At first glance, it was easy to wonder whether Melania Trump had dressed for a funeral instead of her husband’s presidential inauguration Monday, but her very dark-looking coat, pencil skirt and wide-brimmed hat were actually navy, not black.

Still, there were lots of dark-looking colors donned by the women in Donald Trump’s family at his swearing-in ceremony in the U.S. Capitol rotunda — a curious choice given that Monday was supposed to mark a celebratory day for his stunning return to power in Washington, D.C., and across America’s cultural landscape. Melania Trump has also expressed delight at the prospect of returning to her duties as first lady.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office as Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump look on during inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) 

In a certain light, Melania Trump’s tailored ensemble, by New York City designer Adam Lippes, looked black. The wide brim of her hat also created a brief, awkward moment, when Trump struggled to have his lips reach her cheeks for a kiss before he took his oath of office. At certain angles, Ivanka Trump’s deep-forest-green ensemble and beret-style hat also looked almost black.

But if the incoming first lady and her stepdaughter were not wearing black, the ensembles donned by daughter Tiffany Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump and granddaughter Kai Trump also appeared to be somber, even funereal looking.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: (L-R) Melania Trump, Tiffany Trump, Ivanka Trump, Vanessa Trump and Jared Kushner greet U.S. President Barack Obama as he arrives for the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. In today’s inauguration ceremony Donald J. Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) 

This dark color palette is certainly in contrast to what the Trump women wore to his first inauguration in 2017. Melania Trump wore a now-iconic, baby-blue Ralph Lauren dress and jacket — “a nod ” to Jackie Kennedy’s ensemble during John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Inauguration, Harper’s Bazaar wrote. Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, meanwhile, both chose suffragette white.

Now, eight years later, the Trump women dressed far more soberly, with some traditions associating black and other dark colors with darkness, evil and death. The only notable exception to this dark palette on the Trump dais was J.D. Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, dressed in Barbie pink, and green-clad U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer from Nebraska, who helped plan Trump’s inauguration.

Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump, Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. attend the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 

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Of course, black can also be a power color, projecting authority and even domination. Perhaps that’s what Melania, Ivanka, Lara and Tiffany Trump were going for.

The dark colors chosen by Trump’s family also reflected elements of his inaugural address. His aides said his speech would be optimistic and hopeful, but it was in many ways “a redux of his 2017 ‘American Carnage’ address,” according to the New York Times’s Jonathan Swan. On Monday, the 47th president ticked off a list of grievances, claimed that America’s recent leadership was incompetent and corrupt and described America “as a catastrophic mess of crime and chaos,” reporter David Sanger added. His lament about the state of the nation also included the false claim that the devastating fires in Los Angeles burned “without a token defense,” as the Associated Press noted.

Trump also used pretty striking language to described how he survived a gunman’s attempt to assassinate him in Butler, Pennsylvania in July. “I was saved by God to make America great again,” Trump said to applause.

Trump similarly presented himself as the one person who can fix all of America’s problems. He announced that his return to the Oval Office would herald in a new “golden age for America.” But as he said this, outgoing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t join in the applause. Harris, notably, also appeared to be dressed in black.

Former US Vice President Kamala Harris (L) listens to US President Donald Trump deliver his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States inside the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)