There were many ways in which President Trump used the pageantry of office to demonstrate the new friendship between the United States and Saudi Arabia during Tuesday’s visit by Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House.
Mr. Trump rolled out the red carpet. He organized a military flyover. He threw a black-tie quasi-state dinner — the first such official dinner of his second term — complete with soccer stars and tech and Wall Street billionaires. And he captured it all for posterity with various photo ops.
But perhaps the most unexpected reflection of the new special relationship between the two countries came not from the president but from the first lady.
Mrs. Trump has, after all, been a somewhat scant presence in the administration. She is often not in the White House. When she appears at major public events, she has a tendency to wear a hat that hides half her face, as she did at the inauguration and during a recent state visit to Britain. She often seems more interested in the decorative side of her job than in being a diplomatic tool, and she defines decorative as she likes rather than as history has dictated.
And yet there she was on Tuesday night wearing a strapless green gown taking her place next to her husband to greet the crown prince. Before you get excited: No, it was not the green of the climate change movement. (This was not a potential trolling-the-husband moment.) It was a cadmium green awfully close to the green of the Saudi flags that had flown next to the American flags to welcome Mr. bin Salman earlier that day.
And the color wasn’t the only significant aspect of the dress. Made of jersey coated to resemble leather, ruched down the front and currently selling for $3,350, the gown was by the Lebanese designer Elie Saab — a designer who a year ago had held one of the largest fashion shows ever in the Middle East, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The show, called “The 1001 Seasons of Elie Saab,” was officially a celebration of Mr. Saab’s 45 years in business. Styled by Carine Roitfeld, the former editor of French Vogue, it brought Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez and Halle Berry, among other international celebrities, to Saudi Arabia. And it served as a global calling card for the country’s cultural prominence and the five-year-old Riyadh Season, an annual festival of fashion, sports and entertainment that is part of Mr. bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan. Mr. Saab is based in Beirut, which was under bombardment at the time, and Saudi Arabia, sensing opportunity, welcomed him in.
As a result, the combination of color and designer made Mrs. Trump’s dress not just a dress but also a public gesture of recognition and allegiance (despite the fact that it exposed her arms and shoulders, which might have seemed less in keeping with Saudi custom). It was perhaps the most considered ensemble she has donned this term, even more than the Burberry trench she wore at the beginning of the state visit to Britain.
That the gesture, which was impossible to miss amid the sea of black tuxedos at the dinner, was directed at Saudi Arabia served to further underscore, like the news conference earlier in the day, exactly where the Trumps’ priorities lie.
It was a reminder that Mrs. Trump (and her stylist, Hervé Pierre) understands the semiology of image and the first lady game perfectly well, and can play it with aplomb. At least when she wants.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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