EXCLUSIVEWhy Melania Trump might finally be a Vogue cover girl this time around as First Lady after being snubbed by Anna Wintour
Bestselling biographer Jerry Oppenheimer is the author of Anna Wintour: The Cool Life and Hot Times of Vogue's Editor-in-Chief.
She was famously iced out by 'Nuclear Wintour' during her initial stint as First Lady eight years ago.
And now that President Donald Trump is back in office, fashion insiders feared that long-reigning Vogue editor Anna Wintour, 70, infamous for her frosty demeanor and anti-Trump politics, will once again exclude glamorous Melania, 54, from the cover of the fashion bible for another four years.
As a well-connected Vogue source told DailyMail.com: 'If past is prelude, Anna's going to put her Manolo Blahnik foot down and likely blacklist Melania like she did during the first Trump presidency.'
But there seems to be a major shift this time around.
With corporate America abandoning the woke and progressive politics of the failed Biden administration for the new world of MAGA, staunch Democrat, left-leaning Anna – whom sources say has long suffered from Trump Derangement Syndrome – is getting serious pushback from her magazine's corporate parent, Conde Nast, when the topic of Vogue's cover and the Republican first lady come up.
Anna, famed for ruling her fashion domain with an iron fist in a velvet glove, serves as the editor-in-chief and global editorial director of Vogue with 25 domestic and foreign editions of the magazine under her Gucci belt.
However, she still must report to Conde Nast global media company CEO Roger Lynch, 62, appointed in 2019, and the former president and CEO of the music streaming service Pandora, as well as the founding CEO of Sling TV.

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Melania Trump was infamously snubbed by Vogue's legendary editor Anna Wintour during her first term as first lady

But there's a chance Melania could appear on the cover of the magazine during the Trumps' second term now that executives want to be 'on the good side of the commander-in-chief this time around,' a well-connected source told Dailymail.com
And like other chief executives and corporate leaders - the likes of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google Honcho Sundar Pichel, Apple kingpin Tim Cook, and others who have bent the knee to Trump since the election, – 'Conde Nast executives, too, want to be on the good side of the commander-in-chief this time around,' a well-connected source told Dailymail.com.
'It's clear that they would want Anna to play nice with Melania, treat her with the respect that as first lady she rightfully deserves,' the source said.
And that would entail 'Anna breaking bread with Melania' and inviting the chic and gorgeous 5' 11'' former model first lady to pose for the cover, ending a long-simmering feud between the two powerful fashionistas.
'The thing is, independent-minded Melania may just tell Anna to take her cover and stuff it,' the source speculated.
The tide already seems to be turning when it comes to the long-standing anti-Trump sentiment among corporate America and Silicon Valley, with several tech leaders - and their fashionable wives and girlfriends - agreeing to attend the Inauguration last week.
Vogue magazine itself even published a round-up of the most stylish looks on Inauguration Day on social media, featuring Melania's custom navy silk wool coat dress and designer boater hat in its coverage.
Melania once made it clear that there are more important things in her regal life than being on Vogue's cover.
After leaving the White House following Biden's slim win in 2020, Melania went public, charging in an interview with Fox News Channel's Pete Hegseth that Vogue was 'biased' for not placing her on the cover during her tenure, but putting First Lady Jill Biden center stage.

Vogue itself even published a round-up of the most stylish looks on Inauguration Day on social media, featuring Melania's custom navy silk wool coat dress and designer boater hat in its coverage

Shortly before Biden, 82, turned over the White House to Trump and Melania, he presented Wintour with the U.S.'s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom

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Meanwhile, former first ladies Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have been featured on the cover of Vogue multiple times
'They are biased, and they have likes and dislikes, and it's so obvious,' Melania said at the time.
'And I think American people and everyone see it - and I have much more important things to do…than being on the cover of Vogue.'
In 2005, however, she made the cover after her marriage to Trump and was featured in her wedding dress.
Wintour, in a CNN interview, was once asked how her magazine chooses for the cover.
'You have to stand up for what you believe in,' she said.
'You have to take a point of view. Our readers and audience respect us…I don't think you can try to please everybody all the time.'
Melania, however, is said to be furious that she was ignored by Wintour while other democratic first ladies, and even failed presidential hopeful Kamala Harris got the brass ring.
Just before Trump, 78, won an historic reelection and mandate last November, the Democratic candidate Harris, 60 - Joe Biden's mostly do-nothing vice president who replaced him because of his age and mental state - was featured on Vogue's cover as if she had already won the election; the cover line read, 'The Candidate For Our Times.'

The tide already seems to be turning when it comes to the long-standing anti-Trump sentiment among corporate America and Silicon Valley, with several tech leaders - and their fashionable wives and girlfriends - agreeing to attend the Inauguration last week

Despite being snubbed by the fashion bible, Melania has often been praised for her sense of style. In 2017, Ralph Lauren came to her rescue on Inauguration Day where she donned her now iconic powder-blue double-face cashmere dress and coat

Melania is a former industry insider; she once graced the cover of US Vogue swathed in a $100,000 Christian Dior haute couture gown.
Inside, the story noted that Harris's outfit on the last night of the Democratic National Convention made her look presidential.
'The look was military, judicial, stabilizing, powerful: an advance vision of the commander in chief.'
And shortly before Biden, 82, turned over the White House to Trump and Melania, he presented Wintour with the U.S.'s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which some say was 'pay back' for her years of staunch support, and for placing mostly Democrat first ladies on the cover.
Former first lady Michelle Obama graced the cover of Vogue at least three times because, according to Wintour, she made 'the White house a place for everyone.'
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was the first of the first ladies to be featured on Vogue's cover in the wake of Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s.
Most recently, Jill Biden was given the full Wintour royal Vogue treatment, with expectations that her husband Joe would win re-election for a second term.
The magazine's coverline read, 'Dr. Jill Biden, A First Lady For All Of Us,' shot by the famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz.
A divorcee who is said to have a net worth of $50million, Wintour took over U.S. Vogue in 1988, after a stint at running British Vogue where she earned the snarky 'Nuclear Wintour' sobriquet from the press and her staff for her tough management style, and her 'mean girl' treatment of female staffers.

Failed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was even featured on Vogue's cover in October 2024 as if she had already won the election
As one editor told me for my 2004 book on Anna's life, Front Row: 'It was pure harassment and bullying…she treated everyone, except her own little coterie, like trash.
'You could tell she got off on it…and for what? Power. Power's Anna's aphrodisiac. I mean, Vogue's just a fashion magazine, a catalog to sell clothes, for God's sake.
'And people had to be tormented so she could get a pat on the bum…and get Grace Mirabella's job,' the editor added, referring to Anna's predecessor at American Vogue.
Despite her controversial reign at British Vogue, Wintour was honored in 2008 as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), by Queen Elizabeth's at Buckingham Palace for her 'distinguished career.'
Meanwhile, as a close source notes: 'If Melania, a seasoned model with elegance and class was married to a Democrat, she'd probably be featured on Vogues' cover more than once, and be Anna's BFF.'