Blonde Ambition
Vogue UK, GQ, Tatler, House & Garden Living
January 2009
By Julie Earle-Levine
IVANKA Trump, daughter of America’s real estate mogul, ‘The Donald’ takes long, stork-like strides towards me, her sky-high legs in six-inch heels gliding gracefully, her mouth slightly pouty, leaving a trail of remarkably shorter assistants in her wake. After all, Trump was a model before she realized her real estate ambitions.
The 26-year-old blonde has the impressive title of Vice President of Acquisitions and Development at the Trump Organization, in New York. She regularly appears in magazines offering tips on topics including ‘How to Be Rich, Sexy and Famous,’ but this Wharton graduate takes her career very seriously.
Trump is involved in 70 plus projects in the US and offshore, that require her to jet around the world, and to oversee meetings in the boardroom and on construction sites. How is she received? “Somebody may dismiss me because I’m young, blonde or female, but that can be used to one’s advantage,” she says, gazing coolly over her very large latte. Those close to her say she is also a fierce negotiator. “Ivanka holds her own in any meeting and what you see - a beautiful young blonde - is not what you get,” says Dolly Lenz, the top broker in America.
As a child, Trump spent some weekends on construction sites with her father or grandfather, often on a dump truck and she says she loved it. Some believe she may grab the top spot if her father ever hands over the reigns of the family’s real estate empire. Ivanka has two brothers, Donald Jnr, 30, and Eric, 23, who also work for Trump. She joined Trump in 2005, after working for developer Bruce Ratner on a large, mixed use shopping centre. “I wanted to get a sense of my self-worth and what I could accomplish, with or without my last name.”
It was not until she started working for her father, her “greatest mentor” that she really dug her heels in. “He has always pushed me to think, and dream bigger and bolder.”
In an interview in her 25th floor office with soaring views of Manhattan’s skyline and surrounded by photos of her family, layouts of a new development, and a thick manila folder marked with a long ‘to do’ list, Ivanka explained how her father convinced her to come on board. “He would send me renderings of the Trump Chicago project with a note – you could be working on this. Chicago was the siren call.”
She insists she is not just the pretty face in advertisements, but is involved in evaluating deals to pre-development planning, construction, marketing, operations sales and leasing.
What is she working on these days? Other than Chicago, Ivanka is spearheading a push by Trump to manage more of their new hotels. There are more than a dozen in the pipeline that are based on a template of Trump’s Central Park West property, including Las Vegas, a 1300-room hotel opening in March and a Fort Lauderdale, Florida that will open in January 2009. Offshore, there is Toronto, Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic, the just-open Istanbul Trump Towers complex in the city’s Sisli district and Dubai, a 61-story building and units. Trump also has its first project in Europe under way, in Scotland that will include a 450 room, five-star hotel, plus 500 single family homes, holiday homes, golf villas plus a golf course. Trump says she spends time on all of these but recently has been particularly focused on opportunities in China. “I have been going to China and meeting there with the ‘Donald Trump’s’ of those areas. It is a very important market and we want to do it right.”
Which brings us to a controversial project, Trump Soho, a 46-story building that has had a construction worker death, and upset locals who don’t like skyscrapers. It is five times the height of any building around it. Trump is naturally defensive. “There is a certain tone in the city due to a number of real catastrophies that are happening on a monumental level. We are being very cautious, and expect an elevated level of commitment to safety. We are certainly not exempt.”
She believes that Trump Soho is in fact “a great example of doing it right.” It is commanding $3,000 a square foot – top dollar – in a recession hit market. Some say the Trump brand has added $1,500 a square foot value. Trump said it is because there are 360 degree views from every floor with a hotel unit, and an amazing top floor penthouse. “It is very, very cool, Rockwell design.”
At a press conference with her siblings Trump emphasized that the company has an extremely solid track record, unlike many developers with no experience who were “just doing stuff” “We are building great hotels and now we are ramping up our hotel management position in the past two years. It has to be great. We can’t have failure.”
In August, Trump said that the building was about 57 per cent sold, mainly to European and South American buyers. The remainder are Americans, who want a chic pad in the city when they visit.
The ads for Trump Soho, plus others recently including Trump Ocean Club in Panama where she spills out of a strapless black evening dress wearing her jewelry (yes she has her own brand) are Trumpish, showcasing the biggest and best of everything you can get.
“I was part of marketing effort to appeal to a younger, more hip crowd.,
says Ivanka, who does live in a Trump building, but will not live in Soho. “I’ll be spending a lot of time at the Soho property because there is a great spa and restaurant.” The building is trendy, but elegant. “Really there is nothing five star downtown. You can stay at the Mercer – it is a great hotel but you are sacrificing amenities and space. It you are staying at Trump uptown, the difference is phenomenal. The views we are offering are not typical of the area.”
Sales are strong, she said. And what of the recession that is finally affecting even luxury real estate in resilient New York? Is the luxury property boom really over? In true Trump form, Ivanka says, “The world is changing. This brings both opportunities and challenges.”
ends
As winter beckons, temperatures plunge and the sky turns inky black at 5pm, New Yorkers shuffle their closets to accommodate their bulky puffa jackets. But while the clear-out used to be space related, this year it has been driven by the economy too.
