American power: what does her official portrait reveal about Melania 2.0?

At first glance, the official portrait of the returning Flotus – soft power stance, crisp, unbuttoned Dolce & Gabbana tux, the Washington monument soaring behind her – scans so neatly with the returning administration that you’d be hard pushed to find any clues as to who Melania 2.0 is.

After all, she wore a Dolce & Gabbana jacket for the same shot in 2017. The only real change this time is that she swapped the necktie for a black Ralph Lauren cummerbund, as if to sprinkle a little alpha patriotism into an otherwise blankly corporate get-up.

Yet as ever with an erstwhile model who prefers to parse her internal monologue through her wardrobe choices rather than anything with substance, speculate we must. Look closer, and there is plenty to start with.

Photographed by Régine Mahaux, a Paris-based Belgian photographer who also shot a smilier Trump in 2017, it’s the first time a first lady has been photographed in black and white since that became a choice. Obama, Clinton, both Bushes and Reagan were all shot in glorious colour. It’s a choice that could signify grief or tradition, but mostly invites us to view her independently, or businesslike, while foreshadowing the whitewashing to come.

Then there’s the stance – legs crossed under the table, French tips on top, that Lean In lean – which is somewhere between The Apprentice’s Sir Alan Sugar and House of Cards’ Claire Underwood. Even the soft-wave hair is a hybrid of sorts, based on the cultish style beloved by the Republican ladies because it’s expensive and requires a stylist: it’s feminine, even modern. Finally, there’s the face – that sphinx-like smize more guarded, more ambiguous than ever. At least she smiled in 2017.

The duties of the Flotus have never been clear. Other than a nebulous expectation that she should fit the role of American womanhood, the role is undefined and unpaid. The fact that she’s launched crypto, is working on a documentary and is now standing behind a desk suggests that she may well step out of the shadows this time.

Which is why the real clue is behind her. The famous obelisk is less a symbol of American democracy like the Statue of Liberty, and more a symbol of American power. Jutting up into the air of the imperial capital, it’s rigid, coolly austere and carries an air of menace. Sound familiar?