FACT CHECK: Did Melania Trump Wear A Dress Featuring Drawings By Sexual Abuse Survivors?
An image shared on Facebook claims the dress First Lady Melania Trump wore at Mount Rushmore featured drawings by survivors of child sexual abuse.
Verdict: False
The sketches on the McQueen dress were made by art students during a life drawing class, not by survivors of child sexual abuse.
Fact Check:
Media outlets have frequently reported on Trump’s wardrobe choices throughout her tenure as first lady, and her dress choice for her and the president’s visit to Mount Rushmore was no exception. Multiple media outlets published articles detailing social media criticism of the dress Trump wore on July 3 at South Dakota’s 2020 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration.
Some social media users appeared to defend the first lady’s fashion choice by saying the dress was designed “using sketches drawn by victims of child sexual abuse to describe their feelings.” (RELATED: No, Ivanka Trump Didn’t Wear A Shirt With A Swastika-Like Trump Logo)
“People have been making fun of Melania’s dress. They said it looked like President Trump scribbled on it with a marker,” reads one such post. “Did you know it’s actually a dress designed by Alexander McQueen using sketches drawn by victims of child sexual abuse to describe their feelings?? Our First Lady is amazing and gorgeous! Such class.”
The dress that Trump wore is, in fact, part of McQueen’s Spring 2020 collection, but the design did not come from survivors of child sexual abuse. Students from the British art school Central Saint Martins drew the “dancing girls” sketches in the design as part of a drawing class at McQueen’s London flagship store, according to Paper Magazine. Fashion illustrator Julie Verhoeven led the life drawing class, and the entire McQueen team hand-stitched part of the design onto the dress, Vogue reported.
“The continuous, spontaneous sketches of dancing girls by Central Saint Martins MA students, created during a life drawing class held at the Alexander McQueen educational space in London this year, is the source of these motifs,” the official Alexander McQueen Facebook page posted in March.
