Melania Trump, Off to Texas, Finds Herself on Thin Heels
Though by the time the plane had landed Mrs. Trump looked altogether more grounded, in white sneakers
and crisp white shirt, with a ponytail pulled through a black baseball cap emblazoned with the word “FLOTUS,” during her time in the air the original shoes went from being mere footwear to objects of vilification thanks to social media’s specific kind of alchemy.
Or so became apparent Tuesday morning when President Trump
and his wife left the White House to fly to Texas for a briefing on the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, and Mrs. Trump appeared on the lawn in black pegged trousers, black shades, an olive green bomber jacket — and her stilettos, now a trademark.
Nothing says I’m in touch with the people like... https://t.co/ZD6cEfG0LS
In response to the critical reaction, Stephanie Grisham, Mrs. Trump’s communications director, emailed the following statement: “It’s sad
that we have an active and ongoing natural disaster in Texas, and people are worried about her shoes.”
That’s a fair point, to a certain extent.
But to dismiss all this as merely much ado about heels, or an example of the pettiness of our divided electorate, is to ignore the reality of the current conversation around the president — to pretend not to notice how sensitized everyone has become to his unpredictable reactions to major events,
and to deny the power of the telling detail to invite applause, condemnation or misinterpretation.
Mrs. Trump’s heels, after all — they appear to be classic Manolo Blahniks — are redolent of a certain clichéd kind of
femininity: decorative, impractical, expensive, elitist (all adjectives often associated with the brand “Trump”).
