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Standing behind a table in a dark business suit, Melania Trump gave the camera a piercing gaze for her new official portrait as first lady.
The black and white image was captured in the Yellow Oval Room a day after her husband was sworn in as president and sparked plenty of online chatter about her appearance.
Supporters praised her, saying she “looks good in anything,” but critics felt she “looks so miserable all the time.”
Melania Trump’s official portrait as first lady was released by the White House on Monday
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash
“She has positioned herself firmly behind that ultra shiny table, keeping a bit of a boundary between herself and the viewer,” Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, the Faculty Director for the Department of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, told BBC.
“Staying a little mysterious, a little enigmatic, and a little inscrutable,” Shaw added.
Social media erupted with mixed reviews about the former model’s appearance.
“Class is back in the White House!” read one comment while a second said, “Serious business and gorgeous too. Love it!”
Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“Melania Trump is by far the BEST First Lady America has ever had,” a third said.
Other comments took a different tone, with one saying: “Terrible picture of her. She looks mean and not happy!”
One wrote, “I’m guessing she doesn’t have a soft side to her. If she does, she never shows it. It would be nice if she did.”
“She looks so miserable all the time,” another said. “Then again, if I was married to him I’d be too.”
“I’m guessing she doesn’t have a soft side to her. If she does, she never shows it,” read one social media comment
Image credits: flotus
“At least she has clothes on,” one said while another agreed saying, “Big deal at least she’s wearing clothes.”
The black and white portrait was captured by Belgian photographer Régine Mahaux, who has been taking pictures for the Trump family for a couple of decades now.
She was the same woman who captured Melania’s previous first lady portrait, back when her husband Donald Trump began his first term as the US president in 2017.
“I was really honored to be chosen to shoot this official portrait for the second time,” the photographer told BBC.
The portrait below, captured in 2017, featured the former model cross-armed in a colored shot
Image credits: whitehousehistory
“As an artist to work with such an inspiring woman is a great privilege. She is a perfectionist and is really involved in the creative process,” she added.
The official portrait this year, in several ways, is different from Melania’s portrait from 2017.
For starters, the previous portrait was a color shot, capturing the Slovenian-born first lady with a “half-smile” and crossed-arms.
“Gone is the soft focus, the half-smile and the parted lips from her official portrait last time she was in the White House. Gone also is the colour: this time around the portrait is black and white,” Fashion writer Ellie Violet Bramley told BBC.
Experts decoded her latest pose, which “seems to communicate a readiness to ‘get down to business’”
Image credits: The White House
Experts decoded Melania’s latest pose, explaining the business-ready look she gave viewers.
“Her pose, with fingertips placed firmly on a remarkably reflective table, seems to communicate a readiness to ‘get down to business’ and act upon the platform afforded to the unique role of hostess and advocate for the disempowered that Americans have historically expected first ladies to inhabit,” Shaw told BBC.
Melania also appears “extraordinarily comfortable” in front of the camera, which is probably because of her “past as a model,” said the professor, who curated the exhibition Every Eye is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States at The National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.
“I feel I was always me the first time as well, I just feel that people didn’t accept me, maybe,” Melania said earlier this month
Image credits: melaniatrump
“But I think the relationship that she has developed with Ms Mahaux over the past two decades accounts for most of that ease,” she added.
Fashion writer Bramley said “Much can be read into her eyes.”
The expert said Melania’s eyes in clear view was a stark contrast to her 2025 inauguration outfit, which included a massive hat that the internet described as “mobster” vibes.
“The mere fact that they are so directly looking at camera – and the viewer in turn – in contrast to inauguration day when she opted for a boater hat that shrouded her eyes, feels noteworthy,” she told the outlet.
Image credits: Laura Tancredi/Pexels
Earlier this month, Melania spoke about stepping back into the shoes of America’s first lady and how things are different when compared to 2017.
“I feel I was always me the first time as well, I just feel that people didn’t accept me, maybe. They didn’t understand me the way maybe they do now. I didn’t have much support,” she told Fox News.
“Maybe some people, they see me as just the wife of the president,” she said during the interview.
“But I’m standing on my own two feet, independent,” she added. “I have my own thoughts, I have my own yes and no. I don’t always agree with what my husband is saying or doing, and that’s OK.”
“She looks mad at the world. Does she ever crack a smile or some resemblance of one?” a social media user said
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