Everywhere she goes, the glamorous wife of billionaire businessman Donald Trump is met by pomp and the sort of adulation usually reserved for kings, queens and heads of state.
Cameramen go crazy. Reporters whip out their notebooks. Admiring crowds gather. Loyal subjects stare. The security is so tight you'd think someone had threatened to steal all the jewels in the kingdom. Forty-year-old Ivana Trump, with her thick Czechoslovakian accent and crown of shiny blond hair, is a major media event; the indisputable queen of high society.As president of the Fashion Editors and Reporters Association, I set up a press conference with Queen Ivana during the recent fall market in New York City. And let me tell you right now, cutting through the royal red tape wasn't easy! Think about a commoner trying to plan a cozy tea with Princess Diana at Buckingham Palace. That's about how difficult my mission was. But fashion editors don't give up easily. Persistence is the name of the game. And persistence paid off. Our request was finally granted and our group was ushered into the elegant State Suite of Ivana's castle _ the grand old Plaza Hotel.
FERA members from all across the nation eagerly waited for the Queen to hold court. At last, surrounded by publicity people and paparazzi, she arrived. And she was well worth waiting for _ actually worth a roll of drums and a blare of trumpets _ in a regal green knit dress by Oscar de la Renta.
In person, Ivana Trump is far more delicate and beautiful than photographs depict _ like one of those flaxen-haired princesses in children's storybooks. But she isn't just a pretty face. The woman who's president of New York's famed Plaza Hotel (husband Donald bought the hotel for $390 million last June) also radiates graciousness and a down-to-earth quality that belie wealth and privilege. You quickly gather that this is one royal who isn't afraid to be regular. And that's part of her charm.
Down-to-earth Ivana dares to poke fun at her wealthy husband. ("The Donald is so unpredictable, I never know what he will buy next!")
She dares poke fun at herself. ( "I used to make French cuisine when we were first married . . . fancy with a little sauce. But the Donald would look at the plate and say, `Ivana, this is fine, but where's my dinner?' Now, we have a cook!")
Little jokes and stories seem to come easily to this attractive woman, who has a quaint, old-world habit of putting "the" before people's first names. Yet, seriousness is never far beneath the surface. You can tell she worries about their three children _ Donald Jr., 11; Ivanka, 7; Eric, 5 _ and how the huge Trump fortune, acquired through masterful wheeling and dealing and real estate, will affect their lives and attitudes.
Values, she says thoughtfully, are of paramount importance whether you're rich or poor. She and Donald are very old-fashioned in their adherence to basic principles, and they're trying not to hand their children everything on a silver platter. Rather, they are determined to teach the youngsters the ethic of a dollar's work for a dollar's pay. And the three are required to do certain chores around the house to earn spending money.
"We tell them we did not have things handed us," she says. "It is wrong to have everything too easy. They see us work hard, and hopefully they will learn from our actions what it's really all about.
"We are strongly against drink and drugs, too, and do not have them in our home. As parents, we try always to set a good example for the young ones to follow."
Setting an example. Teaching the right values. Ivana Trump emphasizes these points repeatedly when asked about her philosophy of child rearing. She also mentions her belief in family togetherness.
Each night at 6 sharp, the Trumps _ Mom, Dad and the kids _ sit down together at the dinner table. They watch the sunset from the posh family penthouse apartment in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. They talk about school, friends, television and what has happened during the day. It's an important time that they treasure, and every effort is made not to let a demanding business and social schedule interfere.
The schedule for Ivana Trump _ mother, socialite, businesswoman _ never has been more demanding than it is these days. Yes, she was busy as an Olympic skier and in her modeling days in Canada. Yes, her life was jet paced when she helped her husband modernize the Grand Hyatt, and even worse when she was hopping aboard helicopters and whirling down to Atlantic City to direct the Trump Castle and Casino as chief executive officer. But nothing _ no, nothing _ can compare with the highly pressurized new job at the Plaza and the extensive renovations that she must oversee.
To begin with, the historic Plaza isn't just a hotel. It's an institution. Designed by architect Henry Hardenbergh and built in 1907, it has come to mean "New York" to many people. From the elegant Palm Court, where violins play, to the portrait of Eloise that hangs in the lobby, to the ornate Edwardian Room illuminated by candles, the hotel is special _ full of folklore and emotions and memories. Thus, the remodeling project is one of the most crucial ever undertaken. An awesome responsibility.
By the time the $20 million dollar project is completed, hundreds of suites will have been redone. New living spaces will have been opened up and dining rooms and banquet facilities improved. And the food? Ivana Trump hopes her hotel on 57th Street will provide the best cuisine in the Big Apple. (To ensure her dictum of "No canned produce. No rubbery chicken. No limp salad," she has hired Alain Sailhac, chef at 21 and Le Cirque, to head the hotel's lagging restaurant operation.)
