Melania Trump's Biggest Fashion Fails (So Far) During Her Second White House Era

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During Donald Trump's first presidential term, many of Melania Trump's outfits seemed to have a deeper meaning, and if she has continued dressing with intention during her second stay at 1800 Pennsylvania Avenue, the message she's sending is a pretty bleak one. So far, her wardrobe has been devoid of joy.

Round one of Melania's stint as first lady was punctuated by occasional moments of sartorial panache — she wore plenty of bold colors and prints that popped. But many of her worst fashion fails of the second MAGA era have been bland and uninspired. Sadly, it seems as though the former model's love affair with fashion has gone the way of Donald Trump's bad bromance with Elon Musk. The color has been leached out of her closet, and some of Melania's style choices have become abnormally sloppy — she doesn't need the words "I don't care" splashed across her back to let everyone know that she's resigned from the fashion game.

This apparel ennui may be a symptom of the scrutiny some of Melania's past outfits have faced. "I wish people would focus on what I do, not what I wear," she lamented while addressing the media during a 2018 trip to Egypt, per NPR. However, she hasn't exactly done much to focus on, either — her voice has been as muted as her wardrobe. So, let's get down to breaking down why some of her second round of FLOTUS looks have fallen flatter than Donald's hair after hours of sweating on the golf course.

One of Melania Trump's first public appearances after Donald Trump secured his second term was at the funeral of president Jimmy Carter. For the somber event, she wore a black and white ensemble — an appropriate color palette for such an occasion. Unfortunately, one of her outfit's eye-catching design elements felt entirely out of place.

At the 2023 memorial service for Jimmy's wife, Rosalynn Carter, Melania caused a stir with another outrageous fashion choice: a gray coat. She apparently learned her lesson about wearing a color other than black when mingling with mourners, but she still made sure that she stood out from the crowd at Jimmy's funeral by wearing a Valentino coat dress with an absurdly large white collar. It provided a cornucopia of comedic fodder for her critics, who quipped that she looked like a pilgrim or a nun.

But what many netizens couldn't see from a distance was the image printed on Melania's collar: two lovers sharing a passionate kiss. The carnal couple was originally etched in stone by famed sculptor Auguste Rodin in the 19th century, and their inspiration was Paolo and Francesca, a tragic pair from Dante's "Inferno" who were doomed to suffer in hell for all eternity after having an affair. It's unknown whether Melania had any inkling of the print's loaded origins, but Jimmy did once mention her in a USA Today interview when he slammed Donald for his "violation of his sacred oath before God to be loyal to his wife."  Regardless of Melania's intent, it was a somewhat sinister artistic homage that was immensely ill-suited for the funeral of one of the Carters, whose sweet love story was as wholesome as they come.

Both Melania Trump and Donald Trump should avoid wearing hats at all costs. The first lady overshadowed her husband at his own inauguration in January 2025 by shading her eyes with the wide brim of a cartoonish boater hat created by milliner Eric Javits. When combined with the rigid lines of her matching stilettos and coat designed by Adam Lippes, her look had a severity and sharpness that could cut through even the most well-done of her husband's rubbery, ketchup-drenched steaks. Some people felt that she was giving off major villainous vibes, with "The Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon joking that she stole the Hamburglar's look. And what better way for Melania to get Donald to ditch his McDonald's habit than by swiping those Big Macs right off his plate?

Melania was also compared to the occasionally evil WWE character The Undertaker, "Star Wars" bounty hunter Cad Bane, the globe-trotting criminal Carmen Sandiego, and Judge Doom from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." It's hard to imagine that the conversation she wanted to start with her clothing and accessory decisions was which devious fictional character she most closely resembled.

Fashion stylist Amanda Sanders told The U.S. Sun that Melania's ensemble was also a strange choice because it was so funereal. "I feel like it's a happy occasion and what she's wearing seems too dark and understated," she said. Sadly, the look would set the tone for Melania's new style era, during which subdued neutrals and crisp silhouettes would become her (exceedingly dull) signature.

When Melania Trump tours disaster areas, her outfits usually include three staples: a pair of shades, a baseball cap, and that sartorial scourge that continues to curse the wardrobes of many Millennials: skinny jeans. The passé pants are Zoomer kryptonite, as they can't seem to stand even looking at the style without getting the ick. So, Melania risked alienating younger Americans when she joined Donald Trump to survey the extensive damage caused by the wildfires that swept through Southern California in January 2025.

