Melania Trump's Color Choice at Rosalynn Carter's Funeral Sparks a First Lady Wardrobe Debate

On Tuesday, all five of the living former first ladies attended the memorial service in honor of Rosalynn Carter. The wife of former President Jimmy Carter passed away on Nov. 19 at the age of 96, but it’s not her honorable life everyone is talking about — it’s Melania Trump’s choice of wardrobe.

During the service, the women were in the front row in order of their years in the White House, except for Dr. Jill Biden, who sat next to her husband, President Joe Biden. The women, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Jill, chose to wear an all-black ensemble to honor Rosalynn, but Donald Trump’s wife is being called out for wearing a light gray coat instead — some people felt like it was “disrespectful” to those in mourning. 

More from SheKnows

• Melania Trump's Ex-BF Detailed Whether Her Life in the US Was Ever Something She Dreamed About, Per Resurfaced Reports

The debate grew on X, formerly Twitter, when one account wrote about Melania’s wardrobe with a photo of her sitting next to the other first ladies, “Turns out Melania is every bit as disrespectful and lacking in class as her husband.” Surprisingly, Melania met more support than some people might think. One account jumped to her defense, noting, “What kind of man worries about how a woman that he has never met is dressed…?” Another user added, “No, what’s tacky & lacking in class is taking what was supposed to be a day of remembrance for the death of a former First Lady and making the conversation about the color of someone’s clothes. Ridiculous.”

And they have a strong point. No one should be policing women’s wardrobes, especially when Melania’s coat color fell under the guidelines of what is appropriate at a funeral. “Wearing dark grey or deep blue is just as appropriate as black, while brown and lighter greys are suitable for the vast majority of funeral services,” advised Stark Funeral Services on their website. And others pointed out that Hillary didn’t wear all black to Barbara Bush’s funeral and neither did Rosalynn to Richard Nixon’s services.

The only thing that matters is that all of our former first ladies set their politics aside for the day and showed up to honor the life of Rosalynn Carter.

Before you go, click here to see the best presidential love stories in U.S. history.

Best of SheKnows

• All the Celebrity Couples Who Broke Up This Year

• All the Stars We've Lost in 2023

• 17 Actors Who Lied To Land a Role in a Movie or TV Show

Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.