For Ivanka Trump, the evening of November 28 was supposed to be the culmination of nearly six months of careful planning, both political and personal. In late June, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi had flown to Washington, D.C., for an official state visit with President Donald Trump that included a meet-and-greet with American C.E.O.s, a tour of the Indian-American diaspora in northern Virginia, and a wide-ranging White House conversation that touched on immigration, Pakistan, defense alliances, the changing locus of power in the Indo-Pacific region, and various pleasantries and vagaries surrounding their countries’ strategic relationship. “The two leaders will look to outline a common vision for the partnership that’s worthy of India’s 1.6 billion citizens,” noted Sean Spicer, then the White House press secretary, incorrectly inflating the country’s actual population by nearly 300 million people. Trump and Modi’s meeting was consummated by a gropy man hug. And, as if to further seal their union, before he had even returned to New Delhi, Modi invited Ivanka Trump, 36, to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad that winter.
Modi, it seemed, was following an emerging playbook for dealing with the Trump administration. Given the nearly indecipherable actor occupying the West Wing, various foreign dignitaries—German chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe—have demonstrated their support for the United States government not only by meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower, or humoring his affinity for large-scale billboard imagery of himself, but also through lavish displays of flattery directed at his favorite child, who also happens to be among his top advisers. The Hyderabad invitation would be Ivanka Trump’s third solo trip abroad on behalf of the administration since she officially took a governmental position as a special assistant to her dad, last March, one year ago. “The sun rises and sets with Ivanka,” one person close to the White House told me recently. “These guys saw it clear as day, and whether they thought it would help them better understand the guy, or get them in good with him, they were right.”
The Global Entrepreneurship Summit did not disappoint. After landing at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at three o’clock in the morning, Ivanka was ushered to her hotel by a phalanx of 17 vehicles, 10,000 members of the police, and representatives of various local media outlets, some of whom dubbed the trip a “royal visit.” Hyderabad, sometimes labeled “Cyberabad” for the specific area of the city where various technology companies (Google, Microsoft, Facebook) have set up offices, had spruced itself up for her 36-hour swirl: potholes were filled; roads were repaved. Ivanka’s likeness adorned billboards throughout the city. Authorities brought in closed-circuit security cameras and sniffer dogs; schools were shut down owing to the exacerbated traffic congestion. Workers placed welcoming swan statues beside roadways that the First Daughter might traverse. Hundreds of people stopped by a local market to pose for selfies next to an Ivanka mannequin.
Trump emerged from the 18-hour flight and subsequent car transport ready for the occasion. She wore hair extensions in a Drybar-style loose wave; her traveling makeup artist seemed to have amply applied highlighter on her cheekbones upon touchdown. She also made a post-flight wardrobe change into a $1,298 velvet Tory Burch jacket adorned with mother-of-pearl sequins, embroidery, and beads, in the style of traditional Indian prints. It was a sartorial nod to Hyderabad, which had historically been known as “the city of pearls.”
The summit’s theme, “Women First, Prosperity for All,” dovetailed with the narrow agenda of women’s issues that Trump had carved out for herself, first on the campaign trail and then in the administration. Her keynote speech touted a commitment to female entrepreneurs, like herself. “After my father’s election, I saw an opportunity to leave my businesses for the privilege of serving our country and empowering all Americans, including women, to succeed,” she said. “Our administration is advancing policies that enable women to pursue their careers and care for their families, policies that improve workforce development and skills training, and policies that lift government barriers and fuel entrepreneurship so that Americans can turn their dreams into their incredible legacies.” Prime Minister Modi called the event “wonderful.” And the Indian media mostly ate it up, too. One local fashion critic referred to Trump, favorably, as an “Indian Barbie doll.”
Back in the U.S., however, Trump was critiqued for her sartorial assimilation. (DailyO, an Indian opinion Web site, referred to her as a “botoxed Barbie.”) The most stinging rebuke came from a New York Times article about Trump’s decision to wear clothes made for the most part by American designers. In the piece, published the day after her departure from India, a spokesperson for Tory Burch pointed out that the brand did not work with Ivanka Trump at all. Privately, according to three people familiar with the situation, Burch had also made comments about Ivanka’s decision to wear her brand in such a public setting. (According to a spokesperson, Burch was not involved in the public comment in the Times piece.)
Much as Trump relishes her role in the White House, she still very much keeps close tabs on the group of friends that she left behind in Manhattan, which includes various moguls, heirs, power divorcées, business leaders, and fashion designers. And, as can happen in the relatively insular world of New York society, Burch’s alleged comments made their way to Trump soon after she returned to Washington, D.C.
Given the various headaches and distractions concurrently facing the Trump administration—staff upheaval, the mounting Robert Mueller investigation, another looming government shutdown, botched Obamacare-repeal efforts—the alleged Burch comments could have been disregarded as a trivial affair. But, like her father, Ivanka Trump can be sensitive about criticism, particularly of the trivial variety. She did not forget the remarks, and it got to the point where a White House official spoke about the situation with Burch, according to people close to Ivanka, who were perplexed that she cared deeply about something that no one in her position ought to care about. “These are some of the most powerful people in the world, I mean literally,” one person who knows both Ivanka and Burch told me. “And this warranted any kind of attention? You’ve got to be kidding.” (A White House official said that Ivanka wasn’t aware of the outreach until after it took place.)
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