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Finally, the most virulent moment of the five-day solo trip to four countries of Melania Trump, which ends on Sunday when she gets off the plane at Joint Base Andrews, concerns clothing, as is so often the case .
To be precise: his irritation with the interest of everyone for his dress. This is what happened after she met other first ladies and heads of state in Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, and Egypt, after visiting hospitals, hugging babies, and elephants. company, after doing its best to offer a new, friendlier face of the Trump administration not only to the African world but to everyone. This happened at an impromptu press conference at the foot of the pyramids.
"I want people to focus on what I do, not what I wear," Trump said. A few minutes later, her remark was about all social media, with a picture of her wearing a sand-colored Ralph Lauren jacket, a white Chanel shirt with a black tie and a cream fedora. She looked like a character from "Out of Africa" crossed with Belloq, the evil Frenchman of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
This is a familiar complaint, often made by Hillary Clinton. It was almost surprising that Mrs. Trump did not add the usual corollary: if I were a (first) man, you would not care about my clothes.
But the fact is, if she wills it, what she does is inextricably linked to what she chooses to wear while doing it, and so would anyone in that role. After all, that's what you see in the pictures and that's what most people see first. The clothes are simply a symbol of the actions and the actor. Is it superficial? Nor is paying attention to any type of symbolism.
In addition, it is clear that Ms. Trump understands this and dresses this time, at least to some extent, to argue an argument: to offer a different image than her pugnacious husband. If his wardrobe also looked like a costume for a particular public performance, he had to wait for it. It is a reluctant star of the drama that continues in the White House, and it's more and more his approach to the role. If she's wrong sometimes … Well, that's right.
So, in Africa, instead of being a woman with a solid and well-guarded trophy, resplendent in Louboutins and couture brands, as was Mrs. Trump's style in Washington, we bought flat shoes and safari jackets; desert tones and current prices; Princess Diana met Hollywood.
None of these Marie-Antoinette shepherdesses playing the $ 1,380 Balmain flannel shirt in the garden. The first lady even went shopping in her closet, wearing pants (Polo Ralph Lauren) and jackets (especially the Veronica Beard style), which we had seen before. As social media constantly emphasized before being distracted by his hats, his face was relaxed and cheerful.
The biggest controversy had to do with the stupid headgear: the marrow helmet during a safari in Kenya, in which people shouted "colonialism" and "ignorance", as well as the fedora. (And let's face it, Prince Charles had the same problem.) Although in truth, what they revealed is more a lack of thorough research on the signifiers than any deliberate intention.
Before that, everyone was too seduced by the $ 50 Zara fake moccasins to focus on the somewhat zany implications of choosing to leave for Africa with a Vince suede coat and leopard heels, to wear a Joseph's safari beige dress in Malawi, and a shirt-dress printed with emus and rhinoceros to leave Kenya.
Indeed, Twitterati, quick to attack, have been conquered.
The factions of Trump's observers who see in the first lady's wardrobe a litmus test of her relationship with her husband – those who have seen coded messages in the pussy knit blouse, the white pantsuit at the state of the Union – will probably see the wardrobe of the trip to Africa as a new declaration of independence: look what she is when she is alone!
But in truth, it just seems like another disguise. All the clothes are costumes that we suppose to be playing ourselves, but Mrs. Trump often looks like costumes dressed to darken. It's hard to find, because the characters she plays seem to mutate with the opportunity.
It started at the inauguration, with the Jackie Kennedy's pale blue suit and gloves, followed her first Easter egg roll in pink evening attire, her husband's first international tour (you remember the black Sicilian lace garment at the meeting of the Pope?) and may have reached its full realization this trip.
The first ladies of the past used clothes to represent different aspects of themselves and to complete executive power: Rosalynn Carter to symbolize her economy; Barbara Bush to reflect her grandmother accessibility; Nancy Reagan emphasized her belief that glamor could revive national pride; Michelle Obama, to suggest inclusion and a new era. But Ms. Trump's clothes often seem to hide who she is rather than elucidate.
That's partly why so much attention is given and interpreted, and why the jacket "I do not really care about that, do you do that?" Was such a shock: it seemed like a rare glimpse behind the dried curtain to human frustration below. For once, it did not seem to be theater-driven. (Because, honestly, who would suggest that?)
If the first lady really wants people to focus on what she does rather than on what she wears, she can do what Hillary Clinton did in her day as a candidate and adopt a uniform to effectively bring people to silence. Or she can accept that people see what she is carrying as an extension of what she is – relaxed or rational or cheerful or overall – and embrace that. The part that people are waiting for her to play is herself.
