Melania Trump's Skin-Colored Leather Pants Will Always Haunt Her

Melania Trump once bemoaned, "I wish people would focus on what I do, not what I wear" (via The Washington Post). It's really, really hard not to focus on what she wears, though. How can we not? Melania Trump has worn some insanely expensive outfits, from a $10,000 Michael Kors suit to a $51,000 Dolce & Gabbana coat. Then there's the slew of fashion faux pas she's committed (who can forget the inappropriate outfit Melania Trump wore to Rosalynn Carter's memorial service?). In fairness, her charity work and various initiatives are worthy of discussion, too, from her Be Best initiative to her focus on foster care, but being style-obsessed, we can't not delve into her more questionable fashion choices.

That includes the look that will always haunt her from December 2018: She appeared to pair an emerald-green winter coat with bare legs. Collective gasp. First of all: Brrrr. Second, was she actually pants-less or wearing a micro-miniskirt? Thankfully, on closer inspection we realized she was in leather pants, but by then the damage was done. The 'fit gave the illusion that the first lady was sans pants.

If Melania Trump doesn't want her outfits discussed in such detail, she may want to rethink some of her choices. For example, the skin-colored leather pants she wore at the end of 2018 could have been handled more effectively. As she and the president arrived back at the White House after visiting troops in Iraq and Germany, she emerged wearing what looked like a belted green coat and ... nothing else. One X observer wrote, "[Melania] was in a hurry and forgot to finish getting dressed," and another posted, "I thought Melania had excessive spray tan on some seriously wrinkled knees with a too short dress then I realized those are just ugly skinny pants."

In reality, Melania was wearing a Prada coat, Ralph Lauren leather leggings, and tan Christian Louboutin heels. (See expensive taste, above.) But the shade of the pants was too close to skin color, hence the reason for the hoopla. Commentators also wondered why she was wearing sunglasses at night. We get it, though. Long overseas trip followed by cameras everywhere? It's easier to pop on sunnies rather than face backlash or speculation why her eyes were so puffy. Overall, this look created almost as much backlash as the inappropriate shoes that once landed Melania Trump in hot water.

During her husband's first term in office, Melania Trump leaned into leather regularly. Aside from wearing skin-colored leather pants, she also wore burgundy and classic black pairs (which caused a lot less confusion, by the way). Then there were the cohort of coats: From black Scanlan Theodore, to green Alexa Chung, to red Alexander McQueen, Melania clearly loved a belted leather number. She also wore an array of fitted, leather pencil skirts, including a rich cognac shade, and unexpected orange and purple styles. And let's not forget the leather boots, stilettos, and designer handbags that were in permanent rotation. (Side query: What does happen to all her clothes? Because she rarely repeats outfits and if there's a giveaway pile somewhere, we'd love to know.)

So where is Melania's leather treasure trove this spin in the White House? Has she totally given up leather like she gave up fur in 2017? No. She wore a leather pencil skirt on Mother's Day 2025, and a cream Mackage leather trenchcoat for Easter earlier in April. But the love affair with leather doesn't seem as fervent thus far into the term. We expect that to change as fall rolls around and leather jackets in a variety of colors become a fashion staple.