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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Ivanka's Trump-tastic First Fashion Show

By Lisa Marsh | March 29, 2012 1:43pm

MIDTOWN — Are there sticky fingers in the house of Trump?

Ivanka Trump admitted Wednesday that her mother Ivana is happy to help herself to her daughter’s high-end jewelry collection.  Then again, Ivanka was "of course" guilty of taking her mom's jewels, she said.

"After 26 years-plus of stealing from her, she’s getting retribution," Ivanka told DNAinfo of her mother's propensity for borrowing from her jewelry stash.

On the occasion of Ivanka Trump's first-ever fashion show, at Lord & Taylor's flagship on Fifth Avenue Wednesday evening, the Trump family, Ivanka's business partners and the fashion press were out in full force. There were also representatives of the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign, which was receiving 10 percent of sales from the Ivanka Trump Collection for the night.

Ivanka’s husband, Observer publisher Jared Kushner, sat next to the statuesque designer, who donned a gold bib necklace along with gold and diamond earrings.  Her brothers Eric and Donald Jr. were there with blondes on their arms. (Those apples don’t fall far from the tree). Ivana was in attendance, as was her father Donald, who appeared to have left his third wife Melania at home.

The Donald had nothing but praise for his Ivanka.

"She is just a spectacular person," he told DNAinfo. "She has amazing taste and she really does have the ability to do a number of different things."

Though her family was out in full support, Ivanka steers clear of her brother's input.

"She avoids Eric and I and our fashion sense," Donald Jr. told DNAinfo. "We see the stuff, but we're casual observers. I know where I add value and it’s probably not there."

They perhaps have more say in the Trump family business: real estate. The event certainly attracted many in that world, too, and seeing the crowd made Lord & Taylor president Bonnie Brooks think about the department store's landmark building.

"In 1914, Lord & Taylor was the first major retailer to move to Fifth," she said. "I think we were pretty real estate savvy, and there’s no shortage of real estate savvy in this room tonight."

As for the collection, it showed echoes of Tory Burch, Michael Kors, St. John and others.

"That blue dress is definitely like something I have seen Ivana in — an old Ungaro dress," celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch said.

After the fashion show, Ivanka was set to meet customers in her selling area on the store's fifth floor. And she was an attraction in her own right. There were already some 50 people waiting in line.