Stylist of Melania Trump criticizes designers who won’t dress her for inauguration, and once blocked her from a Madison Avenue boutique

As the inauguration of Donald Trump approaches, many are awaiting the beginning of a new era in the White House and speculating about the impact the new administration will have on the United States and global affairs. Alongside this political anticipation, the fashion world is also abuzz with curiosity about what the next four years will bring in terms of style, particularly due to Melania Trump’s significant influence.

The spotlight is not only on the political changes but also on the designers, both domestic and international, who are keenly following how Melania’s fashion choices will shape trends during Trump’s term in office. Regardless of personal opinions about Melania, designers recognize the profound impact she can have on the fashion industry and are therefore invested in her sartorial selections.

Inauguration Day might tell us a good deal about what the future holds.

For Melania, who is reportedly accustomed to shopping for ready-to-wear pieces like many others, the need for custom, unique outfits for high-profile events presents a new challenge. Breaking away from off-the-rack purchases to embrace bespoke couture could be a significant shift for the First Lady as she steps into her role as a fashion influencer.

Although Melania is a former industry insider – she once graced the cover of US Vogue swathed in a $100,000 Christian Dior haute couture gown – she has, relatively speaking, been shunned since her rise to political power, at least by the fashion world.

Anna Wintour, longstanding editor-in-chief, famously denied her a repeat appearance in Vogue, despite having accorded the honor of a cover portrait to every other first lady – and even to Vice President Kamala Harris in the lead-up to November’s election.

Is Wintour’s disapproval so decisively influential? Certainly, few designers, all of whom wish to remain on good terms with the most powerful voice in the fashion world, will admit to working with Melania.

When Stefano Gabbana broke ranks and took to Instagram to thank the first lady for wearing one of the brand’s signature black tuxedo jackets for her official White House portrait in 2017, branding her proudly as #DGWoman, the endorsement sparked an immediate social media backlash. There were calls to boycott the brand.

(Instead of backtracking, the brand released a $275 white T-shirt with ‘boycott’, emblazoned on the front, later confirming the item was in direct reference to the criticism.)

It is the attitude of Dior that might seem more telling, however.

Melania is clearly a fan and has increasingly turned to its tailored-but-feminine chic in recent months, making notable appearances in a striking red ‘New Look’ suit at Republican National Convention in July and in a modified grey version for her husband’s election night victory.

On each occasion, she executed the look with her usual precision. Yet Dior has been reluctant to admit to any form of collaboration.

Like other fashion houses, the label is usually quick to associate itself with celebrity endorsements.

When it comes to Melania, one of the most watched women in the world, however, Dior has remained silent – an indication that she (or more likely her stylist Herve Pierre) simply wandered into the Dior store on New York’s 5th Avenue and bought the pieces at the counter like any other customer.

There has been a near industry-wide refusal to partner with the former and future first lady in recent years. In my view, however, this has emboldened her.

Not reliant on the latest fashion whim, Melania has looked to her own resources, particularly in recent months. And, in the process, she has shown us a wardrobe that is both chic and timeless.

For her appearance at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9, she delved deep into the archives and selected pieces purchased from a 2019 Valentino collection.

Her glamorous turn at the New York Stock Exchange a month earlier in a nearly two-year-old Ralph Lauren Collection pantsuit was similarly out of date but sartorially flawless.

It’s an approach which separates her from most other political (and royal) consorts.

Melania has had little choice. In the wake of Trump’s 2016 victory a slew of designers – Marc Jacobs, Jason Wu, Zac Posen and Tom Ford to name a few – were quick to declare they would never dress the incoming first lady.

By his own admission, her stylist, Herve Pierre, was once turned away at the front door of an American designer’s Madison Avenue boutique. He hasn’t named the designer in question, preferring not to give him (or her) free publicity.

‘I understand that you can criticize Mrs Trump,’ he told the influential industry magazine Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), ‘but to say to someone who is coming to shop – full-price – ‘You are not welcome here.’ That is something that I would have never expected.’

Ninety-five percent of what Pierre reportedly buys is off the rack, a radical departure from the approach taken by most first ladies who preferred designer showrooms or custom designs.

‘I don’t really do that but for the good reason that the fashion industry is not very welcoming,’ Pierre continued.

‘That’s no secret. Some are very open-minded and would be able to do something special. But a lot of people are not.’

All this poses a problem for a woman who in a few days’ time will be expected to wear two unique and presumably American outfits – a daytime ensemble for her husband’s swearing in and another to parade on stage at one of the many glamorous Washington DC balls held in the new president’s honor that same evening.

In 2017, Ralph Lauren came to Melania’s rescue for the first requirement.

The legendary American designer created a powder-blue double-face cashmere dress and coat that seemed straight out of Camelot. Jackie Kennedy is, some claim, the predecessor that First Lady Melania most admires.

But it seems Mr Lauren had no intention of stepping into the shoes of Oleg Cassini, the couturier who famously dressed Jackie not just for the 1960 inauguration, but for the remaining three momentous years of her fashion reign.

Rumors were rife that Mr Lauren personally had nothing to do with the 2017 daywear collaboration.

The man who was waiting in the wings to fill that role for Melania’s evening gown was the independent designer – and French-born American immigrant – Herve Pierre.

Like Cassini, he had served in the trenches of haute couture with Balmain, Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta, plus a spell designing costumes for the Paris Opera Ballet.

With just 11 days’ notice, Pierre created the architectural off-the-shoulder white crepe column dress that Melania worse for the evening engagements of Trump’s first inauguration. It was, as Melania’s office said at the time, ‘a collaboration’ between the designer and the first lady herself.  

Now part of the Smithsonian Museum, that gown launched a relationship that has been pivotal in shaping Melania’s presidential power style.

What will she do now, eight years on?

In the wake of Trump’s second victory, 16 designers were approached by WWD and asked whether they would dress the incoming First Lady. None would commit.

Ralph Lauren, too, has remained silent on collaborating with Melania.

A reprise of January 2017 seems unlikely. 

Lauren is, after all, the de-facto designer of the Biden family (Lauren kitted out daughter Naomi Biden’s White House wedding in 2022 alongside numerous appearances by Jill) and was recently honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside Anna Wintour.

What about Michael Kors, in whose zebra printed coat (another past-season piece) Melania made a headline-grabbing appearance at her husband’s Madison Square Garden pre-election rally?

Again, I doubt it.

Though Melania has been a frequent patron of his brand, Kors himself has shied away from any direct involvement, once saying of the First Lady’s decision to wear his clothes:

‘Mrs Trump has been a longtime client at our New York boutique. She has a keen understanding of what works best for her and her lifestyle.’

The message was clear: Yes, she buys my clothes but NO, I don’t work with her.

Perhaps Kors – or one of his starry colleagues – will have had a change of heart and embrace the incoming first lady just as the electorate has her husband.

‘Everybody wants to be my friend,’ Trump boasted of the stream of business leaders and dignitaries who made the pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago in the wake of his victory. But if Melania’s recent fashion choices are any indication, she, sadly, cannot say the same.

Still, her outsider status has advantages. Shunned by the establishment, she can dress for herself – by herself.

Though no longer an unknown, it would not surprise me if she once again leans on her brilliant couturier Herve Pierre to create the type of unique creation that the inauguration requires.

As for a fashion industry that has done so much for her in the past – delivering the most extraordinary of American dreams, in fact – she might surely have hoped for just a little more.

But I doubt she really cares.

‘Welcome to MAGAland: Trump’s Second 100 Days’ is the new politics podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from Trump insiders. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts now.