First lady Melania Trump is weary of pundits who bury news of her initiatives with talk about clothes.
The “Be Best” campaign went international last week as Mrs. Trump visited Africa, but media covering the four-nation tour often spent time opining on the cultural messaging of her clothes.
A “colonial” hat she wore in Nairobi National Park in Kenya particularly irked critics.
“You know what, we just completed an amazing trip,” she said Saturday from Egypt. “We went to Ghana, we went to Malawi, Kenya, here we are in Egypt. I want to talk about my trip and not what about what I wear. It’s very important what we do, what I’m doing with U.S. aid, and what I do with my initiatives, and I wish people would focus on what I do, not what I wear.”
A CNN interview, for instance, featured St. Lawrence University historian and African Studies coordinator Matt Carotenuto likening her outfit to “[showing] up on an Alabama cotton farm in a Confederate uniform,” The Hollywood Reporter noted.
Al Jazeera English journalist Hamza Mohamed also criticized her ensemble on Twitter as “a symbol of European colonial rule across Africa.”
The first lady’s solo trip also highlighted USAID’s efforts to improve education in the region.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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