Whether or not you love her husband’s administration, there’s no question that Melania Trump is an incredibly stylish woman. However, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had a few fashion flops over the years. Granted, while many a style fail can be attributed to design and fit, with Melania, most of her not-so-great moments have boiled down to the contexts she’s worn them in.
We’re willing to bet that the first thing to come to mind for most when it comes to Melania’s most controversial fashion moments would be her infamous olive green parka, which she paired with a white crew neck shirt, white skinny jeans, and white and green Adidas Stan Smith sneakers. Very cutesy, very 2018. However, the jacket also had the words, “I really don’t care, do u?” splayed upon the back — and she wore it to a detention center for migrant children. Understandably, the jacket caused a ton of uproar, and to this day, it’s still the first thing to come up when Googling “Melania Trump jacket” (give it a try).
Over the years, various reasons why the first lady would make such a bizarre choice have done the rounds. First, there was the was the one provided by Melania’s then-director of communications, Stephanie Grisham. “It’s a jacket. There was no hidden message,” she told the press (via CBS News). However, Donald Trump disputed that. Taking to X (then known as Twitter), he ranted that the jacket’s text “refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!” Melania later echoed that explanation in an interview with ABC News, saying, “It was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me, and I want to show them that I don’t care.” Yeah … that’s not how it came across.
Melania Trump looked like she was cosplaying on her tour to Africa
Melania Trump’s poorly thought-out jacket wasn’t her only fashion faux pas in 2018. A few months later, she embarked on a tour of several African countries — and a number of outlets pointed out that it looked as though she was cosplaying “Out of Africa” for much of it.
One piece many took particular issue with was a white pith helmet, which she’d paired with a button-down shirt and khaki pants for a safari drive in Kenya. Taking to X, one critic wrote, “@FLOTUS That pith helmet you have carried was used by colonialists during the dark days. Doesn’t sit well with us Africans. Who advised you … ?”
Melania was eventually asked about her headwear choice by a member of the media present for the last day of her trip. However, in an extremely rare candid moment, she shut it down. “You know what? We just completed an amazing trip. We went to Ghana, we went to Malawi, we went to Kenya, here we are in Egypt. I want to talk about my trip, and not what I wear. … I wish people would focus on what I do, not what I wear,” she said, her facial expression and body language making it clear that she was sick of being asked about her clothing choices (via Independent). Under normal circumstances, that might be understandable. However, as countless critics pointed out, Melania’s habit of picking inappropriate outfits meant it was a necessary topic of conversation. As one YouTube user wrote in response to The Washington Post’s clip of Melania’s comments to the reporter, “We are exactly focusing on what you do. You wear the same hat which the colonial British wore when they suppressed the African people during colonization.”
Melania Trump’s 2020 RNC speech outfit was deemed fascist
Two years after her “I really don’t care, do u?” jacket and the pith helmet controversy, Melania Trump wasn’t quite done with fashion gaffes. For her speech for the 2020 Republican National Convention, she opted for yet another contentious ensemble.
ICYMI, Melania’s look for her 2020 RNC speech included a military-inspired olive green skirt suit by Alexander McQueen. Though there’s no denying the outfit itself was chic, and may even have been lauded if she’d worn it in the years prior to her husband’s foray into politics, a ton of questions were raised about why a first lady would pick something that looked as though she was raring for battle. Vanity Fair went as far as describing it as “very police state in the newly renovated Rose Garden.” Over on social media, Instagram fashion page @diet_prada drew correlations between Melania’s dress and the uniforms worn under fascist regimes. “It’s called fascion … look it up!” they wrote across a clip of Melania walking through the rose garden in her RNC look.
In response to another post by @diet_prada, followers seemed to be in agreement with the propriety of the outfit (or lack thereof). “This woman actually has no sense of what is appropriate and what is not. Not the first faux pas,” wrote one. Another also pointed to it being the wrong time and place for the suit, writing, “I loved the suit but not for the event.” Yeah — we’re not surprised Melania opted out of any speeches for the next RNC. Even when she did make an appearance in 2024, she did so in a red suit by Dior.
