Her Cheekbones (High) Or Her Name (Trump)?
by Jennifer Steinhauer
New York Times
Aug. 17, 1997
SHE seems to have this modeling thing down. There are the sexy outfits (when you show up for an interview wearing a floor-length see-through white dress, you tend to turn heads). There is the denial that she exercises and the chowing down, eating a nice-sized lunch in front of a reporter, proving that she is not a wacky dieter.
And there are the banalities, stated in studied, contraction-free sentences. ''I live for the moment,'' said Ivanka Trump, the daughter of, well, you know. ''I do not fear the future because I think every experience makes you stronger. I am the kind of person who has no regrets.''
One should hope not. Miss Trump is 15 years old.
She has spent her life hiding from the cameras that haunted Donald and Ivana Trump through messy divorces, high-flying deals and scandal-ettes, but now she is seeking her own limelight with a modeling career that has recently included a walk down a Paris runway, a Seventeen magazine cover and an advertising campaign for Tommy Hilfiger.
And on Wednesday, Miss Trump -- heretofore a fashion-world curiosity -- will make her live television debut before many millions as co-host of the Miss Teen USA pageant, a kind of national coming-out for the latest Trump to cross over into popular culture. The two-hour Miss Teen USA broadcast on CBS has traditionally won high ratings, a reflection of Americans' fascination with the schmaltzy world of beauty pageants.
To hear Miss Trump tell it, her modeling career is built on the strength of her cheekbones alone. She had always wanted to be a model, she said, and when she turned 15, she ''came of age'' and simply walked into Elite Modeling, one of the most prestigious agencies in the world, showed her 5-foot-10-inch form and made a deal. Well, not quite.
It seems that Monica Pillard, the president of Elite, had been eyeing Ivanka since she spotted her on her father's lap four years ago, when Mr. Trump was a judge of a new-talent contest for the agency.
Mr. Trump and Elite have a longstanding, informal relationship. Ms. Pillard served as a judge in the Miss Universe pageant, which is jointly owned by Mr. Trump and CBS, as is the Miss Teen USA pageant. John Casablancas, Elite's founder, is a friend of Mr. Trump's, and Elite has held events at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Executives from other modeling agencies raised an eyebrow over the notion that Miss Trump -- who is sweet-tempered, well spoken but still chubby in the cheeks with baby fat and a long way from a diva in terms of comportment -- would be on catwalks and magazine covers if not for her famous last name.
''If she walked into my agency, I would not sign her as a model,'' said Michael Flutie, the owner of Company Management. ''I like girls to be exceptionally editorial, which is more of an ability than a look. I don't think she has that edge.''
He added: ''If John F. Kennedy Jr. did a Calvin Klein show next season, it would get tremendous attention, but that doesn't make him a model, and the same thing is true with Miss Trump.''
Miss Trump is in Elite's celebrity division, sharing the roster with Jenny McCarthy, Drew Barrymore and Ashley Judd, who draw attention to an agency but are not really part of the supermodel fast track.
Even so, Miss Trump has already attracted would-be boyfriends of a type that are part and parcel of the model's life. ''She has these rockers calling her up and asking for dates,'' Mr. Trump said. ''Top names. Won't tell you who. And there is zero chance they are going to be dating her. That's taken care of.''
Audrey Roatta, a senior assistant to Ms. Pillard at Elite, insisted that Miss Trump would have been chosen as a model even without her name. ''She would be a model, and she would be with Elite,'' Ms. Roatta said. ''She understands that of course her name helped in the beginning to get her foot in the door. She's not stupid. But she also knows that she will be treated like any other model when it comes to clients.''
As for Miss Trump, she said over a plate of tomatoes and mozzarella at the self-service cafe at Trump Tower last week: ''Modeling is what people like; it is not family oriented. People like me for me, not for who my parents are. It is about outer beauty.''
