Melania Trump's Rare Curly Hairstyle Switched Up Her Whole Vibe

Today, Melania Trump is best known for her long, softly curled hairstyle, which she's sported her entire career as First Lady. Her personal brand is conservative and structured with a focus on old-school feminine looks and European designers. However, Melania Trump looked so different when she first began dating her now-husband, Donald Trump, in the late '90s. Back then, Melania Trump looked wildly different in her natural hair color; she loved a slinky dress, thin eyebrows, and wasn't afraid to experiment with her hair. That includes a dramatically teased, curled look that she wore for a 2000 opening of the opera "Aida."

If we're used to seeing Melania Trump looking polished, this wild style revealed a playful, more overtly sexy side. It reflected a time when Melania Trump was more open-minded, before she settled on her signature look with the help of hairstylist Mordechai Alvow. "We've evolved it over time and through magazine covers, parties, events, and TV interviews I've styled her for," Alvow told Yahoo in 2017. "She has high cheekbones, a long neck, and a gorgeous Eastern European look, and she looks especially great with a modern take on late 1960s styles. We're inspired by Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, and film noir."

Of course, Melania Trump is barely the first First Lady to lock in a signature hair look. For public figures, signature styles can help them to define their public-facing personal brand, or even control the tides of public conversation. "If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle," quipped then-First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1995.

Dwight D. Eisenhower's wife, Mamie Eisenhower, signaled classically feminine domesticity with her neatly coiffed sidebuns and signature bangs, while John F. Kennedy's wife, Jackie Kennedy, was a portrait of elite taste in her iconic bouffante. Different presidential wives have styled their hair in ways that reflect their politics, their era, and their unique personalities — making for a wide range of styles that nonetheless evoke the individual figures behind them. They weren't just beauty choices. Instead, they were cultural symbols. So while they might not be your typical muses, their 'dos offer a range of chic First Lady haircuts to inspire your next salon visit.