"My professional goal is to make the Plaza a spectacular hotel, a five-star hotel," she says. "Service, service, service. That's what it is all about, and it must be impeccable. I will not be satisfied until it is."
Satisfaction won't come, either, until the Plaza is a fashion center. Interested in pretty clothes since her modeling days, she has as of late shifted her attentions from European designers to the American apparel industry. Furthermore, she has made a strong commitment to pulling the industry together during market weeks.
For years, store buyers and fashion editors in New York for the opening of the new collections have had to trek all over town. One show might be down on Seventh Avenue in a cramped designer studio. Another might be over on the East Side and still another down in Soho. If you couldn't get a cab and get across town, you were just out of luck.
Recognizing the problem, the president of the Plaza began conducting a campaign to bring top talents to the hotel and centralize the action. During the fall market about a dozen designers, including Oscar de la Renta, Arnold Scaasi, Charlotte Neuville and Carmello Pomodoro, sent their clothes down Plaza runways.
Getting bargain rates plus having Ivana and her mother, Marie Zelnicek, sitting in the front row were definite incentives. And by next season, Ivana told fashion editors attending the FERA press conference, she hopes to have an even longer list of designer shows at the hotel.
When it comes to designers she personally admires, the president of the Plaza refuses to name favorites. One thing she will say concerning fashion, though: Astronomical prices are silly _ especially $20,000 for a Paris original. These days she has chosen to do the bulk of her buying at home from American apparel manufacturers, and she's saving a lot of money in the process. She also has discovered the great American knock-off artist, Victor Costa, and buys a great many of his clothes.
Her wardrobe is big _ Ivana admits it. Don't think, however, that the numerous purchases go dancing once and then languish in the closet. The president of the Plaza believes in wearing her clothes a long time _ seeing her in a seven-year-old outfit is not uncommon. Furthermore, even after she has tired of her clothes, virtually worn them to death, they're resurrected. They're packed up, sent home to Czechoslovakia and given away to the needy.
Ivana Trump grew up in Czechoslovakia. Her parents encouraged her to strive for excellence from day one. As a child actress she had roles in four movies, and she was skiing as soon as she could walk. She was chosen for the Czech Olympic Ski Team and then later worked as a fashion model in Montreal, Canada. She holds a master's degree in physical education from Charles University in Prague.
Her meeting with Donald, the entrepreneur who wrote "The Art of the Deal," took place at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976. According to friends, the two fell in love almost immediately _ they're very much alike in drive and ability _ and were married in 1977. Along came their children, and Ivana, not satisfied to simply be the little housewife, also managed to get a decorator's license.
At first, her work for Trump's empire was confined largely to interior design. But when Donald opened his Castle in Atlantic City, her horizons expanded and she took over the direction of the casino's 3,500 employees.
"The Donald gave me my chance," she says. "I love to work and would be lost without it."
Now she has cleared out of the casino and checked into the Plaza, determined to turn the landmark into the world-class hotel it was meant to be.
Some who've worked with her during the transformation of the historic building contend she's a stern taskmaster, a difficult employer and a Bengal tiger if _ woe, be unto you _ anything is handled wrong.
Others say she's a model of compassion and the perfect boss.
The truth probably lies somewhere between these extremes and, taking a clue from her self-assured husband, Ivana Trump isn't worrying about it or how she is perceived by the individuals who work at her side.
"People often resent those who are lucky enough to be at the top, those who have it all," she says philosophically. "I can't worry about that attitude, and I can't fret over every decision I make. In my business dealings, I just do the best I can. And I pray that things turn out right.'
As for adverse publicity, she has learned to face that philosophically, too. It's inevitable that someone in power will be criticized, she says, even ridiculed. It is inevitable that skeletons in your closet will be rattled and unkind things said. It's the price one pays for being in the public eye.
You can't cover your face and run, says Ivana Trump. You must let the photographers take their pictures. After all, it is their job. You must handle the spotlight with grace. Of course, that's not to say that it won't be irritating sometimes. Frankly, the constant scrutiny by the public is the one thing the president of the Plaza wearies of _ not the pressure, not the hard work, but being under glass, so to speak, all of the time.
How to escape?
Well, one place the Trumps escape from the public eye is Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, their $7-million estate fit for a queen. And then there's the Trump Princess, the 282-foot yacht that once belonged to Adnan Khashoggi and cost Donald Trump $29 million. It's the perfect place from which to rule your kingdom and let the rest of the world go by.