Melania's dress resembles the painting series Fifty Days at Iliam by Cy Twombly.
At first this might seem a stretch, but think this out. First, the dress simply looks good, even though the markings superficially seem like random scribbles.
Also, Anons made many attempts to find meaning… the "scribbles" seemed evocative.
This is the same effect that the painting series has, in my experience, and when you dig deeper on it, there are some surprises.
The series is currently at the Philadephia Museum of Art. There are ten LARGE paintings in a dedicated room. I visited that museum multiple times, and this was one of the "discoveries" that really stood out for me. I agree with the NYT obit that the paintings lose a great deal in reproduction, since much is conveyed by the precise character of individual marks.
In contrast with many other mid-twentieth century works of "modern art", this series (like his other work I think) engages deeply with history, in this case with the end of the Trojan War, and this piece points to heroism, among other themes.
It is interesting that Twombly worked as an Army cryptographer for a year, and the title deliberately misspells Ilium (i.e. Troy) as Iliam to suggest Achilles, the hero of Homer's Iliad. Seem familiar?
And on the whole, at first glace, it seems a bunch of childish nonsense, but when you pay attention, perhaps you discern grandeur in it. That was my experience when I saw these paintings in person. And when I watched the Rushmore show, I kept having these thoughts, and now that I'm digging further into this, I am wondering if this is more than a coincidence.
Anyway, food for thought.
Obit:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/arts/cy-twombly-american-artist-is-dead-at-83.html
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cy_Twombly
Philly Art Museum:
https://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/862.html
(just remembered: the Rocky statue is out front there….)