If you weren’t convinced of the fabulousness of First Lady Melania Trump before her 9-day foreign trip, you’re certainly aware now. Not only did she dress impeccably but it was obvious that this wise woman put so much thought into what she would wear on this overseas trip. Who wasn’t proud to see our beautiful and smart First Lady in appropriate and stylish outfits every day. She won us over in a big way and made the designers who refused to dress her look like schmucks. She needs no one to hold her hand to put together a wardrobe…If anything, First Lady Melania Trump proved to the naysayers that you can be beautiful AND smart…Well done!

Richard Johnson of the New York Post: Melania Trump is proving to the fashion designers who said they wouldn’t help her that dressing well is the best revenge.

The first lady’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the Vatican, Belgium and Sicily — wearing mostly Dolce & Gabbana — was a fashion tour de force that has forced many naysayers in the rag trade to rethink.

The list of designers who said they wouldn’t dress Melania is long, led by Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Christian Siriano and Sophie Theallet.

But Melania has managed to look smashing in dozens of different ensembles, from her white Ralph Lauren jumpsuit on election night to the D&G 3-D floral coat she wore in Sicily on Friday.

Defending the former model against critics who harped on the garment’s $51,500 cost, the Washington Post’s Robin Givhan opined, “Frankly, the floral coat is beautiful.”

Givhan gets that Melania Trump is one smart woman who coordinated her fashion according to the place she was visiting:

Givhan reported: “Clothes can be deeply symbolic. And Trump’s choice of Dolce & Gabbana — an Italian brand that has been deeply inspired by Sicilian culture — for a trip to Sicily makes sense. Gabbana also has been quite vocal and enthusiastic in his willingness to associate his brand with the first lady“

There is a softening, a melting,” stylist Phillip Bloch told me. “Fashion people are fickle and fake. They are starting to see she is a beautiful woman who is married to the president, and it is an honor to dress her.”

Deliveries to Trump Tower have picked up. “Most days, the lobby is brimming with wardrobe boxes delivered for Melania,” a source told me. “Once she tries on the outfits and decides what she will keep, the boxes come back downstairs.”

Not since Jacqueline Kennedy has there been a first lady who needs less help.

“She doesn’t need couture. She can buy off the rack, and it looks beautiful,” Bloch said. “She knows her size, and she knows what works on her. She luxuriates in minimal.”

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