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Hugo Boss dressed the Nazis and Oscar de la Renta, Dior, Givenchy, Saint Laurent, Prada and Carolina Herrera are dressing the Trumps. Why are fashion brands no longer ashamed to dress the most unchic bunch of fascists to take over the White House?
Of all that’s happened since the US presidential inauguration, surely the last thing of importance is what the Trump brigade is wearing, says you. Between Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, climate change, immigrants, gender, the World Health Organisation, foreign aid and more, his meme coin, his January 6 pardons and the Nazi salutes, there was endless terrible news to take in from the inauguration. Who cares what was worn at America’s downfall? But it does matter. Because what equally captured the attention of the masses on the day, as the crowd roared while Trump signed away their rights, was Melania Trump’s ridiculous hat.
In Trump’s own words: “The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.” This time around, they are legitimised. There are no front pages of pink hat protests. The social media giants have bent the knee. We recognised the names of the music artists who performed at the various ceremonies. And like Elon Musk doing two Nazi salutes at the inauguration, fashion has been emboldened by the normalisation of the far right and this time around, they’re not ashamed to dress them.
There was much publicised action in 2016 of fashion putting themselves at a distance from the Trump family and administration. “I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next First Lady,” said designer Sophie Theallet, who dressed Michelle Obama. “The rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by.” Or from Marc Jacobs: “I have no interest whatsoever in dressing Melania Trump… Personally, I’d rather put my energy into helping out those who will be hurt by Trump and his supporters.” Vogue put their support behind the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, Dr Jill Biden and this time around, Kamala Harris. As W noted at the time, many of Melania’s outfits were purchased off the rack, including her most famous fashion moment of Trump’s first term; the Zara parka she wore getting off a private jet to visit a migrant children’s detention centre on the US/Mexican border emblazoned with the words, “I really don’t care, do you?”
Well of course Trump and Co.’s racism, xenophobia, transphobia and misogyny don’t align with the fashion industry’s values, an industry built on inclusion, diversity and innovation. Less important but no less relevant, you need only to look at them to know that they are fundamentally an unchic bunch you wouldn’t want your good fashionable name tarnished by association with. Even with the industry’s backing this time, the Mar-a-Lago MAGA aesthetic took over the day; all orange blondes and skin, cross necklaces, low cuts and body cons. Plus more rhinestones than a season of Selling Sunset, which incidentally was seemingly the inspiration for Lauren Sánchez, who came in the outfit I would have worn had I been invited to the inauguration when I was 15, bra out, appearing to support her fiancée by buying her ensemble right off his platform. Or as Tom Ford put it then, “I was asked to dress [Melania Trump] quite a few years ago and I declined. She’s not necessarily my image.”
This time around, it would appear the Trumps are now the fashion industry’s image and the hostility has cooled. Amongst the fashion heavy-hitters dressing the new First Lady – Dior, who debuted the viral ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ t-shirt in 2016, this time dressed Ivanka Trump in her Serena Joy cosplay and Melania in a caped coat for the wreath-laying ceremony and at a dinner later that day. Saint Laurent was behind Melania’s tuxedo cape, Dolce & Gabbana created her white shirt and Carolina Herrera designed her skirt. Oscar de la Renta dressed Ivanka Trump for an inaugural dinner before her father’s swearing-in ceremony. Conservative brands, yes, but it’s not only the brands that service old, rich conservative clients. When Biden was elected in 2020, Kim Kardashian shared a tweet of Biden and Harris with three blue hearts. This time, she turned Skims into a MAGA hat with one Instagram post of Melania Trump at the inauguration. It’s not an enormous surprise – the reality star frequently posts her Tesla, is friends with Elon Musk, Ivanka Trump, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, plus Caitlin Jenner is amongst their loudest supporters. Bear that in mind the next time you’re looking for a bra, contour stick or a brain cell killing watch on Disney+.
When Melania wore a Ralph Lauren coat to Trump’s first inauguration, #BoycottRalphLauren began trending on Twitter. There is no rallying call to boycott fashion brands associated with the Trumps yet, but most of them have been quiet about promoting their new clients on their Instagram pages. Those few who have are facing the backlash in their comments. So why bother associating if your customers don’t align with their beliefs? What changed this time? Vogue says it’s that designers can no longer ignore that the US voted for Trump, or that the global personal luxury market lost 50 million luxury customers last year. According to a Bain consultancy study, global sales of personal luxury goods are forecast to shrink in 2025 for the first time since the Great Recession, which Trump’s proposed tariffs could make worse.
Which brings us to the industry’s heaviest hitters. Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of LVMH, sat alongside the tech broligarchy at the inauguration with his wife Hélène, his daughter Delphine who is the chief executive of Dior and his son Alexandre, who recently moved to Moët Hennessy. Arnault and Trump became close in 2019 when they opened an LVMH factory in the interesting location of Texas, where Trump could boast the creation of US jobs and Arnault could possibly circumvent any tariffs loaded onto luxury goods made outside the US. Arnault’s son was spotted at the Trump-Vance rally at Madison Square Garden last year, as Trump’s administration plans to potentially raise tariffs for the new division he will oversee. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Trump said: “My message to every business in the world is very simple: come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth.” This Tuesday, Bernard Arnault said LVMH is “seriously considering” bulking up its production capacities in the United States, praising a “wind of optimism” in the country that contrasted with the “cold shower” of potentially higher corporate taxes in France. LVMH owns a couple of the brands the Trumps have been associated with this week, including Dior, the rumoured next creative role for Jonathan Anderson. Tell your granny to light a candle that our most celebrated modern fashion asset since Simone Rocha is not about to mortify us on the global fashion stage in a manner unseen since Conor McGregor began to be photographed in painted-on punchable suits.
In order to palatably enjoy the pantomime of their fashion, much has been written to suggest that Melania and Ivanka are at odds with Trump’s beliefs. Melania’s hat, they say, was to keep herself at a physical distance from her husband of 20 years. Don’t let Ivanka’s presence beside her father throughout all the pomp of the inauguration or her husband’s $3 billion private equity fund bankrolled by the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar let you forget she will be stepping back from Trump’s presidency this time. But if we could hold space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity for a moment, that would mean they are – at best – grovelling in submission to feed their own ambition, in the face of fascism and their own rights. Much like the fashion industry dressing them.