Thom Browne would be open to working with first lady Melania Trump.
“Look, I respect her as the First Lady,” the designer said last week during an event at 92nd Street Y, according to Page Six. “And it’s something that I would respect.”
Browne, who previously worked with former first lady Michelle Obama, has made similar comments about working with Trump before.
“I think it’s unfortunate, the response that the current first lady [Melania Trump] got from designers in regards to dressing her,” he said in an interview with Surface magazine in June 2017. “We all should respect the office, and it shouldn’t become a political thing. The appreciation of what you do is what it should be. Dressing [Donald Trump] would be one thing. But with her, I think it’s different.
After the election, notable designers like Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and Sophie Theallet declared they wouldn’t dress Melania Trump (though Ford’s reasoning was based on Trump’s personal image, rather than political reasoning).
Many in the fashion community would like to dress members of the first family, or have done so already. Designer Stefano Gabbana of Dolce & Gabbana regularly dresses Melania and Ivanka Trump and praises their outfits on Instagram. Designer Tommy Hilfiger said just a few days after the 2016 election he would be “proud” to dress Melania.
“I think Melania is a very beautiful woman and I think any designer should be proud to dress her,” he said, according to Women’s Wear Daily. “Ivanka [Trump] is equally as beautiful and smart, although she wears her own clothes. I don’t think people should become political about it.”
Carolina Herrera, who worked with five first ladies including Michelle Obama, shared similar sentiments in early 2017 ― just after making Ivanka Trump’s inaugural ballgown.
”I don’t have a problem dressing the first lady of this country, whoever it is,” Herrera said after her Fashion Week show. “I think it’s out of respect for the United States.”
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