The veiled message beneath Donald and Melania’s sartorial schism at the funeral of Pope Francis

Landing at Fiumicino Airport last night ahead of attending the funeral for Pope Francis, Donald and Melania Trump briefly hesitated as they prepared to disembark from Air Force One.

‘Ready’, Trump asked. ‘Of course,’ the first lady replied.

As it transpired on Saturday morning, it was the president, rather than his wife, who turned up to the historic papal funeral more than a little unprepared.

Amid a raging trade war, mass deportation campaign and a host of judicial squabbles, West Wing staffers might be excused for having mislaid the Vatican’s protocol sheet for the sacred occasion.

The lengthy document, circulated to all the illustrious attendees, stipulated (with no exceptions!) that men must wear a dark suit, black tie, white shirt, and black shoes. Medals and other accessories were strictly verboten.

Walking hand in hand with Melania to his front row seat in St. Peter’s Square – it appeared that Trump had missed the memo. 

His bright blue and doubtlessly Brioni suit with its matching satin tie almost sparkled when bathed in the light of the Roman sun – a perfect complement to the obligatory American flag pinned on his left lapel twinkled in defiance of the rules that had otherwise been universally adhered to by most of the luminaries who filled the square.

(Former President Joe Biden ran afoul of protocol by wearing a blue tie – and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wore no tie at all.)

For Trump – a man who admires pomp and pageantry – it’s hard not to see this as a rebuke to a system of rules that he means to challenge. But for Melania – it was yet another milestone in the building of a legacy.

Seated beside her husband on what was her 55th birthday, the first lady seemed from almost another world.

Dressed head to toe in custom Dolce and Gabbana, her double-breasted tuxedo coat dramatically completed with a bespoke Chantilly lace veil, matching gloves and devoid of any jewelry — Melania adhered, to the letter, of what, as a devout Catholic and not just VIP attendee, she was expected to wear.

While it is impossible to say precisely the machinations that went into preparing herself for such a momentous occasion, Melania, like any woman in her position (political, royal or otherwise), would always be prepared to appear perfectly poised to take her place in whatever pageantry was required of her.

To date, it is protocol for every member of the British Royal Family to pack a black outfit in case an unexpected requirement for mourning should arise mid trip.

When Queen Elizabeth II’s longtime dresser Margaret ‘Bobo’ MacDonald had forgotten to pack a black dress for her 1952 tour of Kenya – the new sovereign, mourning the sudden death of her father George VI, was forced to wait on the tarmac for suitable attire to be brought on board so she could appear in public suitably attired.

Such cautionary tales are doubtlessly drilled into Melania who has built her public persona around a disciplined and strategized mode of dress.

Even her decision to opt for the Italian couture house spoke volumes, not just about Melania’s loyalties in the fashion world but her recognition of the deep intersections between dress and the history of Roman Catholicism – a theme that has been integral to Melania’s most vocal supporter in contemporary couture.

While Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana may have built much of their street cred by designing the type of slink sexy slips that a pre-presidential Mrs. Trump made her fashion mainstay – the duo’s traditional Catholic upbringing has been equally influential in shaping a brand that has become integral to Melania’s stylistic story.

From the incorporation of ecclesiastical motifs into many of their Alta Moda collections – to their penchant for deep black dresses and dramatic lace veils as part of both their couture and ready-to-wear lines – the iconography of Catholicism and the imagined mode of dress for devout female worshippers has dominated a brand that has increasingly come under criticism – not only for their very vocal excitement at dressing this particular First Lady but for political positions (‘The only family is a traditional one,’ Stefano Gabbana said in 2015) which reflect their deeply conservative Catholic background.

Likewise, Melania’s fidelity to Dolce & Gabbana reflects her past and, perhaps, visions of the future.

Like much of her private life, Melania’s faith is mostly a mystery.

In 2017, Melania became the first Catholic First Lady since Jacqueline Kennedy, a comparison that helped foster the former model’s identification with undoubtedly America’s most glamorous political consort.

Raised in Slovenia, a country’s whose religious population is predominantly Catholic, Melania’s 2017 meeting with Pope Francis, at which she also wore Dolce & Gabbana, at the Vatican offered the opportunity to not only reenact the pilgrimage Jackie made in 1962 – but demonstrate a solemnity, both in terms of fashion and faith, that for many was a remarkable juxtaposition with a woman who had once posed atop a piano in a cleavage / thigh-baring cocktail dress amidst the gilt-laden interiors of Trump Tower.

Returning to Rome for the revered pontiff’s funeral, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Italian house would be the one to which she turned for a moment that was politically and personal significant.

Melania’s sartorial choices always have significance. Not merely signs of conformity to papal orders, her carefully calculated ensemble paid homage to a rich history that weaves together fashion, faith and the future.

Conscious these are images that will form part of the visual history of her tenure as First Lady, Melania is always performing a role rather than enjoying a rendezvous – proving once more that she has perfected with precision the art of a political consort.