Melania Trump Chooses Dolce & Gabbana Trenchcoat for White House Departure for Pope's Funeral
The president is one of the 50 heads of state who are expected at Saturday's funeral in St. Peter's Square in front of St. Peter's Basilica. A crowd of 200,000 is expected to turn up for the mass in honor of the 88-year-old Argentinean. Millions of people are expected to tune in to broadcasts of the historic event, and also the livestream of it by the Vatican.
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As an indication of the public's current interest in papal dealings, viewership of the feature film 'Conclave' had increased by 283 percent to 7 million minutes watched within days of the 266th pope's death on Monday.
The two-time first lady also chose a Dolce & Gabbana tailored black blazer with wide satin lapels over an unbuttoned white top for her official 2025 White House portrait that was photographed by Régine Mahaux. FLOTUS' tuxedo-style suit was completed with a Ralph Lauren cummerbund. Trump also chose a Dolce & Gabbana ensemble for her 2017 official portrait.
More recently, the former model wore a Dolce & Gabbana menswear inspired look — a black velvet tuxedo with satin lapels — to the White House Governors' Dinner in February. She completed that look with a Ralph Lauren cummerbund and white shirt. Over the president's inaugural weekend in January, she wore a Dolce & Gabbana white tuxedo shirt with a Saint Laurent jacket to the Candlelight Dinner at the National Building Museum.
Earlier this week at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll FLOTUS chose a similar trenchcoat look to Friday's ensemble — a vanilla-colored leather belted trenchcoat from Mackage with low-heeled Roger Vivier flats.
After landing at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome later Friday, the first couple were due at the U.S. Embassy, the 15th century Villa Taverna, which was commissioned by Cardinal Consalvi. Following their one-night stay in Italy and the pope's funeral, the Trumps planned to jet back to the U.S. for a night at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
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And men are built very differently than women. At the same time I have a lot of men buying my women's clothing and a lot of women buying my men's clothing. But although the lines between femininity and masculinity are blurring, there is very much of a different approach as well as different fabrics. My women's collection is a bit of a tomboy, but still very feminine. The men's collection is very masculine. The menswear store is decorated with your record collection, hosted an exhibit by rock photographer Allan Tannenbaum and donates a portion of in-store sales to to One Million Guitars. What inspires the music theme? My husband David Broza is an internationally-known guitarist and singer-songwriter. The record collection we curated there is more from him — but it's also become mine. We grew up with the same music, 70s-style soft folk rock from James Taylor to Bob Dylan. Joni Mitchell. Leonard Cohen. We've done a lot of trips to Spain together and I've also fallen in love with flamenco music. The rhythm and the energy is something I connected with immediately — to the point that I want to be a flamenco dancer in my next life. Does music inspire you when you are designing? Very much so. But it started more with the imagery. I was in high school in the early 70s and what affected me the most, from Woodstock onward, was not just the music, but the freedom. The attitude. The spirit. And the clothes. And I'm still holding on to this although life kept going on. I think that's what makes me unique among my peers in fashion — that this is something that is so specific to me. Even though it's not really 'me,' it's the world I grew up in. Did any specific musicians inspire your fashion sense? I was inspired more by designers like Yves Saint Laurent. But as I was evolving I realized there was something about Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix. They had a style that appeared as not having a style because they were mixing all these things that were not to be mixed together in the eyes of the fashion police. I liked the idea that they broke all the rules. And to me that's their voice: not only what they did through their music, but also through their clothes. That's what I found attractive. I use a lot of elements today of what Jagger and Hendrix were wearing then. So in every collection I have a Hendrix jacket — he was wearing all these military band jackets with the gold buttons. And then I always have a ruffled shirt, like what Mick Jagger and Keith Richards used to wear. What is next for your brand? We are launching a bag called The Voyager. Sometime I create something because I'd like to own it and this is a beautiful luxury leather travel bag that I carry. I'm going to be opening a new showroom in New York, very much mid-century inspired. And then the same thing in Paris. And then we will be opening two stores in Seoul, Korea. This is very exciting because while I am in other stores this will be our first branded Nili Lotan store in Asia.
