Another designer has decided to stand by Melania Trump. Jean Paul Gaultier joins the emerging list of tastemakers who are putting politics aside and offering their services to the future first lady.
“If you have to be truly political, there are probably a few people you can dress,” Gaultier, who’s made pieces worn by Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian, told the Press Association per a December 6 Daily Mail story.
The designer gave props to Trump’s sense of personal style, even pitting her against the Democratic presidential nominee. “She dresses very well by herself, I have nothing bad to say against her, it’s not a question of politics,” he continued. “She was better dressed than Hillary [Clinton], when she went to vote she was in her camel coat and white dress and was beautiful. I don’t know who advises her or maybe it’s herself, but if she asked me to dress her, why not? Definitely. It’s not my objective but why not?”
After Sophie Theallet tweeted an open letter in November refusing to dress Trump, luminaries within the fashion community went public with their stances. Marc Jacobs echoed similar sentiments as Theallet in a WWD article, proclaiming, “I have no interest whatsoever in dressing Melania Trump … Personally, I’d rather put my energy into helping out those who will be hurt by [Donald] Trump and his supporters.”
But designers such as Diane von Furstenberg are willing to give her a chance. “Donald Trump was elected and he will be our president. Melania deserves the respect of any first lady before her,” she said in the same story. “Our role as part of the fashion industry is to promote beauty, inclusiveness, diversity. We should each be the best we can be and influence by our example.”
