Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday marked the promised return of things that many Americans would say make the country great: secure borders, law and order, two genders, American ingenuity—and, not the least of these, good fashion.
When Trump was inaugurated in 2017, numerous designers, including Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford, refused to dress First Lady Melania Trump. Melania, a former fashion model, never graced the cover of Vogue, as did former First Lady Jill Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris over the last four years. Will things prove different now? Early indications suggest that they will.
The day before the inauguration, Melania Trump arrived at Arlington National Cemetery for a traditional wreath ceremony wearing a Christian Dior cape coat and red-bottom Christian Louboutin heel boots. But Melania’s was not the only ensemble that drew attention. At the same ceremony, Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, a former fashion designer herself, wore an Oscar de la Renta camel orchid-applique cashmere coat—and the designer’s social media account touted it. Similarly, the evening before, for the Vice President’s Dinner, soon to be Second Lady Usha Vance wore a “custom noir velvet gown with asymmetric floral accents and a sweetheart neckline,” as de la Renta’s social media account described it. In an echo of 2017, social media calls for boycotting de la Renta commenced.

The same thing happened to Ralph Lauren in 2017, when the American designer dressed Melania in a powder-blue ensemble for the inauguration. “The Presidential Inauguration is a time for the United States to look our best to the world,” the Ralph Lauren Corporation said then in a statement. “It was important to us to uphold and celebrate the tradition of creating iconic American style for this moment.”
Eight years later, de la Renta, too, refused to stand down. Oscar de la Renta CEO Alex Bolen would later say in a statement: “We would never decline the opportunity to work with a leader based solely on their politics. Further, as an American brand, we are honored to be associated with the wonderful traditions surrounding our presidential inauguration.”
Later on Inaugural Eve, the brand announced its meticulously embroidered dress for Ivanka to wear to that evening’s Inaugural Candlelight Dinner. Footage of seamstresses sewing each crystal and cabochon pearl onto the dress took online audiences’ breath away, as they marveled at the detailed craftsmanship.
Even before Inauguration Day, it was clear that designers had decided to put business, craft, and beauty before partisanship. Some even lobbied for the desired task.

No one expected, though, the fashion statement that Melania would make on Inauguration Day. Exiting her car, Melania stunned in American fashion designer Adam Lippes’s navy double-breasted coat and a dramatic Eric Javits wide-brim hat with white ribbon. Creating a sense of mystery—the hat principally concealed her eyes—the ensemble made a striking contrast with her 2017 Inaugural outfit.
Shortly after Melania emerged, Ivanka arrived in a Dior forest green skirt suit and matching pillbox hat paired with a Lady Dior handbag. Most strikingly, Dior not only dressed the first family but also stuck around for the inaugural ceremony. Seated only a few rows back from former presidents and recognizable supporters like Dana White were CEO of LVMH (Dior’s management company) Bernard Arnault and his daughter, CEO of Dior Delphine Arnault—known together as the “first family of luxury.”
Ivanka thanked the Arnault family for making her Inaugural Ball evening dress, saying she was “incredibly grateful [to the] Arnault family and the Givenchy atelier for creating this masterpiece, capturing the original artistry and elegance with remarkable precision and craftsmanship.” The dress was a gorgeous couture Givenchy white strapless ballgown dress with black floral appliques and long gloves, replicated from Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy dress in the 1954 film Sabrina.
The fashion world awaited Dior’s contrition. Instead, the designer sent out a press release on Wednesday standing by the decision to dress the First Lady and in effect the Trump family: “Dear Collaborators, We are pleased to announce that Melania Trump wore Dior during her visit to Arlington Cemetery. She wore a black cashmere cape. Should you need further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”

Despite hostility from predictable quarters, the fashion industry looks to be choosing a different marketing strategy for the second Trump presidency: to strive to be the fashion muse of the first and second families. Even Vogue, in an article titled “The Business of Dressing Melania Trump in 2025,” admits the need to pursue nonpartisan business opportunities:
What this means for fashion is that to openly oppose conservative values could mean alienating more customers. Can it afford to? As we reported in late 2024, the global personal luxury market lost some 50 million consumers last year, and the current luxury slowdown has put a strain on the industry. In turn, fashion executives have traditionally been, at the least, cordial and diplomatic with both sides of the aisle.
Maybe Vogue will even put Melania on a cover this time.
In another era, the honor of dressing the first family was one that designers could never imagine refusing; political party made no difference. Partisanship and cancel culture intimidated the fashion industry during Trump’s first presidency, but now it seems determined to get in on the action—if it’s not already too late. At the Inaugural Ball, Melania stepped out in a dress designed by herself and her personal stylist Herve Pierre. Perhaps the First Lady is already taking things into her own hands, rather than trusting the hesitant courtesies of the fashion industry.
Top Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images