Whether you love or hate Ivanka Trump, you have to give her one thing: the gal always dresses to impress. She knows exactly what to wear to everything from weddings to political rallies, and she always comes across as impeccably dressed. If we’re being honest, though, we never really thought much about Ivanka’s famous fits beyond the fact that she always understood the assignment when it came to making fashionable impressions.
As it turns out, though, Ivanka Trump has been using her clothing to speak a kind of secret language. Her greatest looks all had secret meanings that signified everything from her goals to how much she loved her family. And once you know these secret meanings, you may never look at this famous socialite the same way again.
What outfits are we talking about, and what was the secret meaning behind each one? Keep reading to find out!
Ivanka Trump’s junior executive swag reveals business aspirations
It’s kind of hard to imagine Ivanka Trump dressing for a “day job.” After all, she was born rich and has only gotten wealthier over time. Early on, most of her most famous (and infamous) looks had to do with what she wore to runways as a model. Around the mid-2000s, though, Ivanka mostly ditched her modeling wardrobe in favor of wearing suits.
Why the change, though? She confessed to New York Magazine that she had always dreamed of going into real estate, following in the footsteps of Donald Trump. She decided it was time to look the part: “I dress really conservatively during the week,” she said. “I have to take it to another level, so every workday I wear a suit.” Those suits were her way of sending a not-so-subtle message: she was a business professional now, and her more formal clothing signified to others that her modeling days were now behind her.
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The wedding dress that signified her religious conversion
After Ivanka Trump fell in love with Jared Kushner, she knew she wanted to marry this man. But there was just one problem: she was Christian and he was an Orthodox Jew, and Kushner demanded she convert to his religion before they got married. Ivanka did so, but that meant she had to follow the Orthodox rule of keeping her body mostly covered with her wedding dress.
She solved this problem by having Vera Wang design the dress. Wang modeled it after Grace Kelly’s famous wedding dress and admitted to the New York Times that Ivanka “was actually very much about being covered, and I seized on the chance to do a dress that wasn’t naked and very Hollywood.” The result was a dress both beautiful and modest, and it signified to the entire world just how seriously Ivanka Trump took her religious conversion.
A First Lady fit helped support her famous father
Donald Trump’s pivot to politics took everyone by surprise. More surprising still was that it was a successful pivot, and he was elected president in 2016, defeating Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. This left Ivanka Trump with an interesting question: just what would this famously fashionable young woman wear to the 2017 inaugural ball?
She went with an elegant gown (champagne colored, no less) designed by Carolina Herrera. If her name doesn’t ring a bell, Herrera designed outfits for some very famous women, including First Ladies Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Michelle Obama. Later, at the inaugural candlelight dinner, she wore a dress from Oscar de la Renta, who famously designed outfits for First Ladies Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.
The message seemed clear: now that her father was in the White House, she was going all-in on supporting him. She matched actions to outfits, too, ultimately serving as an official advisor for her father. Of course, given the allegedly frosty relationship between Ivanka and Melania Trump, we can’t help but wonder how the older woman felt about Ivanka dressing like a FLOTUS!
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Honoring her late mother with a fringe dress
Sometimes, the meaning behind Ivanka Trump’s clothing is relatively straightforward. For example, she wore a cute fringe dress to a 1920s-themed party in 2023. It was designed by Bob Mackie, but Ivanka didn’t have it freshly designed. As it turns out, this is the same fringe dress that her mother had worn to a Studio 54 party back in the day.
Ivana Trump actually brought Ivanka to that party. Therefore, wearing her mother’s fringe dress was a way of remembering the good old days they had enjoyed together. Additionally, it was a way of honoring Ivana herself, who tragically passed away in 2022. Obviously, Ivanka looks absolutely great, and we’re confident that her mother would have been quite proud. Proud of her daughter’s success, of course, but equally proud of how well she rocks the fringe!