for now, the First Lady's extraordinary behaviour increasingly seems to suggest one thing - she is trolling her husband, according to the Daily Telegraph UK.
If you just can't get enough of the Trumps' marital power play, you're in luck. We've rounded up some of Melania's most eye watering left hooks and will be updating it as every new entry emerges. Brace yourself...
It might seem a harmless item, but Melania keeps coming back with seemingly loaded wardrobe choices.
Back in 2016, she wore a blouse with a £585 Gucci pussy-bow neck detail in her first public appearance after the release of damning audio-tape in which her husband made reference to routinely grabbing women by the p----.
U.S. first lady Melania Trump attends a Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention summit at the Health Resources and Service Administration this week. Photo / Getty Images
She wore one again in August 2018 at the Cyberbullying Prevention Summit, while her husband ranted and raged on Twitter, likening Robert Mueller to Joseph McCarthy.
We should have seen it coming, really. When Melania became First Lady, she pledged to focus the efforts of her office on putting an end to cyber bullying. In her first solo speech, she called for an end to online hate, describing it as "absolutely unacceptable".
"Technology has changed our universe," she said. "But like anything that is powerful it can have a bad side," she said, apparently unaware of unfussed by her own husband's Twitter reputation.
Ouch.
May 2017 - The tweet
It's her husband's preferred platform on which to conduct matters of international importance. But Melania appeared to send a message herself in 2017 when she liked a tweet which read: "Seems the only #Wall @realDonaldTrump's built is the one between him and @FLOTUS".
It was swiftly unliked, of course, but it was enough for the Twittersphere to read between the lines.
January 2018 - The white pantsuit
For the President's first State of the Union address, Melania wore a white pantsuit. It was in the wake of the Stormy Daniels ruckus, a reference, some speculated, to virginal purity (in stark contrast to Stormy Daniels' adult star credentials).
The white pantsuit - what was she trying to say with this one? Photo / Getty Images
It also served as a sartorial reminder of Hillary Clinton. Not to mention the ability to hide all manner of emotions under that brim.
Her husband was fighting off anger on both sides of the aisle for his government's decision to remove children from their parents and keep them in child detention centres at the Mexican border.
What did Melania do? She got on a plane to visit the children at a Texas detention centre wearing a jacket with the words: "I Really Don't Care, Do U?" emblazoned on the back.
Melania Trump is becoming known for her politicised fashion choices. Photo / AP
She knew full well the message would be in full view of the media as she boarded the plane. Donald Trump said the message referred to her disdain for the media. It might have been that. Or it could have been another dig at his lack of compassion.
June 2018 - Valentino
Then there was the floral Valentino midi dress that Melania wore when taking tea with King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain – a frock originally designed as part of a collection which, according to Valentino's creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, celebrated cultural melting pots and "finding the harmony in difference".
Not necessarily something her husband is known for.
Meeting King Felipe and Queen Letizia in this not so subtle dress. Photo / AP
Was there a protest message behind the dress, during a visit which was overshadowed by the row over children being separated from their parents in Mexico?
July 2018 - Channel wars
The New York Times reported that the President had a fit on Air Force One because the First Lady's television had been tuned to CNN, not his beloved Fox News. Accident or provocation? In a public response, Melania's spokeswoman said the First Lady watches: "any channel she wants".
August 2018 - The Le Bron James debacle
After Trump questioned LeBron James's intelligence in a tweet, Melania's spokeswoman released a statement asserting the First Lady's admiration for James's work with at-risk children in his hometown:
Cut to the following afternoon, when a statement emerged from Melania's office proclaiming: "LeBron James is working to do good things on behalf of our next generation and just as she always has, the First Lady encourages everyone to have an open dialogue about issues facing children today," adding that she would be "open to visiting the I Promise School in Akron".
August 2018 - The Africa trip
The announcement was simple: US First Lady Melania Trump will make her first major solo international trip later this year. Where will she be jetting off to? Africa. The continent which is home to countries which her husband once described as "s---hole countries".
Needless to say she'll be going without him.
"I am excited to educate myself on the issues facing children throughout the continent, while also learning about its rich culture and history," she said in a statement.
"We are a global society and I believe it is through open dialogue and the exchanging of ideas that we have a real opportunity to learn from one another."
