Melania Trump is dressing to impress – the Saudi Arabian delegation, that is.
The first lady wore an emerald green strapless Elie Saab gown on Tuesday, Nov. 18, for the black tie dinner the White House hosted to welcome Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The evening, one of the first official White House dinners with a foreign leader of President Donald Trump's second term, was closely watched because the Prince was once named by the CIA as having played a lead role in the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The first lady's attire was a rare form of showing public allegiance to her husband’s goals to strengthen ties with the country.
Melania Trump's presence, a rarity at many of the White House's official events, marked the importance of the occasion and her choice of fabrics even more so. The deep green of the dress looked swatched from the flag of Saudi Arabia, which is all one color, adorned with a white sword and an Arabic phrase translated to "There is no deity but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God."
The first lady has largely taken a backseat during her husband's second White House stint, breaking with tradition and winnowing her role as a messenger of the administration. Tuesday's dinner marked an aberration, not only in Melania Trump's color choice, but also in the message from the designer behind the ruched, floor-length gown.
