Melania Trump Sports Carolina Herrera, Dolce & Gabbana and Saint Laurent to Candlelight Dinner
While millions were shoveling snow or hiding out from the Arctic blast in the Northeast, the President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania attended a Candlelight Dinner at the National Building Museum Sunday night.
The affair was the last event on their daily calendar, but Monday will be even more stacked. As is customary with ingoing and outgoing administrations, the day will start with the Trumps attending a service at St. John’s Episcopal Church and then tea at the White House with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Eight years ago, Melania Trump arrived at the main entrance with a gift in hand for Michelle Obama – a turquoise blue Tiffany & Co. box.
More from WWD
For the first time in 40 years, the swearing-in ceremony will be held in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda with performances from Carrie Underwood, opera singer Christopher Macchio, and others. An inaugural luncheon, Presidential Parade and three Inaugural Balls will follow with entertainment from Rascal Flatts, the rapper Nelly and the Village People among others.
For Sunday night’s Candlelight Dinner, Melania Trump showed some patriotism, wearing a black sequined Carolina Herrera long skirt, as well as a menswear-inspired Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo shirt, with a cummerbund and a floor-length tuxedo-style wool cape from Saint Laurent with duchess silk lapels.
The choice of the Carolina Herrera label marks the first time that Trump has donned an American label for any of the Inaugural Weekend events. Her stylist Herve Pierre knows the company, having spent many years working for its namesake founder. Wes Gordon now oversees the house’s design as creative director. Like some of her contemporaries, the late designers Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass, Herrera has been bipartisan in her approach to dressing political figures. In 2005, the Venezuelan-born Herrera created the raspberry-colored silk taffeta dress with awning stripes that Laura Bush wore to the Texas State Society’s “Black Tie and Boots” inaugural ball. She also dressed Hillary Clinton for a number of key occasions.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and his fiance Lauren Sanchez made the rounds at the fundraising dinner at the National Building Museum, as did SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Ivanka Trump was also among the attendees, wearing a glittery off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta dress. The First Daughter had also chosen the New York label for a monochromatic camel-colored ensemble for the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Ceremony earlier Sunday afternoon. Usha Vance also made her second striking fashion choice of the day – wearing a dark blue one-shoulder dress from Gaurav Gupta. The wife of Vice President-elect JD Vance had worn a dramatic double-breasted white coat to the cemetery event hours before. She is said to be working with a stylist, who is a staffer at Tory Burch, and Ivanka Trump, is said to have hired a Town & Country editor to help with her own fashion choices. Neither stylist responded to media requests from WWD.
Guests tucked into Osetra caviar on a golden egg, beef Wellington and salted caramel Granny Smith apple pie at the Vance-Trump fundraiser dinner, based on the menu that MetaPlanet’s chief executive officer Simon Gerovich posted on “X” Sunday night. A media request sent to the Presidential Inaugural Committee seeking more specifics about the dinner was unreturned Sunday. The location seemed fitting for the executive-heavy and tech-centric crowd, since the museum focuses on architecture, design, engineering and urban planning.
European designer labels are nothing new for the former model, who wore a John Galliano-designed Christian Dior gown to marry “The Donald” at Mar-a-Lago in 2005. She arrived in The Beltway Saturday night in an oversized Dior coat and a white Baroque-inspired jacquard pantsuit from Dolce & Gabbana. For Sunday’s wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony, the soon-to-be FLOTUS went with Dior again – a black double-breasted cape-style coat – with square-heeled Christian Louboutin boots.
Well aware that many American designers aren’t rushing to dress Trump, as was the case in 2017 when several like Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs publicly said so, Pierre frequently shops retail in New York City to find options for her. However, recently European luxury houses have been reaching out to dress the incoming first lady, Pierre told WWD earlier this month. “Some of the designers here in New York are lovely. The Europeans are more open-minded. They see dressing Mrs. Trump, due to the press coverage that she is getting, as a business opportunity to generate sales and free publicity,” he said.
Eight years ago for her first inaugural weekend appearances Melania Trump chose a shimmery gold dress from Lebanese-born, New York-based Reem Acra for the Candlelight Dinner at Union Station
Pierre has even been turned away by a salesperson outside of an American designer’s store in New York City. He told WWD last week, “I understand that you can criticize Mrs. Trump, but to say to someone who is coming to shop — full-price, ‘You are not welcome here.’ That is something that I would have never expected.”
Melania Trump, Lauren Sanchez and Ivanka Trump Favor Shining Embellishments at Candlelit Dinner Party [PHOTOS]
Launch Gallery: Melania Trump, Lauren Sanchez and Ivanka Trump Favor Shining Embellishments at Candlelit Dinner Party [PHOTOS]
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.