Ivanka Trump is carving out a new image after her time as a prominent White House adviser.
It's been eight years since Ivanka, 42, gave up her life as a popular Manhattan millennial socialite to support her father, Donald Trump, during his successful 2016 presidential campaign. It has passed.
Working as an advisor and aide to her father in the White House brought a new level of prestige to her resume, but her response to policies pushed by the administration cost her considerable fame. It also meant that.
That is, her reputation.
Retailers have begun removing her eponymous fashion brand from stores due to poor sales. She faced public ridicule from her celebrity, was shunned by other guests at her wedding, lost her longtime friends, and ultimately closed her fashion company in 2018.
By November 2020, former friends of Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner will no longer be accepted back into some of the New York City high society circles they once walked, Vanity Fair reported. told.
In November 2022, Ivanka announced her intention to retire from politics and move her family from New York City to Florida. She is not actively campaigning for her father's 2024 candidacy and did not appear at her campaign launch.
Most recently, she recused herself from a lawsuit against the Trump Organization. and members of her family, but she testified in the resulting fraud trial in New York.
Over the past four years, news outlets such as Business Insider have reported that Ivanka is trying to distance herself from Trump's name and her father's politics in an effort to repair her public image.
Nowhere is this transition more evident than in her personal style, which has gone from boardroom chic to crop tops and strapless minidresses.
Just scroll through her Instagram.
In the White House, Ivanka's style was professional and predictable
As an advisor and working in the White House, Ivanka's style can be summed up in one word: professional, feminine, and safe.
In Instagram posts shared during her first month in the White House in 2017, she often rocked outfits reminiscent of her days on “The Apprentice.” Even though she occasionally wore bright prints, her public style was flooded with business-casual straight-line pencil skirts, power suits, and the same few office-approved silhouettes.
In June 2017, she wore a black and white wool crepe dress designed by Escada that was sold at Neiman Marcus, according to Footwear News. This item is currently sold out online, but buying Escada couldn't be easier. Her Neiman Marcus floral print Escada dress costs her $1,043, while her sleeveless mini day dress costs over $700.
In August of the same year, she posted on Instagram about tax reform, posing alongside her father, former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. She wore a 2012 Oscar de la Renta white dress with navy embellishments throughout her fabric. The dress is also sold out online at retailers like Neiman Marcus, but other options on the designer's website range from $2,800 to $12,990.
And as the years went on, Ivanka typically stayed true to this style. In May 2018, she shared another photo to Instagram with Donald promoting the White House field day. Ivanka's modest black dress with red trim was designed by Gucci and cost more than $2,200, according to Mail Online. Two years later, she wore a black and white polka dot Burberry skirt that cost $1,990, Mail Online reported.
But now Ivanka's style has become more youthful with fun crop tops and exciting colors
Entertainment lawyer Mitra Ahoryan told Business Insider in October 2023 that Ivanka is trying hard to stay out of her father's orbit.
“While Ivanka supported her father and worked for him at various companies and at the White House, she has made a real effort to distance herself from him since he took office,” they told Business Insider. “I'm not at all surprised that Ivanka has re-engaged with the social world and established herself as separate from his father.”
Hints of her more relaxed, fun style started appearing on her Instagram account around 2022, including a photo in September of her wearing a brown sleeveless crop top and white high-waisted miniskirt. A month later, she shared her birthday post wearing a black and blue minidress with a bright floral print that appeared to be designed by Alessandra Rich. The dress, originally priced at nearly $700, is now on sale for $464 on Italian retail site Bartini.
Since then, Ivanka's style explorations have gained more and more attention.
Last May, she wore a tight minidress with a swirl collar designed by Emilio Pucci during the May 2023 F1 Miami Grand Prix weekend, Footwear News reported. This dress doesn't immediately appear on Pucci's website, but a similar dress costs her $1,420.
The Emilio Pucci dress is probably one of Ivanka's boldest looks to date, and is very different from her previous wardrobe. That same month, she wore a white two-piece set with an off-shoulder bandeau top and matching skirt. It is unknown who the designer is.
And she later partied with Kim Kardashian at the opening of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas Hotel in December 2023. At the time, she wore a floor-length gown with a black top and a sparkling silver skirt designed by Monique Lhuillier. This gown is sold online at her official website for $3,495.
At the time, Ahoriyan told BI that it was no surprise that Ivanka was photographed with Kardashian during the rebrand.
More recently, Ivanka made headlines this month when she attended the Ambani family's pre-wedding celebration in India with Kushner and their eldest daughter.
She wore some shimmering and jaw-dropping ensembles, mostly designed by Manish Malhotra. Her most liked photo on Instagram is the one in which she wears an all-ivory lehenga set adorned with pearls, crystals and beads. Pricing is available on request only and suggests a hefty price tag.
Time will tell whether Ivanka's rebranding is a success, but one thing is clear: she's rebuilding her image one outfit at a time.