Anne McElvoy
Reports on the rise of the First Daughter
and alongside him on The Apprentice TV show that launched his political career, before branching out to run her own fashion and jewellery label.
But she cannot now easily disentangle Brand Ivanka from Brand Donald, having explicitly linked the two. After one convention speech on social media she promoted her dresses in the “Shop the look” vein.
He, in turn, has underlined the association, attacking the Nordstrom department store for dropping her clothing line, and suggesting that the decision was politically motivated. That is unlikely. Retail sources tell me that Nordstrom decision predates Trump’s accession to the White House. Even during the campaign, Ivanka’s studded shift dresses and fringed eveningwear hung in large quantities in discounted Century 21 stores. Sometimes the First Daughter’s judgment looks rather better than those paid to hone the Trump message. She exchanged furious words with Kellyanne Conway, his chief aide, when Conway urged people to “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff ... it’s a wonderful line”, on the grounds that her brand had been further damaged by being dragged into a debate about the ethics of White House staff endorsing commercial products.
Since then, stores concerned about negative customer response, including TJ Maxx, have asked for Ivanka Trump signage to be removed. Her spokesman is bullish, citing a profit of $21 million for 2016. The brand sits oddly in American fashion retail, at its best when it provides updated basics: simple, keenly priced tactile pieces but often teetering into the unwearable (thigh-split numbers more suited to Las Vegas).
Her personal st yle has always been slinky bodycon. The old wasp rule of “Never wear white after Labor Day,” is not one that Ivanka has time for.
An air of stubborn, showy Eighties glitz surrounds Ivanka’s world, embodied in the decision to post an image of herself in a flouncy silver-foil number with husband Jared in evening suit at the height of the refugee chaos unleashed by her father’s executive order on migrant numbers and entry criteria.
Jared and Ivanka have been married for seven years and have three children. The Kushner family sound every bit as demanding as the Trumps, as Vicky Ward described in profile for Esquire magazine. “Both [Ivanka and Jared] have been raised in hermetically sealed family units — nearly every day the adult Trump children have lunch with each other in Trump Tower — and taught never to question their parents’ narratives in public. When Trump’s antiimmigrant comments caused a number of companies to sever their ties with his properties, Ivanka told a source: “It’s his money. My father’s entire life has been a dream come true. He has to follow this dream.”
THE Kushner dream is partly linked to the rehabilitation of Jared’s father Charlie, who served a jail sentence in 2005 for illegal campaign contributions, tax-evasion and witness tampering by hiring a prostitute to entrap his brother-in-law after a family business feud. The Kushners are strict Orthodox Jews, which meant Ivanka had to undergo a long conversion. The couple are strict observers of religious customs and had to get a rabbinical permission to travel to the presidential inauguration by car on a Friday night.
The Ivanka-Kushner connection also lurks behind another critical relationship — between Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News TV station and the Trump administration. Ivanka acted as trustee for a trust handling the shares of the media tycoon’s two daughters by Wendi Deng (she resigned from the role before Christmas). The relationship between Ivanka and Wendi remains close. When Kushner and Ivanka split briefly in 2008, it was Deng who got them back together. The driving force in the alliance is said to be Kushner, who has cultivated a set of senior New York business figures.
Now Kushner has his seat at the White House table and so does Ivanka. It is the dream come true for a couple who relish power and wealth. But for Ivanka, the difficult days are just starting. As a longstanding friend puts it: “When Donald was fighting for the presidency, she was the acceptable face of the Trump clan. Now things are much more bitter. You can’t be one thing in New York and another in Washington.” Brand Ivanka will have to choose its destination.
@AnneMcElvoy Anne McElvoy is Senior Editor at the Economist and co-presents Indivisible with New York’s WNYC on Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.