Telling detail stitched into Melania’s Dior dress that hints at her true ambitions, as the First Lady rings the New York Stock Exchange bell: JANE TIPPETT
A stacked week of events is rare for a First Lady who has, in recent months, all but disappeared from the public face of the second Trump Administration.
But this morning, swathed in a $7,300 black kimono-style virgin wool Dior coatdress, Melania reemerged to ring, for the second time, the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Inspired by Dior’s archive collections, Melania brought a jolt of undisputed glamor into what is normally a dry occasion.
Her long-term stylist Herve Pierre threw out the dress’s coordinating belt and exchanged it for a lambskin leather Alaia version, finishing the look with a fearsome Manolo Blahnik heel.
Melania did not break her cover on a single-digit weather day to steady what critics believe to be some of the most tumultuous days of her husband’s second term, but to ensure that Melania (the movie) makes waves!
Just two days away from its nationwide release, the 104-minute documentary, which chronicles the 20 days before Donald Trump’s second presidential inauguration in 2025, is undoubtedly the most audacious gamble yet for a woman who has never played by traditional First Lady rules.
An ingenious bid to build up her private fortune (and, by extension, ensure her son’s financial future), Melania has reportedly received $28 million of the $40 million paid by Amazon and MGM.
Nothing if not a disciplined performer, the pre-release press junket that Melania is currently enduring is proof positive that she is a woman driven by her own agenda and one who refuses to be either derailed or disrupted by West Wing politics.
This morning, swathed in a $7,300 black kimono-style virgin wool Dior coatdress, Melania reemerged to ring, for the second time, the bell at the New York Stock Exchange
Her long-term stylist Herve Pierre threw out the dress’s coordinating belt and exchanged it for a lambskin leather Alaia version
She also wore a fearsome Manolo Blahnik heel
It was business as usual Saturday night when, despite a cataclysmic day of protests in Minnesota during which one was shot dead, Melania moved forward as planned with hosting a black-tie-clad audience in the presidential private cinema for a sneak peek of what is meant to be an unprecedented look into her life as a past and future First Lady.
Standing before a lectern Wednesday morning, addressing a room of select VIPs ahead of making her way to the Stock Exchange floor, Melania was dwarfed by her own image, as three floor-to-ceiling movie posters of the First Lady clad in a Dolce tuxedo suit formed the backdrop to her speech.
She took to the stage to a cheering audience as the soundtrack from her upcoming release played in the backdrop. Every inch the poised performer, she utilized the world’s most prestigious financial theater to celebrate and sustain an endeavor that most predict will flop at the box office.
‘Superior storytelling,’ she asserted, ‘Drives culture and moves markets.’ But her words, just two minutes in duration, paled in comparison to the impact of the five-inch Manolo Blahnik stiletto that jutted out from behind the lectern – a potent reminder of where female power dressing permanently resides.
Flanked by images of herself, Melania sent a potent message, making the case for a woman who seems untethered from anything but her own ambitions – determined to make her decisions a success and mobilizing all the tools of style in the process.
Her decision to include her longtime stylist Herve Pierre among her retinue was yet another reminder that the particulars of dress are a priority.
Melania is no stranger to the New York Stock Exchange. In 2019, she arrived to ring its opening bell as part of her ‘Be Best’ initiative, wearing a black Prada shift, and in December last year, she watched her husband do the honors, clad in a grey pinstriped Ralph Lauren suit that oozed a brand whose hallmark is restrained American elegance.
But for this powerhouse appearance, Melania left nothing to chance, ensuring that her sartorial edge was sharper than ever, crafting an image of herself that was as chic as it was untouchable.
If Melania the movie is meant to give us greater access to undoubtedly the most private and elusive First Lady ever, today’s look emphasized that whatever back-stage scenes we will be fed on Friday, Melania remains a woman out of reach.
She is protected as much by her closet of couture as she is by a shrewd understanding that public life remains a carefully calculated performance, one that should never betray the secrets of a private existence.
