United States: What’s fashion got to do with it? A lot if you’re the First Lady of the United States as Melania Trump found out on Tuesday.

Melania was photographed walking across the White House lawn in an all-black ensemble, an army green bomber jacket, aviator sunglasses...and sky-high stilettos.

The high heels - reportedly Manolo Blahniks with five-inch stiletto heels - quickly became the subject of much debate on Twitter.

The hashtag #ShoeGate began trending on the microblogging site, with some seeing the shoes as an impractical and insensitive choice for visiting storm-hit Texas, and others angrily stating that the high heels must not detract from the ongoing natural disaster.

‘In Melania’s job, as in her husband’s, details matter. Even shoes. Put your best foot forward, and all that,’ noted New York Times’ chief fashion critic.

On Twitter, many jumped to the First Lady’s defence. ‘Hey, everyone, please shut up about Melania Trump’s shoes,’ begged Mashable.

She also wore a black baseball cap that read ‘FLOTUS,’ or the abbreviation for First Lady of the United States.
The US President and First Lady spent time in Corpus Christi and Austin during their trip to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall during the weekend as a monster Category Four hurricane and later weakened to a tropical storm.

The rain has led to severe flooding in parts of the state. 
Harvey has killed at least six people and left large parts of Houston - America’s fourth largest city - underwater.