Yahoo Lifestyle A Closer Look at the Melania and Ivanka Trump-LVMH Connection
The Trump family’s fondness for LVMH was on full display over the Inauguration weekend from the European designer labels worn by Melania Trump to the presence of LVMH’s leader Bernard Arnault and other family members at the swearing-in ceremony.
While millions know at this point that Melania Trump adores Dior, it seems that Ivanka has a soft spot for the European house, too. The former West Wing adviser wore a Dior dark forest green skirt suit with a thin black belt and a coordinating beret-style hat to the Inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol’s rotunda. The timeless ensemble was inspired by Dior’s fall 1950 haute couture collection. Arnault’s daughter Delphine, who heads up Dior, no doubt approved of the style.
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Melania Trump wore a charcoal gray oversize Dior coat upon arrival at Dulles International Airport Saturday, and a black cashmere double-breasted cape-style coat to the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Sunday afternoon. Her stylist Hervé Pierre’s former business partner Nicolas Caito now works for Dior in Paris. Caito moved back to Europe after their company Atelier Caito for Herve Pierre was forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York-based operation did not receive any federally funded small business assistance. But back to Ivanka’s 1950-inspired skirt suit.
In covering the 1950 haute couture collections, WWD pegged Christian Dior’s as part of the “Supple Modern” camp that was “keyed to contemporary life.” Translation? “It means clothes for ease of movement in styles and fabrics geared to active life, travel, smaller homes, and fewer servants.” (Yes, you read that last bit right.)
The fact that the post World War II period of the 1950s signaled a transformative point in history and delivered optimism and revival is something that was said to be not lost on Ivanka Trump. And as any visitor to the U.S. National Parks can relate to, green can be a symbol of renewal and hope. Those two virtues were said to have resonated with Ivanka as her father and the country sets out on the next chapter in the nation’s history.
Hope is something that Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri can related to, having explored the dualities of hope and despair (as well as lightness and darkness, and fluidity and animalism) in her spring 2023 collection.
Trump’s choice of an haute couture Givenchy ballgown has a back story, too. The design was a recreation of the haute couture one that Hubert de Givenchy created for Audrey Hepburn for the 1954 film “Sabrina.” Ivanka is said to be a big Hepburn fan and not just for “Funny Face,” but for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador too. Ditto for her father, who was said to have known Monsieur Givenchy personally.
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