Ivanka Trump has reappeared. And at the showy wedding of the man her father has immediate access to

Ivanka Trump in Tony Ward

She was attending a wedding in Venice, but she was dressed for soirees in Mar-a-Lago. Since her appearance at her father’s inauguration in January this year, Ivanka Trump has largely disappeared, like her stepmother. But her socials reveal a fairly active life even when she has largely been out of the public eye. Until this weekend, when she showed up in Venice in Floridian fabulousness for the wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a spectacle of opulence so grand yet damaging to the city that it sparked city-wide protests. Amy Odell, Anna Wintour’s biographer, in an editorial for The New York Times, described the celebratory affair, “the triumph of tacky”. She was not far off.

Not long after Ms Trump and her husband Jared Kushner arrived, they eagerly joined the rest of the guests, all outdoing each other in tackiness. In photos shared online, including those on her Instagram posts, we made out two outfits that she wore. The first was a girly, ombre pink minidress by Oscar de la Renta, with flowers that formed inflorescences for the straps and blooms for the bust. That she had picked the American label was unsurprising since she probably wanted to support her father’s America First leaning. But her second dress, a petalled gown in pink (this time salmon), with a slit up to there, was by Tony Ward, a Lebanese designer. Given the current situation in that part of the world Mr Ward comes from, Ms Trump’s dress choice is a little odd.

In Oscar de la Renta

While fashion can be purely about aesthetics, for public figures, especially those with strong political ties, it rarely exists in a vacuum. America could have a steadier relationship with Lebanon if not for a vexing little political and military force known as Hezbollah, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization and views as a proxy for Iran, often destabilising the region and obstructing Lebanese governance. Ms Trump converted to Judaism just before she married Jared Kushner and is a practicing Jew. For some, particularly those who strongly associate Jewish identity with support for Israel, wearing a designer from a country that is technically still at war with Israel might be seen as not only an unusual choice, but a problematic one too. Ms Trump could be perceived as culturally embracing a country whose geopolitical alignment is often at odds with her dear father’s.

The thing is, Donald Trump is not only her daddy, he is the world’s daddy too, as he was “affectionately” regarded at the recent NATO summit, augmenting him as a figure who projects absolute authority, dictates terms and commands attention on a global stage. This persona, although derided, thrives on a theatricality and an undeniable showmanship that mirrors the family’s broader personal presentation. It’s a performance of power, a visual declaration of dominance that brooks no argument. The daughter embraces this broader Trumpian narrative through her own display, which suited the event designed to be the biggest show of them all. But with one difference. Deal or no deal with the Americans, the Italians cannot impose tariffs on this showiness, with tackiness thrown in.

Photos: ivankatrump/Instagram