Yet almost everyone missed the change. Which is in itself worth noting.

All the posturing that took place among designers a year ago about not dressing Mrs. Trump seems to have gone the way of Sean Spicer. (What can you do? She buys her clothes.) There were no complaints about the fact she wore not a single Asian designer while in Asia. Nor did people complain that she also wore very few American brands. There was no upset over the cost of her wardrobe, which ran well into the tens of thousands of dollars, and the elitism that implies.

In part this may be because there is so much else going on that it can seem pointlessly distracting to pay any attention at all to what the first lady wears. But given the limited exposure of Mrs. Trump, and her carefully chosen and calibrated public appearances, the foreign trip provided a rare concentrated opportunity for understanding the strategic thinking in the East Wing, which has something to do with the West Wing.

She may also have received less scrutiny because of … Hope Hicks, White House communications czar, and her tuxedo.