Melania's Hat Signals a Revival of Femininity

For those who made the long trek to Washington, D.C., to watch President Donald Trump’s inauguration live and in person, the cold weather venue changes were a bit of a disappointment.

But one thing that wasn’t a disappointment? Melania Trump’s Inauguration Day outfit. Especially THAT. HAT.

I actually gasped in surprised delight when I saw the first video of her arriving at St. John’s Episcopal Church in advance of the Inauguration. Completely unexpected in a day when casual comfort reigns, that hat knocked her simple suit look out of the park, presenting class and elegance in one fell swoop.

But what I love about that hat is the deeper meaning at which it seemed to hint. In keeping with her husband’s long-standing mantra and promise to “Make America Great Again,” that hat had strong overtures of America’s past greatness. It not only recalled a time when Americans took themselves seriously, presenting themselves with polish and class to a watching world, but it also hearkened back to a time in America when men were men and women were women.

Yes, Melania Trump’s hat was likely chosen to make a fashion statement to stand out above all the other well-dressed women in the inaugural proceedings of the day; but I believe it was also a statement about femininity.

How does this fashion choice reflect femininity? The late, famed, Hollywood fashion designer Edith Head explains in her book, “How to Dress for Success”:

Hatlessness is all right in certain places, but there is no flatterer (with the possible exception of a Latin lover) more certain to make a woman look younger and prettier than a becoming hat. Hats … do wonders in covering up hair that needs ‘doing.’ They perform miracles in making an older woman look younger, a heavy woman seem slimmer or a plain woman more exciting. If you wear hats well, don’t let the fad for hatlessness inhibit you. Wear them as you wear cosmetics, not as something to cover your head, but as something that makes you look prettier, younger and more distinctive. And choose them with flattery in mind.

In essence, Head is saying that a well-chosen hat signifies that femininity is good and it is perfectly fine and right for all in the female sex to embrace it.

Recent years have seen femininity co-opted in any number of places. It’s co-opted by the men who wear dresses and try to pass themselves off as beautiful women. It’s hijacked in the fact that mothers are now referred to as “pregnant people” or “chestfeeders.” And it’s even seen in the fact that many are reluctant to define what a woman actually is.

Melania Trump, however, appears to be shunning these popular trends to erase the dividing line between men and women. Instead, she’s embracing her femininity wholeheartedly, even when it comes to her role in the White House.

This last thought was verbalized by Former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands. When asked what she thought of the first lady’s outfit, Sands replied:

I loved it, it was a beautiful moment. But it does feel a little bit like armor. She is girding herself for what’s ahead and she, I think, takes her job very seriously as the first lady, but she knows that she’s not running the country. I think at times, Jill Biden, I’m understanding, was sitting in cabinet meetings and trying to run them, and so, Melania Trump knows she’s first lady, she’s not the president. [Emphasis added.]

Many would likely howl at that thought, angrily demanding that women’s rights be recognized, and that for women, the old, “anything you can do, I can do better” line is absolutely true.

And perhaps it is. But given the world such a mentality has created – one in which femininity and females are increasingly erased from many venues in society like those mentioned above – are we really better off or happier? I would say no.

In that vein, Melania Trump, her hat, and the embrace of femininity it signifies is a refreshing change. No, it’s not one that oppresses women. Instead, it’s one that simply returns to common sense: men are men and women are women and those who accept that are no longer crazy.

And that, my friends, is a very good thing.

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This article was originally published through The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News.

Image Credit: PBS Screenshot