What presidential family members choose to wear is a popular topic of conversation, and
it seems that the public really can't stand it when the presidential family wears the
wrong thing, particularly if it carries an unintended political message. Here are some
of the worst outfits worn by members of a president's family.
Though she is sometimes heralded as a fashion icon, Melania Trump has also been a target
for considerable fashion criticism over the years. One of her most controversial outfits
to date was the green Zara jacket that she wore to visit a detention center for migrant
children near the Mexican border in Texas in 2018. The jacket had the words
"I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO U?"
printed on the back. Many observers found this statement inappropriate given the nature
of her visit. As Harper's Bazaar noted, the outfit was slammed as being "horrifically
tone deaf" and "hugely insensitive."
In an interview with ABC News, Melania claimed that she only wore the jacket to get on and
off the plane, to send a message to the press.
"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."
She went on to assert that she, quote, "didn't wear the jacket for the children."
One of President Donald Trump's daughters, Ivanka Trump, has also made a few unpopular
fashion choices since her father took office. One infamous example was the dress she wore
to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in June 2019. Anyone who follows British royalty
will know that the palace dress code is extraordinarily strict, but, as reported by Yahoo! Lifestyle,
Ivanka chose to wear a collared dress for a white-tie banquet. And as it turned out,
many thought this outfit was much too casual for a strictly formal event.
One critical Twitter user wrote,
"Ivanka's dress gives the impression of a '50s housewife or secretary... does not appear
to be appropriate for the occasion."
Another person took to Twitter to mock the dress, saying,
"Ivanka looks like she's wearing a denim dress that she personally bedazzled."
Melania Trump chose some highly controversial shoes for an official trip in August 2017.
She wore a pair of ultra high heels to head to a Hurricane Harvey disaster zone, and her
fashion choice for the trip had the internet in total uproar. One Twitter user mocked the
first lady, writing,
"Petition to buy Melania some kind of Skechers or something."
Even though Melania changed into a pair of more sensible tennis shoes before stepping
off the helicopter, the message, intended or not, had already been sent. As The New
York Times put it, Melania Trump's high heels represented
"...a certain clichéd kind of femininity: decorative, impractical, expensive, elitist."
The Trumps aren't the only presidential family to have a few serious fashion flaps. Hillary
Clinton, first lady to President Bill Clinton and later Secretary of State under President
Barack Obama, wore some pretty questionable outfits, too. One such mistake came in 2012
when Clinton showed up to the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. She donned a lime-green
top for the event, only to find that every other person was wearing plain white, Glamour
reported.
The resulting photos from the summit show Hillary Clinton sticking out like a sore,
green thumb. While some people would undoubtedly be embarrassed to be seen wearing the wrong
thing, Clinton didn't seem to mind her obvious inappropriate outfit. She even seemed to find
it pretty hilarious.
Michelle Obama is considered by many to be something of a style icon, but even she has
made some fashion blunders. One such mistake came when she sported a pair of shorts while
on vacation to the Grand Canyon in 2009. The decision to bare her legs caused quite a stir.
Some observers claimed her choice wasn't up to their sense of first-lady decorum, while
others praised her for the relatable, practical outfit. According to Robin Givhan, a fashion
editor at The Washington Post, the shorts were probably too informal for the occasion.
Givhan said that
"Stepping off Air Force One makes it an 'official' photo, [so it] should, perhaps, be considered
a more formal moment."
In 2013, Obama recalled the fashion faux pas during an interview on BET's 106 & Park. Apparently,
the then-first lady regretted the decision.
"The first time we went on a family vacation, I had shorts on getting off of Air Force One,
and that created a huge sin...stink because people were like. ‘She’s wearing shorts.’"
While there would normally be nothing wrong with wearing shorts on vacation, that "huge
stink" made it clear that people close to the president need to think twice about every
garment they wear.
In 2019, Melania Trump wore a white dress to the White House Fourth of July celebration.
Unfortunately, she appeared to reveal a little more than she intended when it started to
rain. Many people on the internet noticed that the dress became see-through in the rain,
and the first lady didn't seem to be wearing a bra underneath her Caroline Herrera-designed
dress, according to Express.
One Twitter user wryly said,
"Our 'classy' FLOTUS letting the girls out for the night."
Another Twitter user said,
"No woman would wear all white like Melania did, unless intending an imitation of wet
T-shirt night."
This wardrobe mishap was definitely one of Melania's most embarrassing to date. But it
is a good reminder for everyone to make wardrobe preparations for unexpected showers.
Ivanka Trump selected an oddly designed dress for her 2019 visit to Guadalupe Center's childcare
facility, causing many on the internet to make fun of her choice. According to many
Twitter users, the dress bore a striking resemblance to an expensive white bathrobe. One Twitter
user even joked,
"Is she having a sleepover with these kids?"
Ivanka posted some images of herself on Instagram, showing off the dress, but she didn't respond
to people criticizing her look. It's easy to see why people might have thought that
this dress was a bizarre choice, especially for such a serious, formal event. With its
simple v-shaped neckline, baggy sleeves, and robe-style waist tie, it does look a lot like
something you'd find hanging on the door of a hotel bathroom.
