Shortly after Trump’s victory in November, designer Sophie Theallet urged her colleagues in the fashion world industry to boycott the Trumps and not to design clothing for or associate with the new First Lady in any way.
“The rhetoric of racism, sexism, and xenophobia unleashed by her husband’s presidential campaign are incompatible with the shared values we live by. I encourage my fellow designers to do the same,” she said.
But a number of iconic fashion designers are ignoring her and are reportedly scrambling for the chance to dress future First Lady Melania Trump for Inauguration Day which will take place on January 20, 2017.
New York socialite and philanthropist and Trump family friend Jean Shafiroff, who sits on the Couture Council of The Museum at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, took a poll to determine how interested designers were to dress Mrs. Trump.
Shafiroff told the New York Post that Zac Posen, B. Michael America, Victor de Souza, and Zang Toi are among the designers who say they’d be willing to dress the First Lady to-be. Calvin Klein and Stefano Gabbana have also shown interest in clothing Melania Trump.
De Souza even said he wouldn’t charge the first lady, according to Shafiroff claims.
B. Michael’s has made designs for Cicely Tyson, Beyoncé and Patti LaBelle. The Harlem-based designer told Shafiroff “he’d be honored” to work with the first lady.
“Any designer who dresses her will get enormous press,” Shafiroff said.
Last month, designer Calvin Klein said to TMZ “Of course” he would dress Melania Trump. “She’s beautiful.”
Stefano Gabbana (co-founder of Dolce & Gabbana) said he is very willing to dress Melania. He even showed off a dress Melania Trump wore to celebrate the New Year on his page.
The news comes after several world-renowned designers, including Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs, publicly declined to design clothing for Mrs. Trump.
“I have no interest whatsoever in dressing Melania Trump,” Jacobs told WWD in November.
