On Tuesday September 16, Donald Trump and Melania Trump touched down in the United Kingdom for their second-ever official state visit. It is the first time a U.S. president has been invited to the U.K. for a second time, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer presented him with a handwritten invite from King Charles in the Oval Office back in February. Their two days of events have yielded a number of looks from the First Lady, fashion that speaks to both her willingness to play ball in some more diplomatic dressing, to dramatic statements of American power.
Melania first stepped off of Air Force One into the cold British air and onto the tarmac at London Stansted Airport, wearing a tightly cinched Burberry Kensington Heritage trench coat, Saint Laurent flat top sunglasses, and Christian Dior Empreinte leather riding boots.
Trump is a documented fan of the heritage British fashion label, with a collection of both short and floor-skimming Burberry trenches in the signature sand color, as well as duck egg blue and brown suede coats. On her last official visit to the UK in 2019, she wore a red, white, and blue silk pussy-bow Burberry blouse, as well as a Princess Diana-coded tailored white pencil dress and boater hat to visit Buckingham Palace, and a Dior couture white column dress with stately elbow-length white gloves to attend the state banquet hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth.
The Trumps were welcomed by King Charles III and Queen Camilla, as well as Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Princess William during their first full day. Melania wore a tailored gray skirt suit by Dior, in a shape that has become one of her most recognizable and failsafe silhouettes, with pointed shoulders and a nipped-in waist, her demure pencil skirt falling just below her knee. She paired it with matching dark pumps, and a dramatic, drop brim hat by Dior in a dark shade of mauve. It was a look that aligned with that of Kate Middleton, who stuck to her own go-to royal uniform in a a burgundy Emilia Wickstead coat dress, a matching hat by London-based label Jane Taylor, and a well-loved Chanel top-handle bag. Melania’s hat also complemented the shade of her husband’s tie.
A dramatic hat has long been a key component of the Melania Trump compendium of First Lady style. Her wide, statement headpiece recalled the face-eschewing and austere boater-style chapeau designed by Eric Javitts, which she wore to Trump’s second inauguration.
Last night (September 17) at the state dinner, the First Lady wore a canary yellow off-the-shoulder gown with a lilac belt from Carolina Herrera, which she styled with large emerald earrings and a pair of nude, pointy-toe pumps. The label, helmed by American designer Wes Gordon, produces their clothing in New York. (Though Gordon chose not to show the brand’s spring 2026 collection during New York Fashion Week. Instead, he will present it tomorrow in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor.)
In her second tenure as First Lady of the United States, Trump has leaned more into the work of American designers. She wore a navy suit and skirt by U.S. designer Adam Lippes and paired it with a somber, flat wide-brim hat for her husband’s second inauguration, and for the U.S. army’s 250th anniversary celebrations—and husband Donald’s 79th birthday—she wore an ivory and navy pinstripe twill suit from Lippes’s spring summer 2025 collection. The First Lady also wore a Ralph Lauren cummerbund with suit trousers for her White House portrait, and for the Fourth of July celebrations, she opted for a cotton poplin a-line white shirt dress by Thom Browne, the signature red, white, and blue stripes sitting on the hips. At another more recent appearance at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, she kept a relatively low profile in a Michael Kors collection black crepe blazer and white pencil skirt. A woman of few words but of more considered sartorial choices, it has felt like a deliberate move in line with her husband’s policies and brutal tariffs that he hopes will urge people to “buy American.”
Still, Trump will often keep her favored European designers close with her key accessories: her beloved Manolo Blahnik BB pumps for one, her suite of Hermès Kelly bags, and myriad of Dior, Dolce Gabbana, Christian Louboutin, and Saint Laurent ephemera.
The Trumps spent the night at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, Winfield House, in central London, and today, will head into a packed schedule of grand visits, red carpets, and Royal engagements that involves all senior members of the Royal family, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, Catherine Princess of Wales, and Prince William. The Trumps will be hosted at Windsor Castle, with a full ceremonial welcome and a state banquet, as is tradition.
Today (September 18), Melania continued her engagements and accompanied Queen Camilla to a visit and tour of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House and the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Trump opted for an austere, caramel brown leather skirt suit with floral embroidered lapels and a scalloped hemline, which she paired with nude textured pumps by Manolo Blahnik.
Then, Trump joined Catherine, the Princess of Wales—Kate Middleton—at Frogmore Gardens, where they will met the Chief Scout Dwayne Fields and members of the Scouts’ Squirrels organization. Kate opted for a decidedly more low-key—yet still polished—country-casual look, wearing a khaki jacket by Me+Em, brown mid-length skirt from Ralph Lauren, and brown suede boots. Beside her, Trump wore a suede brown, belted Ralph Lauren jacket with cropped cream pants and nude leather ballet flats. It was her second call back to an American designer, following her Carolina Herrera evening-wear at the state dinner.
The Melania Trump fashion playbook for season two of the Trump presidency is as to be expected: Conservative, sharp, American-made—but with their unprecedented second state visit and a glut of engagements to attend, it looks like the First Lady has been happy to play polite and British. Bidding farewell to the Royal Family and Britain today, Melania is back to ensconcing herself in her favored U.S. designers.