At least Melania tried to dress sensibly for the outing, trading her pumps for a pair of sturdy black boots and wearing an abbreviated version of a classic trench coat. Unfortunately, she got mocked online for her accessories above the neckline: a black snapback and dark aviators that looked familiar to someone who posted the image on the Terminator subreddit. While many users agreed that she was giving Sarah Connor from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," others disliked seeing her compared to the tough heroine. "Sarah Connor would never stand next to that monster, unless she was trying to get close enough to him to change a terrible future," one offended commenter wrote.

Others cracked jokes about AI's rapid advancement, suggesting that we are well on our way to a dystopian "Terminator"-style future where a corporation like Skynet creates the machines that wipe out a huge chunk of mankind. But it seems Melania is no hero in this scenario, as she has already sided with the machines — she used an AI replica of her voice to narrate her self-titled memoir.

For the National Governors Association Evening Dinner and Reception in February 2025, Melania Trump wore a black tuxedo that was strikingly similar to the one her husband had on. While her tailored cigarette pants fit much better than Donald Trump's baggy trousers, from the waist up, he actually wore it better. His crisp white button-down was smoothed down flat and tucked into his cummerbund, whereas Melania's matching shirt was slightly pulled out. Her undone collar also looked a bit sloppy next to his, which was buttoned all the way up and topped with a neat bow tie.

Melania's lapels were quite a bit wider than those of her husband, which widened her shoulders a bit. While many other women could effortlessly pull off such an ensemble, it just clearly wasn't Melania's style. Instead of elevating the look by experimenting with an edgy hairstyle, she stuck with the same old long, loose waves. She also sported her usual glam makeup — it's as if she couldn't figure out how to change everything above her neck to better suit her androgynous outfit.

But maybe the whole point of wearing that tux wasn't to look stylish. "I have a theory that when the Trumps are unhappy with each other, Melania wears menswear," former White House reporter Kate Bennett writes in her book "Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography." Of why this would get under Donald's skin, she explains, "Because Trump notoriously likes to see women in tight, short, ubersexy and feminine dresses."

In 2022, style coach Miranda Holder shared her brutally honest assessment of Melania Trump's wardrobe during Donald Trump's first term. "Melania seemed a little bit cold and certainly with her fashion, it made her a little bit cold and untouchable," she told the Express. The first lady seemed to take those words to heart when she dressed for chilly weather during Donald's joint address to Congress in March 2025. Her tweed Dior blazer and skirt were also the same color as a dreary winter day.

There was something slapdash about her dowdy ensemble, which also included a matching scarf — it was as if she couldn't be bothered to move her neckwear out of the way when she cinched her waist in with a skinny belt. Perhaps the designer added the removable scarf to the blazer in a desperate attempt to make it something other than dull as dirty dishwater, but the effect wasn't exactly flattering. It added bulk to Melania's midsection, giving her less of an hourglass silhouette.

With her humdrum designer duds, Melania also failed to heed Holder's advice on how to use fashion to better connect with her fellow citizens. The style expert suggested that the former Vogue cover bride would benefit from stepping out in affordable pieces from time to time, saying, "Just mix and match it a little bit more to show a bit of humanity and humility through her clothes." But Melania's Dior blazer alone had a $5,500 price tag, so Holder was probably correct when she concluded, "I'm sure the Trumps have been consulted and advised that Melania should be more accessible, but they want to do it their way."

In 2015, a post on X struck a chord with anyone who had ever been frustrated by those who seem to vote against their own self-interests only to later regret it. "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party," it read. It became so ingrained in internet culture that it inspired the creation of the schadenfreude-fueled LeopardsAteMyFace subreddit, where many posts are, unsurprisingly, about Donald Trump's administration. And on April Fools' Day, Melania Trump dressed like the poster girl for the fictional party.

It was an odd occasion for the first lady to finally make an attempt at making a fashion statement: the International Women of Courage Awards. She ensured that it was she, not the honorees, who was the center of attention in her flashy leopard print trench coat, a freebie from designer Milly Park worth $11,000. While leopard print had a moment thanks to the mob wife aesthetic going viral, it's starting to feel dated and overdone, and Melania didn't quite pull off looking like the well-to-do wife of a criminal, despite being married to a man with a mugshot.

Her coat was calfskin, but it had a weird plasticky sheen that made it look more like part of a cheap Halloween costume. It also looked like it might have been a tad too big for Melania, who has made the trench silhouette feel stale by repeating it so often. Maybe she was going for loud luxury with the pricey piece, but the result was what you might get if Snooki circa 2010 decided to try to look more sophisticated by covering herself in even more of her favorite fierce feline spots.

