She finally took the hat off.
After hiding her eyes under a violet chapeau for almost the entire first day of the Trump state visit to Britain, Melania Trump let her hair down and appeared at St. George’s Hall for the white-tie banquet in an off-the-shoulder yellow Carolina Herrera gown with long sleeves and a lavender silk belt.
Well, she clearly understands the value of a crowning moment.
It was a relatively minimal look compared with the gold lace that covered the Princess of Wales’s Phillipa Lepley gown (high-neck, long-sleeves), and even the royal blue of Queen Camilla’s Fiona Clare frock, yet notably gold adjacent. In the gold family. Just as the lavender belt was sort of a pale version of the blue sashes worn by the royal hosts.
At this point, Mrs. Trump has made a signature out of revealing and concealing in equal measure. She costumes herself to reflect the Trump message of gold-plated glory while at the same time armoring herself against the prying eyes of the world — and, perhaps, the crowds of protesters in Britain. All as she barely utters an audible word.
Indeed, if Day 1 of the state visit was largely a royal-immersion experience for the Trumps, calculated to cater to Mr. Trump’s apparent jones for the trappings of monarchy, the first lady was doing her bit to dress the part.
Not since the inauguration has Mrs. Trump’s wardrobe been as much on display or told quite as much of a story. One about the power of branded regalia, the evolution of the United States-Britain special relationship and just how much more guarded her self-presentation has become in the six years since the Trumps last paid an official visit to Britain.
It started with the sweeping Burberry coat she wore for her entrance at London Stansted Airport. As it happened, she had worn Burberry at the beginning of her last state visit, but then it was a silk blouse. Now it was a floor-length trench, like a rainy-day ball gown, tightly belted with the collar turned up.
On the one hand, it hinted at the extravagance of a queenly robe while also suggesting at least an attempt at a diplomatic gesture. Burberry is, after all, possibly the most famous British brand and one that is currently run by an American chief executive, thus offering a subtle reminder that cross-border cooperation can be good business, especially when tariffs are on the table.
On the other hand, it effectively covered her from chin to ankle, like a tent, giving nothing away.
And as she began, so she continued. Arriving at Windsor Castle on Wednesday morning, Mrs. Trump didn’t have a crown or a tiara, but she did have that hat, worn to match the royal dress code of Queen Camilla, in a bright blue Philip Treacy number, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, in a burgundy toque.
Unlike those hats, which framed the faces of the royal women like offerings to the public, Mrs. Trump’s hat served to obscure her visage (or at least the half of it that might be the most revealing), much as her inaugural hat did in January. Like that hat, this one stayed firmly on throughout the day, even when she was indoors viewing the royal collection with Queen Camilla, who took her own hat off.
The millinery shield is becoming something of a trademark for the first lady. Hats played a minor role during her husband’s first term, when she modeled two different kinds of headgear during her trip to Africa — a pith helmet and a fedora — and earlier, when she donned a rakish white number to welcome President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte, on their state visit. But the hats have taken on new importance during Mr. Trump’s second term as the first lady has taken a more reticent approach to her job. Her favored style offers only so much, and no more.
In this, the purple hat matched the dark gray Dior suit she wore with it. It featured a double-breasted military-style jacket with a mandarin collar that served up (once again) both armor and aspiration by association.
As it happens, Dior now has a connection to Britain (Jonathan Anderson, the new designer, is from Northern Ireland) and, like the hats, the brand has turned into something of a uniform for Mrs. Trump.
She wore a Dior suit on the final day of the Republican National Convention, and a Dior cape to the pre-inauguration wreath-laying ceremony. She wore a Dior ivory column gown back in 2019 at the first British state banquet. It’s a brand that allows her to stay trussed in her safety zone, while simultaneously dangling the suggestion that she might be playing the ambassadorial game. Or at least considering it. Though it’s hard to tell, under that hat.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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