I can not wait for a man to be the President's spouse so we stop talking about what they are wearing. If we want to advance women as professionally the equal of men, let's stop analyzing everything they wear.
9
I thought the First lady was elegant and beautiful as always.
8
Looking at AOC, all I think is that I love me a Socialist who wears $3000 suits.
OK, so it was white. Guess that should make it better.
So much for equality when you take the chance to get rich on a government job.
26
AOC did not attend the State of the Union address. She stayed away in protest.
117
@AutumnLeaf AOC was not there. Try again.
19
The writer was referring to the 2019 SOU.
5
This newspaper is always busy criticizing Melania Trump for her clothing and the cost. I do not recall you ever counting the amount of money Michelle Obama spent on HER designer clothing.
10
@fay Michelle Obama was always beautifully dressed often in American fashion and always doing many many good works she had started or was engaged in. She was a very hard working first lady. As far as I can tell Mrs Trump does much less FLOTUS work.
32
No one ever talked about Michelle OBama’s clothes because most of them were off the rack. J Crew was one of her favorites. I remember this because I had one of the exact same outfit and I’m sure I paid much less than $100 for it.
The press and the right wingers criticized the OBama’s for everything. Remember when Michelle Obama was criticized for wearing a sleeveless dress. They were never criticized for wasting taxpayer dollars on personal expenses because they are really pretty frugal.
Trump, and his crazed supporters like to make it sound like no president in history has been criticized as much as Trump. This is simply not true. It’s just that Trump has such thin skin he thinks he is being persecuted. He can really dish it out, but he can’t take it at all.
Vote blue no matter who. Let the GOP die on the vine.
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I’ll know that we have advanced as a species when we stop talking about the clothing worn by women, and not the clothing worn by men.
9
The best thing any of us can do when Trump is going to be in the same place as we are at a given time is to not be there. In the end I want to see Donnie speaking to a 90 thousand seat university football stadium in which only his kids are present.
13
It would have been great to concentrate on the women in the chamber by providing more background on important matters. It's a shame the writer could find nothing more important to write about than what trump's wife was wearing.
2
The Trumps can wear the most expensive designer outfits; however, they will never wear the clothes with class. No Jackie O or Michelle O here.
39
I’m rich and I’m proud!
2
They all could have worn potato sacks for all I care. The fact that she chooses to wear other designers not from the US is her prerogative. Which I find quite funny when it’s her husband that pushes his mission to support American made only. Yet her first three years of being First Lady has not been impressive. Her Be Best campaign is a failure. I can’t think of one positive action this woman has done and putting a medal around another hateful man during last nights State of the Union address does not count. Does Melanie care? Nope. Then why should I?
30
@Martha White indeed she wore a jacket that said so!
8
To the extent Melania Trump was saying anything, maybe it was that the Chinese were hyper sensitive and overly reactive to Dolce & Gabbanna's insensitivity. China's reaction to those fashionistas' faux pas seemed kind of reminiscent of China's reaction to the GM of the Houston Rockets tweeting out support for the liberty lovers in Hong Kong. The reaction? Offend us, and you are done. Quite reflective of an authoritarian regime. If Melania was making that point to thumb her nose at authoritarianism, good for her. Long live liberty in fashion, sports and in every walk.
2
Honestly, this is what’s wrong. We care about is how things look almost to the exclusion of caring about how they really are.
7
I'm thankful that the First Lady is wearing any clothes at all.
35
Couldn't care less what she wears, and the idea that she is "the symbolic partner of the nation" is laughable.
24
Polished and appropriate? Her makeup job was horrendous. My teenager looks more polished when she wears the stuff.
8
Melania is just as oblivious to what ordinary people think and feel as is her husband. I assume it is a marriage made in Trump Tower with gold drapes and fake art work, in other words, meretricious. She is a decorative adornment for Donald. As Trump would say - Sad.
25
Trumps have no sense, be it fashion or otherwise.
16
Well, at least she had clothes on. I’m still amazed we elected a man with a wife who has plenty of naked photos out there on the internet for all to see.
29
Gandhi made the greatest fashion statement of all time, simplicity, humility, authenticity. All others are vain and superfluous. I do think vain and superfluous can be fun.
6
Sure, try opting out by wearing a coat that says "I really don't care, do U?" like a petulant teenager.
7
Wonder what Trump thinks about his daughter-and-a-half, Tiffany. If he holds her to the same high standards as pageant contestants...and all other women.
4
@AutumnLeaf:
Does anyone opine on the cost of Bernie Sanders' suits? Or his clothes generally? Or Joe Biden's? No, sartorial criticism is reserved for women, often to subtly undermine their power, intelligence, or focus with the implication that they are frivolous, appearance-obsessed lightweights. Or spendthrifts. Or frumpy. Or slutty. Or whatever misogynist trope you want to insert.
So before you get all in a tizzy over the cost of her clothes, or allow one suit --which she does not in fact own and which was loaned to her for a photo shoot-- blind you to anything else AOC is communicating, you might want to think about whether a quality other than appearance is a better measure of a woman's worth.
15
Clearly money doesn’t buy class...
