Washington: The returning first couple have released their new official portraits: a perfectly synced duet of lady-boss power and glowering demand for surrender.
Melania Trump worked with Regine Mahaux, the Belgian photographer who documented her first tenure at the White House. This time, the first lady was photographed in stark black and white instead of colour, but she is once again wearing the Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana. For her 2025 portrait, it’s a dark tuxedo jacket with strong, sharp shoulders.
Donald and Melania Trump’s official portraits.Credit: Illustration: Marija Ercegovac
She’s positioned in a typical corporate power stance with her arms spread wide as her hands rest on a reflective tabletop. She stands with her gaze cast directly at the viewer with a blurred Washington Monument in the distance. And she is not smiling – not with her mouth and not with her eyes. Her jaw is set; her mouth is a straight line; her eyes do not twinkle.
The lighting is kind. The focus is respectful. The first lady’s face has been relieved of any evidence of life experiences, whether disheartening or invigorating. The viewer does not know if she has cried or laughed, thought deeply or raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The image is a far cry from those favoured by close-up portraitist Martin Schoeller, the photographer of Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel, who has rarely seen a wrinkle, blemish or age spot he did not want to scrutinise in the most unapologetic terms – and whose resulting photographs are almost unbearably intimate.
Mahaux’s portrait of Melania is glossy and slick and stuffed with familiar signifiers of power: the slightly looming posture, the perfectly manicured hands placed on the desktop, the tailoring of the pantsuit and the crispness of the open shirt, the obelisk in the background. But its totality is more of a fashion photograph than a portrait of an individual. Its pristine nature says a lot about how the person wishes to be seen but nothing about who the person actually is.
Melania Trump’s official White House portraits in 2017 and then 2025.
It stands apart from portraits of previous first ladies, with their pleasant smiles, tasteful frocks by American designers and an abundance of pearls. Melania skipped the American label and the pearls, but in her previous White House portrait, she showcased the classic first lady smile. Her eyes practically twinkled. Her face was cast in a rosy-cheeked glow. She had her arms folded in front of her, and yet the overall effect was far more welcoming than the more recent image. That first portrait suggested a willingness to consider the traditional soft power of the first lady’s office. The new portrait simply announces her power. It’s in keeping with the aesthetic note she struck on Inauguration Day: sober, unyielding, self-contained.
Perhaps this new portrait marks a step forward – or maybe it’s just a sideways jog – in the country’s relationship with a first spouse. Dare one call it an awakening? This 2025 official image suggests that Melania Trump will in no way be saddled with the requirement that she offer up consoling hugs, approving nods or a face frozen into a toothy smile whenever in public. She won’t pretend to care. The picture recognises that the first spouse indeed has power, but there is no rule that it must be soft.
The first lady’s portrait is the yin to the president’s rage. Donald Trump’s second official White House portrait has far more in common with his mug shot taken in Fulton County, Georgia – where he was indicted on racketeering charges – than it does with the many presidential portraits that have come before.
