Brimful of menace? Melania strikes sombre note at Trump inauguration

While the first lady seemed less than keen to pick up the traditional fashion baton, Ivanka was happy to step in

• Donald Trump inauguration – live updates

In the Capitol rotunda, the incoming first lady was nowhere to be seen. Technically, Melania Trump was in attendance, but she chose to make herself almost invisible. Her dark boater hat was worn so low that it threw her entire face into shadow, and made eye contact with cameras or guests impossible.

Matched with severe, high-necked tailoring, it was a startlingly sombre fashion choice on what might have been expected to be a day of joy for the wife of the new president. Melania, who absented herself from the limelight for long stretches of Trump’s first term, seemed to show little more enthusiasm about the second. “Dark Maga” and “mob wife at a funeral” were among the verdicts on social media.

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