Melania Trump’s stylist Hervé Pierre reveals: She's an extraordinary woman

Faithful from the start, Hervé Pierre is the stylist who dressed the First Lady during her four years in the White House. In an interview with WWD on Monday, January 18, Pierre talks about his first meeting with Melania Trump and mentions the “I really don't care” jacket and all the exchanges with the former First Lady.

Their collaboration started in a "unexpected" way. The French stylist went over this adventure with Melania at the White House in an interview. “It was an honor to dress the First Lady (...), he declared. I first met her on January 3 (2017, through a mutual friend) and on January 7, she asked me to draw her outfit for the inauguration ceremony, four years ago”. Pierre Herve had eleven days to complete the fittings and deliver the designs on time.

“She didn't give me a lot of information, so I was moving in the fog” he joked, not to mention that the former artistic director of Carolina Herrera is used to working behind the scenes. In February 2018, Hervé Pierre launched the Atelier Caito label, in partnership with the model maker Nicolas Caito. “I'm a designer, so styling was something I didn't really master,” admits Hervé Pierre. “I had to learn doing the job.

I said to Melania, "You know, I'm not a stylist," and she said, "I'm not a First Lady either, so we'll learn together”.

"Confidential" information

If Hervé Pierre spent a big part of his career working from Manhattan, he started at the end of the 1980s at Balmain, under the support of Erik Mortensen, artistic director of the house. The designer is far from imagining that he will dress First Ladies like Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama (especially for a dinner with François Hollande, in 2014) ... and, later, Melania Trump, with whom many designers refuse to collaborate. Donald Trump's wife will never be able to wear designs signed by Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Dior or Alexander McQueen.

For Melania Trump, Hervé Pierre is responsible for finding outfits "adapted to cultures and countries in particular". The key to nail his job? Keep information, such as the First Lady's schedule, strictly “confidential”. Asked about the impact of this role of stylist of the First Lady on his career as a designer, he confirms that these two "identities" never intertwined. “We also have very important Democratic clients” he said of his Atelier Caito label.

“Having a pretty dress is not enough"

Hervé Pierre already cherishes the memory of his collaboration with Melania Trump, whom he describes as an “extraordinary woman”. And gives some advice to his successor: "The new stylist of the First Lady will have to ask her:" What color will the decor be? " when she gives a speech. Having a pretty dress is not enough. What matters is how well it looks on camera. For a public figure, the image is frozen forever. It is important to get a nice photo. I'm not saying I nailed it every single time though.”

Since the end of Donald Trump's rule, Hervé Pierre has ensured the preservation of certain outfits worn by the First Lady during official engagements, such as the white dress stamped Dior that she wore to dinner at Buckingham Palace. The stylist will continue his collaboration with the ex-First Lady in the years to come.

However, one question remains unanswered: is he responsible for the Zara jacket “I don't care, do you?” sported by Melania Trump during a visit to the children of migrants on the Texas border in 2018? The answer is no. Hervé Pierre even thought, for a moment, that the photo had been photo-shopped. A Note to be taken to his successor: a fashion faux pas can quickly happen.