“Women, and we are talking wealthy women, who would normally buy what they want, are instead swapping their few-seasons-old Missoni and Prada for more recent pieces,” says Irene Albright, a former fashion stylist and owner of a new store, Mina’s on Cooper Square, that opened in November to sell secondhand designer clothing.
Indeed, more people than ever before are offloading items from their closets and opting to shop in luxury consignment stores, or secondhand designer clothes shops, to fill the gaps, according to several store owners. An ad-hoc survey of Manhattan’s vintage shops produced a chorus reporting an increase in “prized possessions” being handed over.
“I have a $10,000 dress that Jennifer Lopez wore once that will be for sale,” says Albright, who is enhancing the stock at Mina’s with overflow from another of her ventures, the Albright Fashion Library, where stylists, costume designers and celebrities hire clothing. Mina’s also plans to sell last season’s unsold designer clothing, as well as redesigned items. “I am taking designer pieces and reworking the design to make it fresher,” says Albright.
Lucyann Barry, whose namesake showroom on the Upper West Side has been stocking secondhand clothes, shoes, bags and jewellery from Chanel, Chloé, Gucci and Hermès at 50 to 90 per cent below retail since it opened in January, reports that one Texas man tried to sell his wife’s Louis Vuitton shoe collection. Barry says she has seen a 10 per cent increase in consignment clients in the past two months, among them a new demographic made up of wealthy women motivated by philanthropy.
“They can continue giving, without actually writing a cheque,” explains Barry. By selling “a Birkin”, they can turn their hardly used handbag into “a handsome donation for their favourite charity”.
Other women have been obliged to explore a new strain of retail: “People are telling me their husbands are freaking out because of big financial losses,” says Barry. Many of her clients are attracted by the quality of the items, although they are shopping carefully. “Even though they are getting great deals, they are more reserved.”
Kristjansen Villanueva, manager of Roundabout ReSale Couture, which opened on Manhattan’s Upper East Side four months ago and is targeted at buyers from the fashion industry, Wall Street and the local residents (Roundabout also has three stores in Connecticut), says one woman brought in an $8,000 bag last week that will sell for $2,900. “If she can make money by selling it, she can use money to buy another piece here,” says Villanueva, noting the barter-like dimension to the consignment trend.
One of his customers, a lawyer, was warned by her husband who lost his job at Lehman Bros: “No more Barneys. No more Bergdorf. You have to watch your wallet.”
“It was kind of sad,” says Villanueva. “But she sold her things and then ended up buying a never-worn Giorgio Armani suit, so she was happy. Instead of going to Saks or Barneys or a big retail store and paying $2,500, she got it for $499.”
Indeed, Villanueva says many clients are surprised by the choice and condition of most garments. Some are never worn and still have the tags on. “Most sellers don’t even think about the pieces they bought last season; they might even forget about them and don’t want to wear them now,” he says.
It is the more established fashion brands that are proving popular in the current climate. “We can’t stop selling Chanel and Hermès, because women feel good wearing it,” says Villaneuva.
Lucyann Barry, by contrast, says the vintage Chanel market seems to have slowed a little but those buying are diehard fans while new buyers will occasionally spend thousands on special pieces.
Meanwhile, Vintage Collections, an online store that sells high-end costume jewellery and accessories in Manhattan, is also seeing more sellers than usual. “It feels much busier,” says owner Vicki Haberman, whose items start at $1,000. “I’m getting a lot of enquiries. I definitely think more people are reaching in to the closet and selling their heirlooms.”
And not just women. Men, who traditionally hold on to their clothes a lot longer than seasonally driven women, are also trading them in. Gary Scheiner, owner of Gentlemen’s Resale, which has been in business on the Upper East Side for 14 years and sells men’s Burberry trenchcoats for less than $250, Tod’s loafers for $110 and Brioni suits for $495, also says business is brisk. “We are starting to see consignments of two or three items a week, instead of one,” he says.
“A lot of people are bringing in beautiful suits,” says Milo Bernstein, owner of Ina, another designer resale consignment store with five locations, the first of which opened in SoHo 16 years ago.
“One guy lost his job and had a lot of really good, not too conservative Thom Browne suits.” According to Bernstein, they were quickly snapped up by a savvy buyer who needed “new” suits for interviews.
Perhaps as a result, Bernstein says Ina’s five Manhattan stores are doing extremely well, in spite of the economy. More than half of Ina’s customers are from outside New York. “It just seems like a really good way to go,” he says. “You walk out the door with three things that would have cost $1,500 but you paid $400.” Of course, it may take a little work to find those items. “It’s not a store for people who do not like shopping.”
.......................
www.albrightnyc.com
www.inanyc.com
www.lucyannbarry.com
info@vintagecollectionsnyc.com
Gentlemen’s Resale, tel: +1: 212-734 2739
Roundabout Resale Couture, tel: +1 646-755 8009
