Framing Melania: Fashion, culture and politics among the populist right

This essay argues for the importance of the critical analysis of Melania Trump’s sartorial choices as visual forms of political communication. Prior research has explored how the clothing worn by American First Ladies has been politicized. Building on these insights, this study reveals how Melania Trump’s ensembles have been strategically framed for readers of Breitbart , one of the alt-right’s most formidable media outlets. Combining textual and visual analyses of a long-running fashion column on Breitbart , the essay identifies three interrelated typological elements in its approach to framing: aristocratization (or elite self-fashioning), antagonistic duality (or an us/them worldview) and militarization (an embrace of military values and culture). This framing strategy provides ballast against perceived threats to American greatness.