This Melania Trump Outfit Left People Scratching Their Heads Because Of One Weird Accessory

No one's wardrobe can divide people like Melania Trump's can. The first lady is frequently splitting opinions on social media with her lavish sartorial rotations, which some camps adore for their glamour and others find ostentatious. Then there's the controversy tied to her looks, like the inappropriate shoes that once landed Melania Trump in hot water. But all parties seemed unanimously confused back in 2019 when Melania sported a strange look that turned heads.

The scene was the State of the Union Address. It was deep into winter, and the first lady was appropriately decked out in a chic coat. But while she had a pair of gloves that teamed well with the rest of the look, she was photographed wearing only one of them. "So, Melania's wearing one glove tonight?" one X (formerly Twitter) user queried in response to the footage. While Melania hasn't come out to explain why she was only wearing one glove, fans on social media rushed to her defense, arguing that this was not one of the times when the Trump women's outfits meant more than it seemed.

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"The other glove is in her left hand," another X user commented. "She removed it to shake hands which is the polite thing to do." Others also pointed out that she was holding the other glove, so taking it off must have been a temporary move. It's not a strict requirement of shaking hands to be glove-free, but there are several other reasons why Melania might have taken off her glove, from wanting to use her phone to simply feeling hot. It's possible that the cameras caught her while she was in the process of taking the other glove off, so as weird as this look was on the surface, there was probably a simple explanation.

Speaking to WWD, Melania Trump's stylist Hervé Pierre noted that gloves were an intentional part of the look, and they were "very first lady, and very appropriate." With that in mind, we'd assume that Melania only took the glove off briefly, and for a specific purpose. "It fits her very well," Pierre went on about the first lady's look. "I didn't do any alterations. We buttoned it and she looked perfect. Adding the gloves, there is something very chic about the outfit."

The missing glove wasn't the only element that made some brand this as one of Melania Trump's most inappropriate outfits. Her coat came from Burberry, a British designer. As discussions regarding Brexit were rife at the time, some speculated whether Melania was making a statement with her designer choice, but Pierre dismissed those claims too. "As long as I find the right outfit, the designer is almost irrelevant," he told WWD. "The designer, well, is Burberry, but it could have been anybody else. It has nothing to do with England or Brexit. If I would have to think of all these things when I look at dresses and outfits, I would lose my mind." The stylist added that even though folks on social media would "go on about Brexit or whatever," there was nothing to read into here.

Viewers also noted that Melania opted for a dark, wintry palette for the State of the Union Address even though women from both sides of the political spectrum were encouraged to wear white in tribute to the suffragette movement. "And she wears black," one X user remarked. But judging from Pierre's comments, this too may have simply been about fashion rather than politics.