30
i feel at this point it is patently clear that Melania does not care for what we think. Perhaps we should not stress so much significance on what she wears because after all it's all just a show so why bother. We should respect how she stays true to herself and to the public.
4
I care not about the attire. I want another President; one that is intelligent and decent. Wearing white can not obliterate the stain on our Nation and its Constitution.
16
trump insults all the deserving people who received the medal of freedom by giving it to a junkie, the only good thing is he won't be around much longer as he is dying of cancer. may his pain be long and strong.
9
She could dress down in dollars a bit to not show her selfish self.
4
Can we please just stop talking about this? Maybe the “en masse dressed in white” is a story because it’s about a bigger issue. But discussing the First Lady’s clothing is debasing to all women. Women have forever been labeled for their appearance, have vehemently objected and rightly so. But then many women (the author being a woman) bring themselves right back into an objectifying mode. You want an “appeals to women” story? Then, for example, discuss Melania’s serious lack of leadership as First Lady. Listen, this is 2020. We have a massive number of #Me Too cases in this country. Stop talking about what she wore! The NYT needs to step up and away from female labeling because in the end it’s degrading to Women.
12
Did anyone notice that Tiffany wore a white suit? Is she trying to say something? Is she standing up to her father?
9
Dear NYT:
Political signalling, sure. But Speaker Pelosi looks like a poisonous toadstool. not a suffragette. Her snarling visage invites unflattering comparisons to the Joker.
Speaker Pelosi's tantrum marks a new partisan low for any modern political leader. She acted like a spoiled pre-schooler in full meltdown!
Pelosi can say what she wants about Trump, and use fashion to do it.
But Pelosi led Ds in a rejection of American heroes who deserve our respect, even if they are used for political purposes.
How could she not stand up and sheer for the 13-year-old who wants to join the space force, flanked by his Tuskeegee Airman grandfather? Or the Mom clutching her brave son, whose father was killed by an Iraqui roadside bomb -- distributed by terrorist Suleimani? The black child awarded an opportunity grant to attend a good school outside of her inner city prison?
Sure, let's talk abut fashion as a political accessory. But also focus on the bad manners exhibited by Trump, Pelosi and her crew of white swans....
2
Clearly she was not going to wear white as that would make her look like she was joining the Pelosi women. I think she is the saddest of first ladies, just like her very unfortunate husband whom history will judge as one of the worst presidents in history.
10
We have learned to expect nothing, nothing, nothing constructive at all from this trophy wife. She'll have no place in history... just a piece of air.
15
Melania Trump in Dolce & Gabbana is disgusting when billions are starving. Shame on her.
9
I don't know - to me the white suit-wearing women looked like mythical white knights, riding in to save us all from yet another “regime change war.”
1
democrats good. trump bad. even clothes
6
While our POTUS was running Melania was asked how she felt about being called a “gold digger”. The First Lady candidly shot back “would he have married me if I was ugly?”
Good grief, the woman wore a pith helmet to Africa. She is a former model. Assigning some sort of hidden meanings to anything she deigns to wear is probably giving her too much credit.
17
When I was 13 years old, I interviewed my great grandmother for a school project. It was then that I learned that she was a suffragette that both marched for a woman’s right to vote and went door to door to persuade both women and men to support the cause.
While it may seem impossible to believe that there was ever a question about whether women should be voting in this country, we only have that right because of women like my great grandmother. I’m especially proud and grateful to her when these symbolic gestures are made. Thank you to all the representatives that wear white to honor my great grandmother and others like her.
16
Actually, I thought Melania's suit was black, as that's how it appeared on my screen, not navy. So, I'd made the assumption that she was sending us a not-so-subliminal message of mourning... which frankly, given the last week, not to mention the past 3 years, would be completely appropriate. ...Admittedly, this was my own inner fantasy, although I knew it was a completely unlikely message for her to be communicating.
41
The white Suffragette suits are very inspiring. I’m grateful to the original suffragettes, and I hope the sign of solidarity will encourage women to stand up for our rights. Women in government are making a difference in making our country less cruel and unequal. Fashion is not at all a trivial thing if it helps remind us to be responsible citizens, to get involved, and to vote.
55
@BamaGirl Then please use the word "suffragist." These women are not a diminutive of anything.
3
I look forward to a day when the focus is no longer on what women are wearing (however symbolic or not symbolic) but on what we are doing.
66
They specifically dressed like that so we’d notice. If we didn’t notice, or if we ignored it, they’d be offended , so I don’t understand your comment at all.
7
@Rebecca E. I hear what you're saying but for a woman who gets no mic time, she does have the opportunity to "say something" with her clothing choices. As do any of the men sitting in front of the camera without a turn at the lectern. And what she either said was "Italy first"...or more likely "I don't really care...". Then we had Michelle Obama, who put consideration behind everything she did. I certainly miss those days.
9
There are a multitude of top notch American designers who can keep Mrs. Trump looking polished and appropriate. Nuff said.
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@Linda Agreed.
2
@Linda... and there are a multitude of top notch American women who can keep Mr. Trump looking polished and appropriate but none of them want to be married to him.
7