How Ivanka Trump Is a Walking Billboard for Her Namesake Fashion Business
Ivanka Trump wore a peach dress with ruffles, paired with pale taupe shoes, to a White House meeting with technology executives in June. “Just peachy!” the Daily Mail newspaper declared online, above 14 photographs of the first daughter’s outfit. “The best news is that you can buy this exact dress at Zappos and it’s only $138. Follow the link at right to their website.”
The dress and shoes were both from Ms. Trump’s namesake brand, Ivanka Trump, which she still owns and from which she receives a multimillion-dollar annual income.
In an effort to minimize conflicts between her duties as a White House adviser and her financial interests as a business owner, the 36-year-old Ms. Trump has placed her company, IT Collection LLC, in a trust run by family members, just as her father, President Donald Trump, has done with his businesses. She receives certain financial information and a share of the profits, but says she doesn’t participate in management.
Yet every time she steps out sporting Ivanka Trump merchandise, Ms. Trump—wittingly or not—is a walking billboard for her brand, and an example of the conflicts that arise when government employees have both public and private professional interests.
The Wall Street Journal reviewed Ms. Trump’s outfits in her Twitter, Facebook and Instagram postings about official appearances between March 29, when she became a White House adviser, and the end of October. Star Style, a celebrity-fashion website, identified the products. The analysis showed that Ivanka Trump dresses, shoes, bags or jewelry appeared in 46 of the 68 outfits reviewed, or 68%.
When Ms. Trump appears in public, she becomes part of a vibrant ecosystem that thrives off celebrities. Photographers take pictures of her and peddle them to publications and websites, which in turn offer commentary on what she is wearing and who made it. The chain ends by connecting shoppers to retailers stocking the merchandise. Sometimes the websites get a cut of the sales.
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By owning a fashion business, she is in uncharted territory. “Ivanka Trump is testing the boundaries on federal rules that bar government employees from using their position to promote brands that personally enrich them,” says Guian McKee, an associate professor in presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
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Ms. Trump regularly posts photographs of herself to her 6.4 million Facebook followers. On the day of the White House technology summit, she wore the same Ivanka Trump outfit for a Fox News Channel interview, a program seen by 1.7 million, according to TV-ratings firm Nielsen. The paparazzi bring attention to the clothing even without her active participation
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The outfits that show up in postings aren’t just ones she might have had in her closet already when she joined the White House. They include dresses, bags and shoes introduced after March, according to industry executives and Amazon data on when products are first available on its site. The Ivanka Trump sleeveless crepe dress she wore this summer to meet education secretary Betsy DeVos and labor secretary Alexander Acosta, for example, was first available on Amazon on May 27.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-ivanka-trump-is-a-walking-billboard-for-her-namesake-fashion-business-1514389465
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