Trump inauguration: Fashion giants desperate for Melania Trump connection despite 2017 snub; ‘people are begging to…’

Also read | JD Vance’s ‘skipping the inauguration’ joke was lost on ‘America First’ loyalists: ‘He is not serious about this job’

This time around, a new wave has swept in. Although major fashion giants wanted to steer clear of Donald Trump’s “toxic” brand of politics years ago, countless big players in the industry are now knocking at their door so that Melania could be seen flaunting their creation on January 20. Now that the incoming first lady has “come out from under husband’s shadow,” as highlighted by David Adler, founder of Washington high society magazine Washington Dossier, she is equally playing the game in her own rights. While her final outfit choice is still “up in the air,” Toni Holt Kramer, founder of the Trumpettes support group, affirmed that her final piece “will go down in history.”

‘People are begging to dress’ Melania Trump for the Inauguration Day

Contrary to Trump’s first presidency, the mood surrounding the Trump family has shifted. Melania’s longtime designer friend Herve Pierre had told Woman’s Wear Daily that in light of brands “shunning” her out, he had to buy clothes “off the rack” for her during the first term. With endless options at her disposal this time, Pierre is of the opinion that Melania will ultimately go for a US brand at a time when the “America First” rhetoric is possibly at its loudest. It is also believed that Melania and her sister, Ines, her trustworthy confidante, have been “considering” outfits this week at Mar-a-Lago.

Consequently, Holt Kramer told the Daily Mail, “Everyone wants to dress Melania” after Donald Trump’s landslide victory against Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential elections. “Things are very different this time around. When President Trump was first elected back in 2016, Melania was treated very badly indeed,” she reiterated. However, with 2025, the tide appears to have been flipped entirely now that brands that previously refused to dress her are also turning up at her door. “She was shunned and treated appallingly but acted with nothing but class,” Kramer added. “It must have been hard for her. Now people are begging to dress her.”

Also read | Prince William, Kate Middleton to attend Trump inauguration? Expert weighs in on Royal Family’s ‘above politics’ stance

Designers who previously ‘shunned’ Melania Trump

Moschino’s creative director, Jeremy Scott (clients include Beyonce and Lady Gaga), and French designer Sophie Theallet were a few of the many designers who famously refused to back Melania years ago in an attempt to visibly distance themselves from Donald Trump. Emphasising that he would “never” collaborate with the former model, Scott said, “Obviously [Melania] looks great, but I can’t divorce it from who she is. I don’t know Melania.”

Meanwhile, Theallet, a favourite of Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Lopez, wrote in an open letter: “I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next First Lady. The rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by.”