10 of the best and worst looks Melania Trump has worn as first lady

Mela­nia Trump’s style has been close­ly watched since she became first lady.
Her best first lady looks mix her per­son­al style with a pro­fes­sion­al edge.
Mela­nia Trump has also worn some con­tro­ver­sial out­fits over the years.

Mela­nia Trump has been show­ing a new side of her style in her sec­ond tenure as first lady.

She returned to the White House in Jan­u­ary, strik­ing a marked­ly dif­fer­ent, more sub­dued tone with her attire than when Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump first took office in 2017.

Since becom­ing first lady, Mela­nia Trump’s style has often been a source of atten­tion, as some of her out­fits have been con­tro­ver­sial.

Take a look at some of the best and worst looks she’s worn while Don­ald Trump has been in office.

Mela­nia Trump paid homage to Jack­ie Kennedy when she debuted as first lady.

Ralph Lau­ren Col­lec­tion designed the knee-length, pow­der-blue dress Mela­nia wore to Trump’s inau­gu­ra­tion in 2017, as well as the coor­di­nat­ing shrug and gloves she wore with the look.

She acces­sorized the out­fit with pearl ear­rings and blue, point­ed-toe heels.

The full ensem­ble evoked Jack­ie Kennedy’s style. From the bright col­or to the nod to one of Amer­i­ca’s most icon­ic first ladies, Mela­ni­a’s look was the per­fect choice for her hus­band’s first inau­gu­ra­tion.

Her cus­tom gown for the 2017 inau­gur­al balls fea­tured stand­out three-dimen­sion­al detail­ing.
©Kevin Dietsch — Pool/Getty Images
Hervé Pierre cus­tom-designed Mela­ni­a’s off-the-shoul­der dress for the inau­gur­al ball.

The cream dress had an A‑line sil­hou­ette, a thigh-high slit on one side, and three-dimen­sion­al fab­ric that curved across the bodice. A thin red belt cinched at the waist for a pop of col­or.

The dress felt high-fash­ion, con­nect­ing the first lady to her past as a mod­el as she stepped into a new role.

In August 2017, the Trumps vis­it­ed Cor­pus Christi, Texas, fol­low­ing Hur­ri­cane Har­vey to assess recov­ery efforts.

The pair wore casu­al attire, with Mela­nia arriv­ing in a white but­ton-down, black jeans, and sneak­ers. She also added a black base­ball hat to her look that said “FLOTUS,” first lady of the Unit­ed States, on the front.

Mela­ni­a’s out­fit quick­ly became a source of social-media chat­ter. Some said her hat called atten­tion to her in the wake of the nat­ur­al dis­as­ter, while oth­ers praised her casu­al out­fit.

Her suit for a Cana­di­an state vis­it in Octo­ber 2017 was more fit­ting for the occasion.©Jabin Botsford/The Wash­ing­ton Post via Get­ty Images

When greet­ing Justin and Sophie Gré­goire Trudeau at the White House in Octo­ber 2017, Mela­nia wore a gray pin­stripe suit instead of a dress.

The suit fea­tured high-waist­ed pants, and she paired it with a white but­ton-down and an untied black tie. The out­fit was unex­pect­ed for a first lady, offer­ing a fun style moment.

The pres­i­dent and first lady had a rare match­ing moment in April 2018, wear­ing coor­di­nat­ing striped looks.©Mandel NGAN / AFP / Get­ty Images

In April 2018, the Trumps host­ed Japan’s prime min­is­ter at the time, Shin­zo Abe, and his wife, Akie Abe, at Mar-a-Lago, dur­ing which the first lady wore an off-the-shoul­der dress from Car­oli­na Her­rera.

The dress was cov­ered in black and white stripes, with thick­er black stripes on the bodice and the pat­tern reversed on the midi-length skirt.

She added white heels to her look, and Trump wore a navy and white striped tie that matched his wife’s look. The coor­di­nat­ing out­fits were an atyp­i­cal but wel­come choice for the cou­ple.

The same month, Mela­nia stunned in a black minidress and coor­di­nat­ing coat.©Al Drago/Getty Images

Mela­nia greet­ed Pres­i­dent Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte, in a black minidress and black pumps at the White House.

The stand­out fea­ture of her out­fit was a Givenchy tuxe­do cape, which added a flair of per­son­al­i­ty to the oth­er­wise sim­ple look.

The semi-sheer dress she wore to a state din­ner for the Macrons dur­ing the same trip was a lit­tle too busy.©Alex Edel­man-Pool/Get­ty Images

The first lady changed into a sil­ver Chanel dress for the din­ner.

Most of the form-fit­ting dress was cov­ered in tex­tured fab­ric, while the top of the bodice and bot­tom of the skirt were made of a sheer, black fab­ric adorned with sil­ver embell­ish­ments.

The fab­rics did­n’t blend well, mak­ing the dress look too busy. It would have been a bet­ter look with­out the sheer fab­ric.

In June 2018, Mela­nia received back­lash for wear­ing a jack­et that said, “I real­ly don’t care, do u?”
©Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In June 2018, Mela­nia vis­it­ed an immi­gra­tion facil­i­ty in McAllen, Texas, where chil­dren were liv­ing, wear­ing a green Zara jack­et that said “I real­ly don’t care, do u?” on the back.

Crit­ics said the jack­et was insen­si­tive to wear for the vis­it, cri­tiquing both the first lady and the pres­i­dent for the fash­ion faux pas.

Mela­ni­a’s for­mer aide, Stephanie Grisham, wrote in her book “I’ll Take Your Ques­tions Now” that the pres­i­dent yelled at Mela­nia for wear­ing the jack­et, though Trump and the first lady both said she wore it to send a mes­sage to the left-wing media.

A dif­fer­ent bow would have improved her dress for an Inde­pen­dence Day cel­e­bra­tion in July 2018.©Alex Edelman/Getty Images

Mela­nia wore a floor-length wrap dress from Ralph Lau­ren to cel­e­brate Inde­pen­dence Day 2018.

The blue-and-white ging­ham dress was fun and fes­tive for the hol­i­day, but the over­size red belt tied at her waist over­whelmed the look.

If the first lady had swapped the bow for a thin­ner belt, her dress would have been more effec­tive.