Melania Trump has worn so many trench coats that she's been compared to Inspector Gadget. However, the only mystery she should have been solving during the 2025 White House Easter Egg Roll is who swiped all the color from her wardrobe. Like Blake Lively, we know she has plenty of florals in her closet, and this would have been the perfect opportunity for Melania to recycle one of the most expensive items of clothing a first lady has ever worn: that controversial $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana coat of many colors. Then again, perhaps she didn't want to flaunt her wealth at an egg-centric event when the high prices of eggs were making headlines.

When compared to the hefty costs of some of the other pieces Melania owns, her trench's $1,890 price tag seems fairly modest. But aside from its stark, almost-eggshell color, there's another reason it wasn't the best choice for the occasion. At the time, Donald Trump had imposed tariffs on Canada and was braying about how he was going to make Canada the 51st American state, and Melania's coat was a creation of the Canadian label Mackage. So, there's always the possibility that it was her way of secretly siding with the Great White North over her husband in the trade war.

Mackage does sell coats in vibrant colors that are a bit more appropriate for a festive occasion, including fuchsia and bright orange, so Melania could have been a little more sartorially spirited in repping her Canuck neighbors. But with the egg roll having corporate sponsors for the first time, at least she didn't fill up all that blank space with company logos like a red carpet step-and-repeat.

Melania Trump is partial to a trend that fashion writers started railing against in the 2010s: the draped coat. Among the celebrity style obsessives who were letting their empty sleeves hang limp at their sides were Gigi Hadid, Rachel Zoe, Kim Kardashian, and Kendall Jenner. So, by the time Melania Trump stepped out in the look for the unveiling of a Barbara Bush stamp, the well-tread trend felt démodé and done to death. Her black-and-white outfit also made her look a bit like a cliché Hallmark movie villain: a cold, overbearing boss who lives in the big city and hates the holidays. And Trump was heard uttering the words, "Who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?" in secret recordings her ex-friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff shared with CNN.

In "Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography," Kate Bennett writes that it's a "rich person move" whenever Trump hangs her outerwear on her shoulders, pointing out that it highlights how she has no need of her constricted arms because others do everything for her (via Business Insider). But if you want to flaunt your wealth, why not buy a cape instead of creating a makeshift one like a frugal fashionista? It didn't help matters that Trump's black leather skirt and top that resembled a T-shirt cheapened the look; they screamed Hallmark costume designer on a budget.

According to style expert Dawnn Karen, Trump is perhaps intentionally displaying some of the qualities of a Hallmark villain when she wears her coat like a cape. "Covering her hands and arms lets her appear less inviting and less warm," the fashion psychologist told the Daily Mail. "[Melania] is saying: 'I'm creating a barrier, a protective shield.'"

In May 2025, Melania Trump joined her husband at the signing ceremony for the "Take It Down Act." For the occasion, she somehow managed to find a gray Prada suit dress that was even duller than her previously mentioned scarf-embellished mess. There was nothing wrong with the style or color choice, since the focus of the event was a serious piece of legislation, but maybe she would have looked like she was taking it a bit more seriously if her outfit hadn't been quite so frumpy.

Trump would have benefited from better tailoring and a different blazer length to improve the ensemble's proportions — a shorter top would have looked much sharper. The double-breasted blazer also got a bit boxy in the hip area, and its front flaps weren't lying down flat. As it was, it would have looked much better with a pair of wide-legged pants than the knee-length skirt the first lady paired it with. The pieces just came off as cheap imitations of Prada designs rather than the real deal.

Of the look, historian Deirdre Clemente told Women's Wear Daily, "She has abandoned her more feminine attire to dress like the people in power: men." However, the first lady really shouldn't be taking fashion inspiration from Donald Trump's ill-fitting suits.

Fans of the first lady who were starved for color finally got a glimpse of it for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House. Unfortunately, she again failed to dust off any of her florals, and the busy green print on Melania Trump's column skirt looked like grass stains. She paired the $1,950 Michael Kors design with a $645 white Dolce & Gabbana top.

The skirt's high waist, which hit right below her bust, combined with the skinny belt a few inches below it created some wonky proportions, and the choice of a print featuring foliage but no flowers was also odd. At one point, Melania sat down at an arts and crafts table with some of the kids who attended the event. They were using red markers to color American flags, and it's a shame that none of them offered to add a few rose blossoms to her sad skirt.

The bloom-free fabric brought to mind Donald Trump's plan to pave over one of the White House's most iconic features: the rose garden. And for his second term, it feels like Melania has done something similar with her designer wardrobe. "Unlike many of the first ladies before her, there won't be a signature style with Melania," stylist Lauren Rothman told the Financial Review in 2021. Perhaps that was true at the time, but now she's gone all "Big Yellow Taxi" with her paved parking lot wardrobe.