US President Donald Trump’s wife emerged from Air Force One in a sleek jumpsuit as it landed on Saudi Arabiaan soil on Saturday.
The Kingdom’s Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir was quoted as telling media Thursday that America’s First Lady and First Daughter won’t be required to dress conservatively or tone down their usual high-fashion look.
Women in Saudi Arabia, including foreign visitors, are expected to wear floor-length black dresses — not pants — that cover their entire bodies, including their legs and arms.
They should also wear a head scarf that covers their head and hides their hair. More conservative women wear veils that also cover their faces, save for a slit that makes their eyes visible.
The rules, however, apparently won’t apply to model-turned-FLOTUS Melania Trump. When asked if Melania would have to dress accordingly, Al-Jubeir said their government “usually doesn’t demand” but makes “suggestions.”
Yahoo! Style raised the question last week of whether Melania would have to don all black and a head scarf when she meets with members of the Saudi royal family for a dinner Saturday.
Melania is accompanying Trump on a five-country tour that also includes stops in Israel and Italy.
Their visit to Saudi Arabia comes as his administration reels from the fallout of his firing of FBI Director James Comey and after being accused of Islamaphobia for trying to impose a travel ban on people coming to the US from Muslim-majority nations (though Saudi Arabia wasn’t included in that ban).
Female dignitaries from Western countries have recently opted out of the Islamic country’s strict dress code, and they sometimes do so to make a statement, according to Yahoo! Style.
British Prime Minister Theresa May refused to wear a headscarf during a visit in early April. She wanted to be an inspiration to women in Saudi Arabia by showing people there “what women can achieve.”
May was in part defending her decision to visit the kingdom, given its misogynistic laws and traditions.
A few weeks later, German chancellor Angela Merkel also made a point to go to Saudi Arabia with her head uncovered, after her country’s Parliament approved a ban on civil servants, judges and soldiers wearing Islamic full-face veils at work.
Princess Diana shrugged off the head scarf back in the 1990s when she paid a visit to the Saudi king. Former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton also didn’t wear headscarves during their visits in 2008, 2012 and 2015.
For the most part, Michelle Obama didn’t either during a visit in 2015. Her choice to go without a headscarf sparked criticism, including the Twitter hashtag #Michelle_Obama_Immodest. However, she wore a scarf on her head when she and her husband toured a mosque in the Kingdom.
Former First Lady Laura Bush also opted to keep her head bare but was presented with the opportunity to try on a head scarf when she and her husband visited in 2007. She received a head scarf from a female Saudi doctor during an event in Jeddah and had her show her how to try it on.