Despite the fashion community's near-unanimous support of Hillary Clinton, it will not be able to ignore that America's future First Lady's style now has a global platform.
After multiple magazine covers and overseas visits, countless state dinners and late-night talk show appearances, there is no question that Michelle Obama has had an unusually fruitful relationship with fashion during her time as First Lady of the United States.
But in the wake of Donald Trump's victory in a highly divisive presidential election, during which most of the fashion community was vocal in its support for Hillary Clinton, Melania Trump’s future relationship with fashion — and fashion magazines — remains uncertain.
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was a dedicated fundraiser for Clinton, as she had been for President Obama, and Vogue backed the Democratic candidate in the magazine’s first-ever political endorsement. Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive, Elle editor-in-chief Robbie Myers, CFDA chairperson Diane von Furstenberg and Hearst’s Joanna Coles are just a few of the industry leaders who also supported Clinton.
So how will this anti-Trump community interact with America's new First Lady? Will her style be dissected and copied and lauded with the same fervour as Mrs. Obama’s? As with anything Trump-related, prognostication is a challenge.
“While we never comment on future editorial, Vogue has a long, rich history, dating back to Mrs. Helen Taft, of covering America’s First Ladies, regardless of party affiliation,” said a representative for the title. In addition to Mrs. Taft, Vogue has photographed every First Lady since Lou Hoover, with the exception of Bess Truman. Hillary Clinton made history when she became the first First Lady to appear on the cover of the magazine in December 1998. Michelle Obama has since appeared on the cover three times since 2009, most recently on the December 2016 cover.
And, as Vogue wrote in its endorsement, it has “also featured Donald Trump [and] his family members Ivana, Marla, Melania and Ivanka — multiple times in our pages.” The magazine featured Mrs. Trump on its cover in February 2005, for which editors André Leon Talley and Sally Singer travelled to the Paris Couture shows with her to shop for her wedding dress.
“[Fashion magazines] have a wide variety of readers, so it wouldn't necessarily make sense for them to pick and choose what First Lady they were going to photograph based solely on politics, necessarily,” says Robin Givhan, The Washington Post’s fashion critic and author of “Michelle: Her First Year As First Lady.”
In Vogue’s case, Givhan sees the magazine’s approach as one of chronicling the new and varied occupants of the West Wing. “Is it a question of: are magazines going to photograph her for stories? I would think probably yes, because that’s part of the tradition. But what they might do above and beyond that, I just don’t think that we know.”
Indeed, it seems there is a limit. “We currently have no plans to cover Melania Trump in InStyle,” said Laura Brown, editor-in-chief of InStyle. Mrs. Obama appeared on the cover of its October 2016 issue. Glamour’s Leive, who has also featured Mrs. Obama on the magazine's cover twice, declined to comment, as did Elle’s Robbie Myers.
StyleWatch, InStyle’s sister publication, will cover Mrs. Trump from a style point of view. “If her fashion choices are inspirational, interesting, well-priced, introduce new designers or are in any way newsy, we will share with our audience,” said editor-in-chief Lisa Arbetter.
Glenda Bailey, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, also declined to comment but the magazine did publish an interview and photo shoot featuring Mrs. Trump in its February 2016 issue. "Fashion is a tough business," the former model, 46, says of pausing her skincare line and QVC jewellery collections when the campaign began. (In the same interview, designer Rachel Roy is quoted as a friend.) The magazine likened her to Nancy Reagan and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, though Mrs. Trump declined to name any First Lady she herself admired.
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