Sign up for Inside Washington’s daily email to get exclusive U.S. reporting and analysis delivered straight to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Get our free Inside Washington email
Former First Lady Melania Trump’s memoirs went on pre-sale last Friday and the cover is causing a stir as it resembles Chanel catwalk – a fashion book that has been on the market for years.
The title of the book, Melaniaappears in white on a plain black background on the cover. The design and font seem very similar to the 2020 book by French author Patrick Mauries. The Daily Beast noted.
According to the publisher Thames & Hudson, Chanel catwalk includes every collection designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld.
The Melania The cover title – in capital letters in white font, centered on a plain black background – is very similar to that of the Chanel book.
The former First Lady had already come under criticism in 2016 for copycat behavior after she apparently copied parts of Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic Party Convention for her own appearance at the Republican Party Convention.
The Independent has asked Melania Trump’s office for comment.
“Our lives are shaped by our experiences, challenges and successes. For the first time, I share my journey with you in my new memoir, Melania,” the former first lady wrote on X on August 25.
Her office describes the memoir, due out October 1, as a “powerful and inspiring story of a woman who forged her own path, overcame adversity and achieved personal excellence.”
Critics were not so sure about the memoirs’ monotonous message.
“Imagine the lady who was angry about not getting a Vogue cover as First Lady having her memoir without a photo of herself on the cover, like every other memoir in history,” journalist Victoria Brownworth posted on the social media site.
“It’s a right-wing, low-budget publisher, but still, couldn’t Trump have financed a photo cover for his third wife?”
“If you’re wondering who Melania’s book she copied from, here it is: she decided to copy Chanel,” said one X-user.
“I can’t wait to read her stories about growing up as an African American woman in Illinois,” said another account holder.
“Did Melania copy a Chanel book cover for her ‘Melania’ memoir? I don’t really care, but it’s fun to point it out. Melania had no problem plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech, so stealing a book cover is no big deal,” added author David Stone.
Trump’s memoir will be published by Skyhorse Publishing, a company that publishes works by allies of former President Donald Trump such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
The company also worked with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently dropped out of the 2024 White House race, and former Trump fixer and current critic Michael Cohen.
Although the former First Lady has not yet written a memoir, other books have been published about her, including one written by former adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
In her book Melania and IWolkoff described her time as a staff member for Melania Trump and her friendship with her.
Wolkoff wrote that Melania Trump often said, “It is not my priority to please anyone else.”
“As a pragmatist, she argued that since she had no control over other people’s thoughts, she couldn’t care what they believed,” added the author and former friend.
The announcement of the memoir in July said Melania Trump “invites readers into her world and offers an intimate portrait of a woman who lived an extraordinary life.”
The book was supported by Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who called Melania Trump a “patriotic treasure,” and by French First Lady Brigitte Macron, who described her former counterpart as “charming, intelligent and very open.”
A collector’s edition can be purchased on Melania Trump’s personal website for $150, a signed copy is available for $75, a regular copy costs $40, while the book is available on Amazon for $30.
