The first lady's trip to Saudi Arabia, the Vatican, Belgium and Sicily — wearing mostly Dolce & Gabbana — was a fashion tour de force that has forced many naysayers in the rag trade to rethink.

The list of designers who said they wouldn't dress Melania is long, led by Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Christian Siriano and Sophie Theallet.

But Melania has managed to look smashing in dozens of different ensembles, from her white Ralph Lauren jumpsuit on election night to the D&G 3-D floral coat she wore in Sicily on Friday.

Defending the former model against critics who harped on the garment's $51,500 cost, the Washington Post's Robin Givhan opined, "Frankly, the floral coat is beautiful."

"There is a softening, a melting," stylist Phillip Bloch told me. "Fashion people are fickle and fake. They are starting to see she is a beautiful woman who is married to the president, and it is an honor to dress her."