Is that so, isn't it?
On Tuesday, eBay's listing surfaced and offered to sell Melania Trump wedding dresses. The one designed by John Galliano for Dior Couture costing over $100,000, was worn by the first lady at Mar-A-Lago's wedding with Donald J. Trump and featured in February 2005 on her only Vogue cover.
The dress, which identifies herself as SVJABC1 and sells for a price of $45,000 by a woman in Massapequa, New York, is said to be “made of Duchess satin,” featuring a huge 90-meter skirt and a “silhouette that fits the figure” embroidered with 1,500 Swarovski diamonds. According to the list, the seller bought a dress from Mrs. Trump for her wedding in 2010 for $70,000. Perhaps to demonstrate similarity, there is no evidence of authenticity except for 21 photos that highlight the swirling train and Diamante embroidery juxtaposed with the famous Vogue cover.
The magazine's story, which described Mrs. Trump searching for her gown during the couture show, also included many details about the dress that had been resurfaced in the sale, including the fact that it produced the news at the time and took 550 hours to weigh 60 pounds.
Almost immediately, the news was accepted by many outlets, declaring, “I can buy a Melania Trump wedding dress” (audience) and “How much will I pay for a Melania Trump wedding dress?” (cut). As of Wednesday morning, the list had been “monitored” by 224 people.
Aside from the fact that the seller admits on the list that she made “some changes” to the gown, this means that more satin, more embroidery, straps and more, it looks just like Mrs. Trump's gown. There's another problem. “I kept my gown in Palm Beach,” designer Helbe Pierre, Mrs. Trump's longtime stylist (he created inauguration gowns in 2017 and 2025), said of her wedding dress.
And we added “2 years ago.”
Neither the first lady's office nor the seller responded to multiple requests for comments. Similarly, Dior declined to comment on the dress, noting that its policy is not to discuss interactions with couture clients. However, the spokesman pointed out that couture gowns always come with labels and numbers. To authenticate it, he said they need to see the dress in person.
Pierre said the wedding dress she kept in Florida for Mrs. Trump had labels on the sides and a ribbon with a reference number. There is no label in multiple close-ups of gowns sold on eBay.
Alexis Hoopes, eBay's Vice President of Fashion, said the company was founded on trust and mentioned an extensive reliability guarantee policy covering watches, handbags, jewelry, streetwear, sneakers and trading cards, but admitted that the warranty programme doesn't reach “problematic items.”
Still, the decision to use eBay to sell historic clothing is a distinctive, despite its altered look, Cameron Silver, owner of a vintage boutique in Los Angeles, has said for decades.
“I always propose an auction house for historical clothing of origin,” he said. Companies like Christie auctioned off people like Audrey Hepburn, with Julian in London selling Princess Diana's gowns, while Kelly Taylor auctions featured clothing from Elizabeth Taylor, Leslie Carron and Jerry Hall.
Wristen first called attention through Liana Satinstein's subsack, Neverworns. Satinstein said he was looking for a vintage wedding dress and recognized it through his friend Patricia Torvalds, who was dealing with the seller. Torvalds said the seller, who has been on eBay since November 2021, moved 119 items and raised the dress from another friend who claimed to know Mrs. Trump, who had moved 119 items and had a positive feedback rating of 98.8%.
According to an eBay message between the two women seen by the New York Times, the seller said the label was taken out when the dress was changed by the tailor and was never exchanged. (She also lists many other items on eBay, including a diamond wedding band made as a replica of one of Mrs. Trump wore on her wedding day.) She said she has received many messages from people interested in the gown and its origins. Nevertheless, the list is still up.
It is unknown where the dress might actually come. Often, once a well-known figure gets married in public and the gown is featured in a magazine like Vogue, it is copied and sold by any number of bridal designers. The original dress may have been sold as it was inspired by the appearance of Galliano's “Empress Sisi” Dior Couture collection in February 2004.
In any case, the willingness of many people to accept the idea that the dress may belong to Mrs. Trump, and that she is willing to sell her wedding gown — the clothing that most people maintain forever is generally accepted — reflects mixed feelings about Trump, their relationships, and the precedent they set in monetizing their lives.
Indeed, Mrs. Trump herself sells gems, ornaments and her own memo coins through her website. In 2022, in a break with First Lady's precedent, she auctioned off another historic garment from her wardrobe, rather than making a donation to the National Archives. This is the white hat worn in 2018 during the Trump administration when he visited the French state.
Of course, at the time of that sale, the First Lady made sure to sign the hat in case there was doubt about where it came from.
