The most memorable looks at Trump’s second inauguration
Including Melania Trump’s hat, Usha Vance in pink and John Fetterman in shorts.
What Monday’s inauguration of Donald Trump lacked in splashy newcomer fashion statements, it made up for in notable encores. It was, after all, the rare spectacle in which an outgoing president welcomed another former president back into office — in other words, most of the cast of characters had been to one of these shindigs before.
Many in the two presidents’ entourages wore ensembles that echoed what they had worn to other highly visible political events. Others found ways to say something new with their attire. Below are a few memorable styles from Inauguration Day.
Melania’s hat
Melania Trump’s eye-catching — and eye-obscuring — navy Eric Javits boater hat was one of the biggest fashion statements of the morning. The hat’s brim was so wide that it blocked the president from giving his wife a kiss just before his swearing-in.
The hat was a polarizing choice in the eyes of the amateur fashion critics on social media. Hats have long been one of Melania Trump’s go-tofashion statements. Fans praised the look: “Living for Melania’s hat moment,” wrote one X user. “Yet another elegant and radiant look,” said another. But others were confused about what the hat, which obscured her eyes in many photographs, was trying to communicate. “It’s giving somber,” said one X user. Another X user compared it to the hat Michael Jackson wore in the music video for “Smooth Criminal.” Others cited Mary Poppins.
Ivanka’s gravity-defying headpiece
Given its color, shape and placement, Ivanka Trump’s green beret was giving U.S. Army Special Forces — and it must have taken some military-grade bobby-pin technology to keep this sleek, fascinator-esque hat from sliding off her head.
Usha Vance’s pink ensemble
Between Melania Trump’s and Ivanka Trump’s dramatic hats and the gleaming Utah curls on Kristi L. Noem, Lara Trump and Tiffany Trump, the women of the new president’s entourage share a distinctly modern, ring-light-ready look. But the new second lady of the United States cut a strikingly traditional figure next to them: In a demure, structured pale pink coat (some might even call it Mamie pink), with her hair in a sleek updo, Usha Vance’s look evoked the first ladies of an earlier era.
John Fetterman’s shorts
The temperature in Washington on inauguration morning was 27 degrees — cold enough that the ceremony had to be moved indoors. And yet: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) wore shorts and a Carhartt hoodie. Fetterman’s casual attire has become one of his defining characteristics — so why would Inauguration Day be any different?
Lauren Sánchez’s lingerie top
Underwear as outerwear hasn’t been this hot since Madonna’s Blonde Ambition tour: Multitudes of wedding dresses and Oscars gowns these days feature corset boning and visible bra underwires. Still, Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Amazon founder (and Washington Post owner) Jeff Bezos, managed to bring the look to a new frontier Monday when she wore an eye-catching lacy white corset-style top under a blazer of the same hue.
Cheryl Hines’s dialed-back tweed
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines, wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, chose a surprisingly muted look for a guest with Hollywood star wattage. Hines wore a black mockneck top under a black and white double-breasted tweed coat with gold buttons and wide lapels.
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s cowrie-shell necklace
Some saw a Ruth Bader Ginsburg reference in the Biden-appointed Supreme Court Justice’s white bib necklace: Ginsburg wore necklaces, jabots and collars atop her robe as a way of adapting the uniform for a female justice. (Sandra Day O’Connor, the Supreme Court’s first female justice, did the same, but it’s Ginsburg who made it her signature.) Jackson may also have been making a poignant point about Black history in America by wearing a necklace made of cowrie shells — shells that were used as currency during the transatlantic slave trade to purchase enslaved people from Africa.
Jill Biden in regal purple
The outgoing first lady echoed her head-to-toe teal inauguration look from four years ago with a similarly monochromatic, sumptuous and saturated look: a royal purple coat and dress, with gloves and pumps to match. On a day when her presence itself signaled a commitment to bipartisanship, her color choice reiterated the message.
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