Hillary Clinton showed a bit of her rebellious streak in her official White House portrait
revealed in 2004. In the painting, the former first lady is wearing a black pantsuit. As
CNN reported, the outfit was highly controversial at the time. Up until that point in history,
the first lady had always been depicted in, quote, "cream-colored gowns, strings of pearls
and periwinkle skirts."
CNN explained how Hillary Clinton's unusual outfit was actually a loaded political statement
about how she had always been committed to playing a meaningful role in her husband's
administration. It was undoubtedly a power move from a then-senator, and future Secretary
of State and presidential candidate.
The wife of President Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, had a few fashion mishaps of her own
when she served as the first lady from 1977 to 1981. One of the main talking points about
Carter's wardrobe was her propensity to recycle certain outfits, wearing them over and over
again. Carter's habit of wearing clothes repeatedly sent a statement that many thought was inappropriately
frugal. As such, the habit caused a fair amount of ridicule from the public.
One of the most famous instances of Rosalynn wearing an outfit again came at the very beginning
of her stint in the White House. In 1977, Carter announced that she would wear a gold
and blue dress to the inaugural ball. As it turned out, she had worn this dress not once,
but twice before. According to Time, the decision was not met kindly by some members of the
public. Some people reportedly thought she would be missing a chance to, quote, "champion
the American fashion industry."
At the very beginning of her husband's first term, Michelle Obama revealed her first official
photo in the White House, and it became a source of controversy because she chose to
bare her arms in a sleeveless dress. Michelle had actually worn sleeveless dresses before,
but Wendy Donahue, a style reporter from the Chicago Tribune, said many members of the
public nonetheless complained about the first lady's bare arms. She recalled one reader's
thoughts on the fashion choice, saying,
"She talked about how the season is winter, the occasion was business and a sleeveless
dress was the wrong style at the wrong time."
While Michelle Obama's bare arms were initially a source of controversy, eventually they became
part of her signature look, and probably made a lot of admirers wonder about her diet and
workout regimen.
Sometimes, a small accessory can make a huge fashion statement. Take, for instance, a scrunchie.
Most people think of '80s and '90s workout videos when they think of this type of hair
tie. Hillary Clinton decided to wear this informal accessory on an official visit to
Spain in 2011, as reported by HuffPost. At the time, the publication was seemingly in
disbelief that she would choose a scrunchie to tie her hair.
This wasn't the only time Clinton was seen in a scrunchie. She also wore a scrunchie
at the UN, and, according to The Guardian, one paper used the headline,
"Hillary in UN hair fail."
Clinton even joked about calling her 2014 memoir The Scrunchie Chronicles.
"The Scrunchie Chronicles. 112 countries and it is still all about my hair."
Even though Clinton's fashion choice was constantly written about and sometimes mocked at the
time, it ended up becoming a sort of feminist accessory. In 2015, the scrunchie brand Hillary's
Scrunchies, dedicated to the former first lady, was launched, selling scrunchies with
the presidential family member's face printed on them.
Melania Trump came under fire for her over-the-top outfit during a speech at the UN in 2017.
The ensemble in question included an eye-catching, fuchsia Delpozo belted coat worth nearly $3,000,
according to Marie Claire. The outfit likely wouldn't have caused a stir if it were not
for the sensitive subject matter of the first lady's speech, child poverty. Many people
thought that wearing such an expensive dress for that moment was insensitive. One Twitter
user tweeted a video of the speech with the hashtags "#hypocrisy" and "#letthemeeatcake,"
a reference to infamous French Queen Marie Antionette.
Other Twitter users took issue with the design of the big garment itself. For instance, it
was compared to a "pink Snuggie" by one user and a "pink parachute" by another.
In January 2017, Ivanka Trump, who was just a few months away from taking on the official
White House position of adviser to the president, tweeted a photo of herself wearing a $5,000
designer dress while her father's administration was in the middle of an immigration controversy.
President Donald Trump's administration was in the midst of enforcing a policy that separated
immigrant parents from their children. As the president's daughter and soon to be an
official member of his administration, Ivanka was expected by some to be a little more sensitive
about the political climate. Her outfit caused a fair amount of outrage on social media.
One Twitter user even compared her dress to a child in one of the foil blankets common
in immigrant detention centers. To highlight the insensitivity of wearing such an expensive
dress during a crisis, that person asked,
"Who wore it better?"
Melania Trump chose to wear a pith helmet, a garment that carries a lot of historical
baggage, while visiting Africa. This seriously problematic fashion statement did more than
just turn some heads. Publications includingThe Guardian and The New York Times wrote about
it, making it abundantly clear that the headwear was impossible to ignore.
The Conversation explained that the pith helmet harkens back to a colonial tradition of white
safari tourists visiting Africa to take part in poaching, trophy hunting, and exploitation,
stating:
"Melania Trump's pith helmet was never just a hat to keep off the sun. It is a symbol
of how race and colonialism ghosts shape the African landscape when it comes to safari,
poaching and trophy hunting."
Matthew Carotenuto, an African Studies coordinator at St. Lawrence University, took to Twitter
to further explain the issue, writing:
"It's like showing up to a meeting of African American cotton farmers in a Confederate uniform."
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