Fashion statement: Barron and Melania listening as US President Donald Trump delivers remarks after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in an inauguration ceremony in the rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington DC. — Reuters
DURING her husband’s first presidential inauguration, in January 2017, Melania Trump was a newcomer to Washington, a first lady who draped herself in baby-blue cashmere to evoke memories of Jacqueline Kennedy and whose tight smile, at moments, seemed to dissolve into a scowl.
The years have evidently changed her.
Throughout her husband’s first term, Melania would go on to keep her physical and emotional distance from the capital, choosing to focus on raising her son, Barron, and retreat from the public eye.
While other family members, like Ivanka Trump, have seemingly enjoyed spending years smiling widely for the cameras and posting their travels (and high-status friends) on social media, Melania and her son remained closed off. But last Monday, the returning first lady and the son she had once shielded from the public eye used her husband’s inauguration to reintroduce themselves.
One of the biggest changes occurred before they set foot in the capital. Along with the rest of the family, Melania has signalled that she will be more unapologetic about the ethical concerns that followed her family through Donald Trump’s first term.
The woman who once abandoned jewellery and skin care lines unveiled her own cryptocurrency, $Melania, hours before his swearing in. So far, both Trumps have shrugged off complaints.
Barron Trump is now treated as an adviser by his father and as something of a next-generation Maga (Make America Great Again) mascot by his father’s supporters: He pushed his father to join podcasts during the campaign and urged the sort of crypto projects that his parents are participating in.
During the launch of Trump’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, in September, Barron was listed as the project’s “DeFi visionary,” a reference to the branch of crypto known as decentralised finance.
Eight years ago, Barron was an 11-year-old who was seen smiling with his sister, Tiffany, as his father was sworn in at the Capitol. On Monday, Barron remained largely by his mother’s side, but the change in him was obvious.
During the ceremony, Barron took prime position, smiling and clapping alongside Elon Musk, the billionaire who has landed near the centre of Trump’s circle of advisers. He shook former President Joe Biden’s hand as he departed the dais in the Rotunda.
He was also photographed hobnobbing at a congressional luncheon, speaking with Sen Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Pete Hegseth, now his father’s defence secretary. He also animatedly talked with billionaire Jeff Bezos, the chair of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post.
Later, Barron was greeted with a hero’s welcome at a political rally at Capital One Arena in Washington. Whenever his face appeared on the video board, the crowd responded with wild applause.
For her part, Melania dispensed with some of the niceties she stuck to as incoming first lady in 2017. She did not arrive at the White House clutching a gift for her predecessor, Jill Biden, as she had done for Michelle Obama, who skipped this year’s inauguration. She and Biden greeted each other warmly, ignoring some of the slights of inaugurations past. (The Trumps did not attend Joe Biden’s ceremony.)
For Melania, the last change from 2017 was visual, but no less significant.
Wearing a double-breasted navy coat and a wide-brimmed hat, she now seems less interested in emulating another first lady who had gone before her, as she did with the ode to Kennedy eight years ago.
This time, she called back to one of her own eye-catching ensembles: She had sported a wide-brimmed hat during a state visit by the French in 2018. Her custom-designed white hat back then was the talk of the town while still keeping much of her face shielded from the limelight.
On Monday, the then incoming first lady cut a figure that the Washington Post described of as a mafia widow or high-ranking member of an obscure religious order, and a bit of My Fair Lady.
Under her sharply tailored navy coat, a soft white silk crepe blouse peeked out from beneath the collar. Meanwhile the brim of the huge navy boater trimmed with a white band cast an elusive shadow over her face and shielding her eyes as Melania yanked the hat down over her head in what’s becoming a style signature.
Melania, a former model, has long asked for people to focus on what she does and not what she wears, but has also implicitly invited her observers to do both. (On Monday, her navy hat appeared to have the added effect of physically distancing herself from her husband, who went in for a kiss on the cheek but was stopped by the large brim.)
For her second round as first lady, the fashion game – the tool she brandishes most often and most forcefully, even if the public sometimes struggles to divine her sartorial messages – is likely to be one of steely, precise armour, of clothes with brash and exacting tailoring.
The first lady has a reputation for inscrutability, but it is clear that over the next four years, she intends to strike a severe, unflappable note. If nothing else, her designer clothes will protect her.
Melania has signalled that Americans – or Washingtonians, at least – will be seeing more of her than last time, because she plans to spend more time in Washington from the beginning. She delayed moving to Washington during the first term to make sure her son was properly settled and adjusted.
Last week, she told Fox News that she will be a regular presence in Washington, with plans to spend time in New York and at the family’s home in Palm Beach, Florida. She has also said that she will continue Be Best, the child-focused initiative she started during the first Trump term. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