She has a girl-next-door quality, and when she is not being coached into sound bites by her handlers, she reveals how charming and difficult the age 15 can be. She chews on a thumbnail. She touches her blond mane of hair self-consciously. She is extremely polite and seems considerate -- she takes her own empty plate to the trash, without expecting people to wait on her.
Fashion and the runway world have been a shared Trump family interest for many years. Miss Trump's mother, Ivana Trump, took her to Todd Oldham and Ungaro shows when she was as young as 8. Mr. Trump also is fond of fashion shows and took her along to Calvin Klein and Versace shows when she was a child.
But both parents and Miss Trump said that they have never pushed her to model, and Mrs. Trump even said she discouraged it.
''I really do prefer mathematics over modeling at age 15,'' Mrs. Trump said in a telephone interview from a houseboat on the Cote d'Azure last week. ''She is only allowed to do it on weekends and holidays and absolutely not during the school year.'' Miss Trump, who goes to a private boarding school in Connecticut (she wouldn't name it), said she would ultimately like to attend business school.
Mrs. Trump is not against the modeling profession, having dabbled in it herself. ''Modeling is better than going to nightclubs or watching television,'' she said. ''I never push my children in anything.''
Mr. Trump is equally circumspect. ''This is an interesting case,'' he said over his speaker phone, which was not on a boat but rather in his office. ''I am only modestly in favor of this because I understand that that life is a very fast life, and at that age it is always a risky proposition.''
Miss Trump said she appreciates her parents' support, but she seems not to make the connection between the family's fame and her career.
Many designers like celebrities as well as models to walk their shows, because it creates a media buzz.
''In a show, you can use anybody in the world with a name,'' said Jerome Bonnouvrier, the president of DNA Model Manangement. ''Lady Di could be in a fashion show, because they are a business and social event, and they like people to recognize people.''
Miss Trump is certainly not the first to capitalize on a name. Isabella Rossellini broke into the business largely because her parents were Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, although it was her own beauty that ultimately landed her in many cosmetics advertisements.
Both Mr. Bonnouvrier and Mr. Flutie of Company Management expressed concern that Miss Trump's celebrity may have pushed her into a world that she may not be ready for. ''I am often approached by celebrities on behalf of their daughters,'' Mr. Flutie said. ''And I do not encourage girls under 17 to pursue a professional career in modeling.''
Miss Trump's girl-next-door quality is why Seventeen magazine booked her for its May cover. ''She is a teen-ager, she has a fresh look and readers can relate to her,'' said Donna Rubinstein, the model editor of Seventeen. ''She may look like someone a reader knows.''
The cover portrays Miss Trump as a fresh-scrubbed youth with flowing hair. Although her mouth is pursed in a pout, the image was far more innocent-looking than the way she appeared in the Thierry Mugler couture show in Paris last month. Dressed in a batlike black dress with a gold corset, she seemed like a nervous little girl dressed in her mother's craziest outfit.
Maureen Reidy, the president of the Miss Teen USA pageant, said Miss Trump represented an ideal role model as a host of the event. ''In my mind there is no one more perfect for this,'' she said. ''She is 4.0 student, does a lot of philanthropic activity and is on her way to supermodel stardom.''
Miss Trump seems excited about the pageant, because of the time she will be spending around other girls her age with the same soaring ambitions and oddly mature locution. ''I'm a teen-ager in the fashion industry, and I have made friends with the girls in the pageant,'' she said. ''It has been a legitimate bonding experience.''
A correction was made on Aug. 24, 1997: An article in the Styles pages last Sunday about Ivanka Trump, a model who is the daughter of Donald J. Trump and Ivana Trump, misstated the given name of the president of the Elite Model Management Corporation, Misscq Trump's agency. She is Monique Pillard, not Monica. The article also included an erroneous reference from the agency to its events. They have never been held at the Trump Tower.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [email protected] more
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 17, 1997, Section 1, Page 45 of the National edition with the headline: Her Cheekbones (High) Or Her Name (Trump)?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe