Appearing on TV on Good Morning America in 2017, Ivana Trump, who has died aged 73, explained her status succinctly. “I am basically first Trump wife – I am first lady, OK?” She was indeed the first of the former US president Donald J Trump’s three wives, the one with the highest profile and easily the most influential on the career of her husband.
It was Ivana who defined Trump as “The Donald” when they were the epitome of New York’s conspicuously flashy 1980s and it was Ivana’s own style that became Trump’s trademark glitz. As vice-president of interior design for the Trump Organization, her motto became: “If something could be leafed in gold or upholstered in damask, it was,” and the rule applied to her: with big golden hair, and upholstered lips and body, she was the embodiment of Trump style. After their marriage broke up, she branded that style “Ivana”.
