GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, gave a speech Thursday night to talk up her father before he accepted the party’s nomination.
Unlike so many politicians and their families, who wear outrageously expensive clothes when they give speeches, Ivanka wore a simple pink sheath dress that cost $138. It’s from her own fashion line, and after her speech she tweeted out a link for people to purchase the dress.
Shop Ivanka’s look from her #RNC speech: https://t.co/ma42A92DYa #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/DwHvSOu8Ue
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) July 22, 2016
I get the obvious angle of Ivanka using her speech as a way to enrich herself. On some level I find it to be a cheap stunt, but on another level I’m just fine with this.
I find it difficult to find nice work clothes, and always end up seeing things that female politicians wear and wondering where they purchased their clothes. This made it easy to see a simple but nice dress and know where to buy it.
Even better, it only costs $138. She’s the daughter of a billionaire, married to a billionaire and successful in her own right. She could have worn a dress that cost thousands of dollars, but she wore something that cost a little over a hundred. Yes, she did it to sell that dress, but she still could have tried to sell a more expensive dress.
This is unlike, say, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who wore a $12,000 Armani jacket while giving a speech about inequality. Her supporters can claim she did so to highlight inequality all they want, but the optics don’t work in her favor.
Clinton still received more of a defense than did Mitt Romney’s wife Ann, who wore a $900 shirt on TV and was criticized heavily by the liberal media. Other female politicians and family members – like first lady Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin – have been criticized by various media outlets.
Many like to say it’s sexist to talk about what female politicians wear. I disagree and have written about it previously. Male politicians wear suits worth thousands of dollars, but they don’t stand out (usually) from suits that cost much less. They’re still just black, charcoal or blue. But since women wear much more interesting and distinct clothing, it’s only natural that it brings more attention – and I don’t see it as a bad thing.
If I could recognize the suits male politicians wear, I’d write about their cost and how it goes against their message of inequality or trying to connect with regular Americans. But I can’t, so I can’t.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
