Designer Reveals Message Behind The Hat Melania Trump Wore To Inauguration

The hat Melania Trump wore during her husband’s inauguration has stirred up plenty of commentary, with folks finding all sorts of meaning behind the hat. This being Melania Trump, it’s safe to assume she is sending a message, especially if you remember her “I really don’t care do U?” jacket that she wore while visiting a detention center in Texas a few years back.

The man who designed the hat, Eric Javits, told ABC News that the hat was intended to be “simple,” “understated,” and “classic.”

“I think she was thinking of protocol and looking very elegant and very simple in a way,” he said, explaining the possible political motivation for the hat. “It’s a time of some restraint, and it’s really sort of a turning point to more conservative values.”

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Some fashion critics weren’t entirely swayed by Javits’ remarks, according to The Daily Beast. They noted the navy boater-style toque, which had a wide brim that hid Melania’s eyes, reminded them of a masked bandit, a look that transmitted “mystery and inaccessibility.”

They aren’t far off the mark since Trump was inaccessible during her husband, Donald Trump’s first presidency.

The New York Times chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman noted that pairing the hat with a tightly buttoned navy coat and high-necked white blouse was “in line with the guarded image Mrs. Trump has cultivated since her husband emerged on the political scene.”

Friedman also wrote that Melania refused to remove her hat and coat even while inside the Capitol Rotunda—and during her husband’s swearing-in, further highlighting the point that she’s dressing as an imperial functionary.

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But there’s one other thing the hat did. It served as a husband-barrier.

“The brim is so wide, Donald can’t get anywhere near her face,” noted Donald Trump’s niece,  Mary Trump, in a video she uploaded to the social media platform X. She also said the choice was absolutely “intentional.”

It was certainly effective. When he leaned in for a kiss during the inauguration, he couldn’t get past the hat.

Too bad the whole country can’t wear a wide-brimmed hat. We could sure use it.