The White House has unveiled the first official portrait of First Lady Melania Trump, and it’s attracting a lot of interest.
The photographic portrait was released along with Mrs Trump’s official bio, which celebrates her career as a model who appeared in “high profile ad campaigns and worked with some of the top photographers in the fashion industry”.
“She has graced the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, Ocean Drive, Avenue, In Style, and New York Magazine,” the bio says. “Her major layouts include the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Allure, Vogue, Self, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Elle.”
It goes on to list her philanthropic achievements, and says that the First Lady’s a successful entrepreneur who has launched her own jewellery collection.
“Mrs Trump cares deeply about issues impacting women and children, and she has focused her platform as First Lady on the problem of cyber bullying among our youth,” the bio says.
Pledging to launch an anti-cyber bullying campaign was one of the First Lady’s highest-profile moments during the presidential election, although it was derided at the time because of her husband’s own penchant for using Twitter to insult people.
But the statement released by the White House with the official portrait – which says the picture of the First Lady was “taken at her new residence at the White House” – is a new source of complaint, as Mrs Trump has so far declined to move into the official residence. Instead, she has remained in New York while Trump’s son, Barron, goes to school there.
That the White House says Mrs Trump is a resident, when it appears she is not, at least yet, attracted the most attention on Twitter, in part because the cost of maintaining security around the First Family’s residence at Trump Tower in New York is a sore point for many Trump opponents.
https://twitter.com/RexHuppke/status/848939004670201856
https://twitter.com/JRMcGrail/status/848938753699835904
Some contrasted the new first lady’s portrait to the understated one released by Michelle Obama when she moved into the White House.
Others thought the heavy airbrushing and ‘power pose’ in Mrs’ Trump’s portrait was somewhat outdated.
https://twitter.com/NoEscalators/status/848942835747495937
But plenty of tweeters complimented Mrs Trump for her good looks.
https://twitter.com/karliesl/status/848948236090056704