What does Ivanka Trump's Oscar de la Renta Inauguration wardrobe tell us about her First Daughter plans?
Thanks to the highly strategic role she played in her Father's campaign, all eyes are on Ivanka Trump as Donald moves into the White House. Questions are even being asked about whether the First Daughter will become the de facto First lady - especially given Melania Trump plans to remain based in New York for the time being.
One indicator of how Ivanka's role might play out now that she and husband Jared Kushner are moving to Washington (he has an official advisor role in Trump's administration) is via the style choices she has made for the Inauguration ceremony and other celebrations over the past couple of days.
By opting to wear a trio of looks by Oscar de la Renta, Ivanka - who also sat in on her Father's first meeting with a foreign leader, Japan's PM, Shinzo Abe - has sent the clearest of sartorial signals that her role in the White House, while as yet undefined, will be a crucial one.
After all, the house of Oscar de la Renta enjoys a long association with First Lady style - reaching as far back as the tangerine, bow-embellished dress the designer created for Jacqueline Kennedy's 1962 trip to India. Although de la Renta died in 2014 - after making an Inaugural gown for Hillary Clinton and looks for Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan - the First Lady association continued when his immediate replacement, Brit Peter Copping (who has since resigned) dressed Michelle Obama for her 2016 visit to the UK to celebrate The Queen's 90th birthday.
A spokeman for Oscar de la Renta simply confirmed that Ivanka Trump is a long-time customer of the house when asked about Ivanka's Inauguration wardrobe.
The now-First Daughter began the Inauguration celebrations with a grass-green coat and fit-and-flare dress. That bright hue- immediately evoking optimism and spring- was likely a strategic move by the businesswoman to bring a sense of positivity to the celebrations, aware of how divisive her father's election victory has proven to be. Last night, it was a classically elegant black and white de la Renta gown which the oldest Trump daughter chose for a candlelight dinner hosted to thank fundraisers.
For the main Inauguration ceremony today, it was head-to-toe bright white Oscar de la Renta with a waterfall coat and neatly tailored trousers - another nod to new starts, or perhaps a more subtle acknowledgement of the suffragette movement? After all, although her father might have a sketchy track record when it comes to women's rights and equality, Ivanka has made it her mission to help and inspire working women - it's the cornerstone of her eponymous fashion line and the subject of her forthcoming book, 'Women Who Work'. She has also promised to lobby her father to transform childcare policy so that it is easier for mothers to return to the workplace.
Ivanka also added another traditionally First Lady-esque designer to this week's line-up for her interview with Good Morning America; her pretty 50s floral dress came courtesy of American-Venezuelan designer Carolina Herrera. Famed for her ladylike designs, Herrera has been worn by Michelle Obama, Jackie Kennedy (after the White House years) and The Duchess of Cambridge.
A fascinating additional tangent to Ivanka's Inaugural wardrobe is the personal branding which she has applied to it. Instagram has long provided her with a powerful tool of self-promotion but she employed it in a new way to cement her First Daughter status yesterday - and set her apart from the very non-public stance taken by her stepmother Melania who has not given any interviews or taken to social media thus far.
An image of her holding her young son Theodore and placing a protective hand on 5 year-old daughter Arabella's back was an aspirational vision of modern motherhood while a back shot of the bow on her de la Renta dress taken in a chinoiserie-decorated room pointed to an accessible take on glamour. Could this be the 35-year-old staking her claim as the millennial face of the Trump government?
Either way, Ivanka's allegiance to all-American, First-Lady legacy designers is the surest sign that her Instagrams will likely be coming from the corridors of power for the foreseeable future.
