Jared and Ivanka Try to Reenter Polite Society, Are Promptly Told to F--k Off
Bess Levin Vanity Fair
The duo slithered into the Louis Vuitton show on Tuesday.
And for the past 10 months, save for some presumably orchestrated photo-ops, they mostly have. But for people who clearly view themselves as royalty, not being able to attend society gatherings obviously chafes. With the one-year anniversary of that pesky little attack on democracy coming up, they apparently think enough time has passed that their association with one of the worst days in U.S. history is but a distant memory, and it’s now appropriate to slither back onto the scene, as they did Tuesday night.
On Tuesday evening in Miami, the couple made their first major red-carpet appearance since they closed out respective tenures as part of Donald Trump’s White House team by stepping out at the Louis Vuitton show. The Hollywood Reporter spotted the couple mingling during the preshow reception and noticed they had reserved seats in the front row, which also hosted a number of A-listers and boldfaced names like Kim Kardashian West, Kanye West (who now goes by Ye), Pharrell Williams, Bella Hadid, and more. The Louis Vuitton presentation, which coincides with Art Basel, is especially high-profile because it comes two days after the death of Virgil Abloh, the celebrated designer and artistic director for the brand’s menswear collection. According to the luxury house, tonight’s show, “Virgil Was Here,” was presented in “loving memory” of Abloh, paying “tribute to the life and legacy of a creative genius” while also unveiling his designs for the Spring-Summer 2022 collection. Rappers Kid Cudi, Offset, and Quavo were among the models.
It’s not the first time the Trump and Vuitton worlds have collided. In October 2019, Donald and Ivanka Trump flew to Texas for a ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside Bernard Arnault, founder and chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The ceremony unveiled a new Louis Vuitton workshop in a rural area not far from Fort Worth. According to The New York Times, Arnault made a point to separate politics from their luxury fashion business by saying, “I am not here to judge his types of policies. I have no political role. I am a business person. I try to tell him what I think for the success of the economy of the country, and the success of what we are doing.”
In a New York Times report last November, fashion designer Batsheva Hay predicted it would be tough for the couple to make fashion a part of any social outings. “The fashion world is pretty ready to shun her,” Hay told reporter Ginia Bellafante. “No one is going to lend Ivanka clothing—she’ll have to buy it covertly at retail.”
The apparent longtime friendliness with Arnault, combined with this being Florida, and not, say, New York City, where the Trump name is near-universally loathed, seemingly made the event a relatively safe space for the couple; it does not appear that they had champagne thrown in their faces or their clothes spattered with paint intended as a stand-in for the blood of the Americans who died of COVID on Donald (and Jared’s) watch. But it definitely sounds as though many people would prefer they go back into hiding!
“These fascist collaborators should be made to feel unwelcome everywhere they go,” one Twitter user wrote in response to the news. “Do not normalize,” said journalist Kim Masters. “Louis Vuitton giving Ivanka and Jared front-row seats to a show commemorating the late Virgil Abloh is just too much,” tweeted The Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern. “I would prefer they stayed in hiding for the rest of their lives. Sick of looking at either one of them,” said another commentator.
In other Javanka news, The New York Times reported on Friday that Kushner’s Saudi ass-kissing and murder-excusing may soon pay off in the form of a very large check for his new investment firm. Also this weekend, former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen told Meet The Press that New York prosecutors, who have already indicted the ex-president’s business, are likely turning to the family now. “They are going after Donald. They’re going after Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, a whole slew of individuals,” he predicted.