Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
“It Ain’t the Hat, It’s How Ya Wear It”

Source: Wikimedia Commons
Even before I actually watched any of the most recent Trump inauguration, I was aware that the soon-to-be First Lady was being noticed not just for her obvious elegancy but also specifically for the hat she wore. I was on my way back to hopefully a warm house from breaking ice for livestock, feeding horses and scouting for some easy wood to cut. The truck radio was working even if the heater was not. But this late in the morning we had already warmed up to about 10 degrees ahead of Washington D.C. The reporter on the radio made a point of commenting on that hat which seemed to be the most defining visual of the moment, other than the man who was about to become the 47th president of the United States.
I got back into the house and near the fireplace in time to see the whole affair for myself.
Before I add my own lame impressions on the subject, I will offer two others, each delivered by television personalities (well, one actually has a personality while the other leaves some questions) from each end of the political spectrum.
Greg Gutfeld’s first impulse was to compare the look to Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which I found some merit in. The other I have to offer is Jimmy Fallon of the Tonight Show, who came out wearing a similar hat, just not shaped as well and with a brim that had no real shape at all. Fallon’s line was that he wanted to see who looked better in it: him, Melania or the Hamburglar. Don’t bother to search for the clip—it isn’t worth the trouble, just like most of that host’s offerings. I am told by some that he was actually funny at one time in the past. I will have to take their word for that.
The hat created enough media notice that the milliner who made it got a few minutes on CBS Mornings. Eric Javits described it as an “iconic boater,” which I will have to take his word for. He obviously has wider classifications for such things. To my country eye, the hat would be close to the flat-brimmed and crowned ones common to the buckaroo country of the Great Basin. Regardless, Javits assured it was both “understated” and “elegant”.
All of the milliner’s words might be true, but my first thoughts as I watched Mrs. Trump with the hat sitting evenly on her head as the brim came exactly to the top of her eyes, leaving just that most dignified face calmly framed between it and the double-breasted navy wool coat, were of something an “old timer” commented on far back in my youth. The old cowboy responded to the remarks one of his friends had said about the out-of-the-box new hat that someone was wearing while visiting a horse show. The hat was a good one and certainly “high dollar”. But it looked out of place on someone who was trying to look a role that he simply didn’t fit.
Melania Trump’s hat fit exactly the message of an administration returning with a clear-eyed determination, one with clarity gained from the experience of both the first administration and the last four years. There was style and authority reflected by not just the hat but the confidence with which it was worn. I suspect that the lady intends to be more visible and publicly active than before, but not in the pushy look-at-me-style of late. The media will be dealing with a different First Lady than the one they treated so badly the first time around.
That media has made a weak attempt to take off on “the Hamburglar” comparison, but it has fallen flat. This is a different day and time than before. The president and his lady are following perhaps the worst examples to hold either position. Both couples seem to be well-matched.
To make a final observation, I will return to the felt headwear that many call “cowboy hats,” ones that I simply call hats. I was somewhere in the range of a high school senior or the first couple of years in college when I was listening to a conversation between some of the more accomplished horse trainers in the area. I was riding some colts under the keen eye of the senior member of the group. We had all retreated to the shade provided by the hall of the barn to escape the summer sun as the other two drove up. The pair had just returned from the Austin area and had some Shiner beers with them — or maybe I should say they had a few left. (This was back in that ancient time before it was sold north of the Brazos River.) They wanted to ask my mentor about some finishing touches on a cutting horse they shared ownership of.
After about an hour of detailed discussion, the session finished. My mentor had headed out toward where he and I had tied two colts. I had stayed back to force the cap off one more fairly warm Shiner with a pocket knife—no twist-off caps for Shiners in those days—and heard the final exchange of the pair before they got up to head for their truck.
“You think we will ever see L.N. wearing anything but some old dirty black hat?” questioned one.
The other answered, “I doubt it. But on him, it’s a crown.”
It was one hell of hat. Also, the picture below is funny
Some people thought this was the vibe:
I have always thought she dressed well. I thought this was a rather severe look and not one that gave a celebratory impression. Of course, maybe she’s not thrilled to be back in Washington.
“Get ready, little lady…Hell is coming to breakfast.”
Its not just me, but I see Carmen Sandiego:
Melania is a beautiful woman who typically dresses and carries herself with great style and taste. She looked beautiful , stark, and severe at the inauguration.
I read somewhere it was as if Clint Eastwood and Wyatt Earp were brothers and had a pissed-off Mom.
To me, she looks very confident and pleasant.
Before she is the First Lady, she is a mom. Barron is doing really well as he is heading off to college: healthy, smart, accomplished, resilient. That is a major achievement for his mom because the last eight or nine years have been somewhat tumultuous for this family. She has to be feeling fantastic. She has done a great job with him. Donald Trump has been a great dad too, but he’s been under constant assault all of this time so most of the work has fallen to Melania, to explain this insane world we live in and to remain positive and not despair.
A lot of parents have a sense of confidence at this point in their lives.
I’m torn. Melania can make even a burlap bag look fashionable. Still, there’s something a little off-putting about this outfit and hat. Perhaps it makes her look a little like a Mafia hitman . . .
80s Dynasty: Alexis Carrington
Not a fan of the hat. It hid her beautiful face.
But I recall a Dilbert strip where he asked a woman co-worker why she would ask for a fashion comment from a straight white male engineer – so there’s that.
I know the discussion is about Melania’s inauguration hat but I thought Melania’s hat, sunglasses, and down jacket yesterday was peak gangster cool and smoking hot!
Not by accident. She is rightful angry, and the people who treated her like trash to this point are on notice. This is an administration willing to use their influence and push back hard.
As an aside to many of the things said here already, both Trumps have taken a slightly (in some cases more than slightly – or hardly slightly) different demeanor than before. And it will change some, I suspect, as times and situations change. But in both cases, the message to all (especially media and patricians of all denominations) is I am here, I belong here, you are on my turf. Some might call it leadership.
My mother never left the house without a hat. The right hat can make the outfit. I thought the hat was magnificent. In an era where slovenly comfort reigns (see Fetterman, John) she made the case for elegance. I much prefer her outfit to the distasetful underwear that Jeff Bezos’s
escortgirlfriend wore.As long as she returns Guy Fawkes’ favorite hat soon, most critics about the matter might shut up.
How will we pick out the losers if they shut up?
See? She’s not wearing the hat pulled down as if to hide her identity . . .