Since “Melania,” the film about the 20 days leading to Melania Trump’s second term as first lady, had its premiere at the Kennedy Center, it has been alternately criticized and mocked, reviews and memes exploding in both old and new media.
The film has been called “an elaborate piece of designer taxidermy” (The Guardian), “propaganda” (The Daily Beast) and a “mockumentary” (Vanity Fair). Its box office take has been analyzed and debated as reports of its record-setting opening and screenshots of empty movie theaters spread. Yet, amid all the hoo-ha, a critical point has been missed.
This isn’t a documentary. It’s not an advertorial for the Trump administration or family. It’s the hard launch of a new lifestyle brand not-so-code-named — yes — “Melania.”
Hence Mrs. Trump’s multiple references to her “creative vision” within the movie, with the inauguration as her calling card. Hence the many lovingly framed scenes of her towering stilettos. Hence the large amount of film time spent on the details of her inaugural outfits: her insistence that the neckline of the blouse she wore to the swearing-in be sharply crossed, rather than cowl, and that the band on her hat be half an inch narrower. Hence the revelation from Hervé Pierre, the designer who also works as Mrs. Trump’s stylist, that the inaugural gown is in her colors: “black and white.”
Mrs. Trump agrees. “It’s very me.”
(By contrast, her husband’s colors are clearly gold, red, white and blue.)
But brand must be more than a series of glossy surfaces. It must at least gesture at having values. Hence the repeated references to her commitment to family and conversations about continuing her work on children’s behalf.
Marc Beckman, Mrs. Trump’s longtime agent, summed up the thinking in an interview with The Times of London the week before the premiere, noting, “It’s all about supporting this luxury brand that she’s building.”
The trail of bread crumbs for the Melania brand has been sprinkled throughout the second Trump administration, almost like an extended teaser trailer. And it started years before December 2024, when the “Melania” movie began filming.
Brand Melania was, in fact, originally mooted back in the first Trump administration, when Mrs. Trump sued The Daily Mail for libel for claiming that a modeling agency she had worked for in the 1990s was also an escort service.
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The implication, the suit stated, affected the first lady’s “unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model, brand spokesperson and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories.” Though the brand didn’t take shape at the time, the suit was settled, with Mrs. Trump receiving about $3 million and a public apology, and the seed was planted.
It began with the memoir, “Melania,” released in October 2024, with its graphic black-and-white cover. It continued through the inauguration, with that black-and-white ball gown by Mr. Pierre. It was further shaped by Mrs. Trump’s official portrait, which featured her in a signature black Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo suit and white shirt, standing boss-like behind a mirrored desk. And it has now reached its apogee in the movie itself.
“Melania’s vision is very symmetrical, right angles, black and white,” Mr. Beckman told The Times of London.
Case in point: the film’s posters, with blocky black letters spelling “Melania” against a white background and the first lady herself, captured by the fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, either seated in a geometric chair on one side in a black pantsuit, a white shirt and black stilettos or face on in a black turtleneck, hair cascading.
At the special screening at the White House for guests like Tim Cook and Queen Rania of Jordan (who is in the movie), attendees were treated to white popcorn buckets with “Melania” in black letters, black-and-white “Melania” cookies and black-and-white cake pops. The black Dior dress with Alaïa belt Mrs. Trump wore to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange matched the black carpet she chose for the premiere, which matched the black Dolce & Gabbana suit and the towering black heels she wore to make her entrance.
And, of course, the logo of her production company, Muse Films, with the spiky silver-white M that emerges from the dark like the sign of a superhero to start the film.
All of this should not exactly be a surprise, given the Trump family’s commitment to personal brand building, which has extended from cologne and sneakers to national monuments. Even Kai Trump, Mr. Trump’s granddaughter, has her own brand. But it does take everything to a new level.
Forget the Christmas ornaments and the jewelry Mrs. Trump has previously offered on her website. She clearly has much bigger ambitions. Even if the first product she may be selling is herself.
To that end, “Melania” is revealing. Not in the way people were expecting but in letting them know what they should expect, going forward.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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