She wore more than one green look for the 2020 RNC
Whether or not Melania Trump was fazed by the commentary on her first green RNC 2020 outfit, two days later she came out in a very different shade of the color. This time, to appear alongside her husband as he accepted his presidential nomination, it was a neon green pick … and let’s just say, we’re still a little confused as to why she chose it.
Melania’s RNC dress got people talking not just because of how uncharacteristic the choice in color was, but more so because it also made for the perfect green screen. Social media users wasted no time using the hue to edit a range of clips onto it. One X user used the opportunity to troll Melania’s husband’s stance on the environment with an edit featuring a massive fire. Another made reference to Donald Trump’s history with Jeffrey Epstein, using a clip of the president chatting it up with the disgraced businessman.
In the time since, Melania hasn’t been seen in the hue again, and we’re not surprised. Though it certainly worked with her complexion, it’s hardly what we’d expect to see her in, threat of green screen jokes or not.
Some slammed Melania Trump’s dress for Tiffany Trump’s wedding
Next up on the list is Melania Trump’s outfit for Tiffany Trump’s 2022 wedding. Though when it came to guests’ attire, most of the attention centered on the fact that Kimberly Guilfoyle sported a black dress (and possibly got cropped out of a group pic by Ivanka Trump because of it), many also critiqued Melania’s dress for the day as a touch inappropriate. Reason being? It was a very light peach number.
Unfortunately, because of how light the dress was, some social media users believed Melania had actually worn off-white. “Has anyone said anything about Melania going full Evil Stepmother and wearing a dress that can only be described as ‘not white because I’m wearing a belt,'” questioned one X user. Another conceded that the dress might not actually be white (and pictures of her alongside Tiffany made it clear it wasn’t), but pointed out, “It’s still close enough to be inappropriate to wear to her stepdaughter’s wedding. Marla must be furious, I would be” (via Independent).
While we certainly take their points, it is worth noting that Melania and Tiffany are said to have a very close relationship. In fact, many believe Tiffany has always been Melania’s favorite stepdaughter. With that in mind, there’s a very good chance Melania okayed the dress with her before the event. What’s more, for those who thought Tiffany’s mom may have had a problem with it, Marla Maples’ own dress was a head-turner, so she certainly wasn’t upstaged. It also bears mentioning that Melania’s dress was significantly more casual-looking than anyone else’s, so we wouldn’t be surprised if she was asked to wear peach but picked something decidedly non-bridal. Melania hasn’t spoken about the outfit, so we’ll probably never know.
She wore gray for a funeral (and people were mad)
Sticking with controversial color picks, many will remember that when Melania Trump attended Rosalynn Carter’s memorial in 2023, she seemed to do so in gray rather than black. Unsurprisingly, a number of her haters were quick to slam the choice.
In fairness to the first lady, this is one look we certainly don’t think was intended to cause upset. Though there’s no question that Melania’s attire turned heads for all the wrong reasons, in many of the snaps of her by herself, it’s easy to see that the tweed coat she wore wasn’t even gray, but black and white. Even so, when photographed from a distance or next to the other first ladies in attendance, she looked significantly lighter and brighter — and as a model with decades of experience on camera, it was a little surprising that she didn’t realize that might happen.
One person who did think Melania had deliberately gone for the coat? Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, aka Melania’s former friend who has gone on to reveal a number of unknown secrets about the first lady. In a since-deleted post to X, Wolkoff wrote of Melania’s coat, “Melania made this service a photo op for herself, instead of handling her appearance with dignity and humility, she used it as a cat walk” (via Newsweek). Yikes! Like we said, Wolkoff has since removed the post, so perhaps seeing pictures of the coat up close changed her mind. Compared to most of Melania’s past blunders, we’d say this was one of the least problematic.
