On the second day of French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte's official state visit, Melania Trump wore an all-white Hervé Pierre skirt suit, complete with a wide-brimmed hat that will surely go down as one of her most memorable fashion moments as First Lady. Public opinion was split, as were the verdicts from fashion critics. (The Washington Post heralded it "fashion diplomacy"; the Boston Herald decreed her style "[evoked] Europe roots, not America First.")
Mrs. Trump's white hat may now be the white hat, but it actually follows quite a long line of First Ladies who have incorporated memorable headgear into their style while in the White House, either because of etiquette or because they wanted to stand out from the crowd. (Or, in the case of Jacqueline Kennedy, to make up for an insecurity about having a large head.)
American First Ladies beginning with Martha Washington in the late 1700s up until the mid-twentieth-century wore hats as a form of public protocol. Fashion conventions (and tastes) began to change—and by the 1960s, it was no longer necessary for women to wear hats in public as a means of being "socially acceptable."
"Since the 1960s First Ladies who have worn hats are trying to make a fashion statement," Beth Dincuff Charleston, a professor of fashion history at Parsons School of Design, tells Glamour. "There are moments for a First Lady that might call for a head covering, like going to a ceremony for a fallen soldier at Arlington Ceremony—or, if Melania Trump was going to the upcoming royal wedding, I'm sure she'd wear a hat. But for the most part, the hat has become a fashion statement."
Looking back, no FLOTUS mastered the statement-making hat quite like Jackie O. "She wore a Halston hat to her husband's inauguration at a time when hats were going out of fashion," fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell explains to Glamour. "It was a big moment for Halston, because Jackie made hats look young, modern, and very chic. It really put him on the map."
Since Kennedy, First Ladies including Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, and Hillary Clinton have all accessorized with hats for key public events, which historians say is a result of their British counterparts' influence. "The royal family, who are constantly wearing hats, have a big impact on First Ladies, especially since Kate Middleton came onto the scene," Chrisman-Campbell notes. "American First Ladies don't have to wear hats, but what the royal family wears factors in."
And as for how Trump's now infamous white hat will stand the test of history?
Milliner Eric Javits, whose hats have been worn by First Ladies like Clinton and Laura Bush, tells Glamour he thought Mrs. Trump hit all the right notes in that Hervé Pierre hat: "I have to congratulate both of them. Hervé has impeccable understated taste…[and she] balanced style and protocol for someone of her position."
