PETA Seeks to Dress Melania for Easter: Stylish Potato Sack Shift Specially Designed for FLOTUS to Wear to Host Potato Roll

For Immediate Release:
March 25, 2026

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

Following the smash success of “The Haute Potato Collection” at New York Fashion Week, inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s iconic 1951 potato sack dress, PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk sent a letter to First Lady Melania Trump this afternoon offering to provide FLOTUS with tater couture far more elegant than Marilyn Monroe’s—if she will boost America’s potato farmers by changing the White House Easter Egg Roll to an animal-friendly Potato Roll on April 6.                               

Credit: Earl Theisen/Getty (left). PETA (right).

“PETA hopes to see Melania launch a new tradition rooted in compassion,” says Newkirk. “PETA urges the first lady to foster a future of respect for potato farmers, mother hens, and their chicks by hosting the first-ever White House Potato Roll.” 

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. PETA also offers a free vegan starter kit on its website for anyone ready to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to the first lady follows.

March 25, 2026

Dear Mrs. Trump:

I’m writing on behalf of the largest animal rights organization in these United States with a suggestion that we believe aligns with your forward-thinking, trendsetting style: We would be delighted to present you with a unique dress created from vintage Idaho potato sacks—like those recently featured during New York Fashion Week (inspired by the potato sack dress famously worn by Marilyn Monroe) if you’ll redesign the White House Easter Egg Roll to become the White House Easter Potato Roll, a fabulously modern move. In other ways, you have shown that beloved classics can be refreshed with grace, and this simple update would start a new tradition that fosters a future of respect for mother hens and America’s great potato farmers. Allow me to elaborate.

As first lady, you have tremendous influence to elevate and reimagine outdated customs such as this and to add a patriotic angle that has been lacking. Of course, potatoes are an icon in their own right—versatile and ranked for years as America’s favorite vegetable. They can be dyed in bold hues, creatively decorated, rolled across the South Lawn, and incorporated into delightful activities like sack races and “hot potato” games. Swapping out eggs for potatoes would feel not only patriotic and familiar but also delightfully new, offering children the same hands-on fun while reflecting the core Christian value of kindness to all creation in the time of Easter renewal and joy.

We hope you’ll consider putting your innovative stamp on the White House Easter roll by championing this spudtacular reinterpretation. We wish you and your family a very happy Easter and look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid Newkirk

Founder