The first lady’s words during her speech at the Republican National Convention said one thing, but her suit said another.
On the second night of the Republican National Convention,Melania Trump came dressed for battle. She strode alone down the white-pillared colonnade of the White House on the long walk to the podium in an olive green skirt suit with broad shoulders and a military edge, exactingly tailored, caught at the waist with a wide belt and brass buttons. It was a far cry from the usual first lady convention garb, most often a dress or more lunchable suit, chosen with purpose to soften the image of the candidate and, by extension, help frame his — or her — more domestic side. It was a far cry, for example, from the white dress with belled sleeves that Mrs. Trump herself had chosen for her speech at the 2016 Republican Convention; a step away from the full-skirted green coatdress that Dr. Jill Biden wore in her appearance last week; even more removed from the pink and silver sleeveless brocade dress that sent the internet aflame when Michelle Obama wore it in 2012. It was unusual enough, in this context, to demand attention before Mrs. Trump even opened her mouth on Tuesday evening. On seeing the suit, which called to mind the situation room rather then the newly redone Rose Garden where Mrs. Trump appeared (although that design, too, clearly prioritizes control), viewers could have been forgiven for thinking that, like most of the speakers thus far, Mrs. Trump was about to launch yet another verbal attack on — well, pick your target. She could — like Tiffany Trump, the president’s fourth child, who chose a cocktail-ready Tiffany-blue pantsuit with flared trousers slit up to the knee — have gone after the media, and the campus thought police.
