Look of the Week: At Windsor Castle, Melania Trump was utterly inscrutable — until she wasn’t

By Oscar Holland, CNN

(CNN) — Melania Trump’s enigmatic style staple, the face-covering wide-brimmed hat, is back. And this one cast an even lower, closer shadow — rendering her expressions even more inscrutable — than any before it.

The first lady struck a suitably formal figure on Wednesday as the Prince and Princess of Wales greeted her and President Trump off Marine One at Windsor Castle on their unprecedented second state visit to the UK. Dressed in dark gray Dior, the former model appeared to hide beneath an umbrella-like, dark plum hat from the off.

As she strolled through the castle grounds beside Queen Camilla, the contrast between the two was striking. While her host’s face appeared lit by sunlight passing through the wafer-thin, upturned brim of her Philip Treacy hat, Melania’s was downturned and opaque, its edges producing an angular silhouette that only added to the severe effect of her military-style skirt suit. In lieu of practical motives (British Septembers do not typically require sun protection) the millinery messaging was clear: “Don’t look at me.”

The first lady often uses accessories, whether hats or oversized sunglasses, as armor. At January’s presidential inauguration she paired her somber navy suit with a boater so wide that (by design or default) it memorably prevented her husband from planting a kiss on her cheek. It felt like a pointed choice on a day that, for her, kicked off four more years of unwelcome media scrutiny.

Here too, on a trip already light on public engagements and marred by protests in Windsor and London, the first lady seemed to reiterate the low profile she has kept during her husband’s second term.

Yet, Melania also has a habit of confounding fashion-watchers. Because if her daytime outfit was intended to deflect the world’s gaze, her dinner gown screamed for its attention.

By then, of course, Melania’s hat had come off — the only permissible headwear at a state banquet are the crowns and tiaras worn by senior royals. But beyond revealing her face for the first time that day, the first lady made an active attempt to stand out in a dandelion yellow Carolina Herrera gown.

State dinners are as formal as British social events go. And while the dress code for women is unwritten, and thus open to interpretation, Melania’s strapless outfit existed at its very fringes. The gown was long-sleeved and floor-length, yes, but the first lady was also one of the very few attendees (her stepdaughter Tiffany Trump being another) with shoulders on full show. Her conspicuous square-buckled, pastel pink belt will also have raised eyebrows.

In sum, the outfit was, as celebrity stylist Marian Kwei politely put it to the BBC, “a little on the daring side.” Read into this what you will. The first lady is clearly less concerned with sartorial communication than many of her predecessors. At times, her fashion choices don’t seem to signal very much at all, as she eschews overt symbolism and relies on tried-and-true European luxury labels (Dior frequently among them) rather than up-and-coming designers. On other occasions, the messages have appeared so tone-deaf — such as the coat, emblazoned with the words “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” that she wore to visit an immigrant child detention center in Texas in 2018 (a garment her spokesperson later had to clarify contained “no hidden message”) — that one can only hope no consideration went into them.

Having said that, Melania still performs the basics of diplomatic dressing. Although considered a bare minimum, championing designers or labels from your host country is, for instance, always good form. On Wednesday, the first lady nodded to British heritage by wearing a floor-length Burberry trench coat, collar upturned and paired with oversized Saint Laurent shades, to board Air Force One in Washington DC. She wore the same look to disembark at London Stansted Airport, the label’s signature check pattern occasionally visible as the coat flicked up around her feet. Burberry may have been an obvious choice, but the gesture will not have gone unnoticed.

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