Ivanka Trump's Inappropriate Outfit On A Wyoming Trip Will Always Haunt Her

Another day, another scandal in the Trump-osphere. This time it's another one of Ivanka Trump's inappropriate outfits that we won't forget. This one involves the president's eldest daughter and cultural appropriation. You're cringing already, we know. But in this instance, there's more to the story than may originally meet the eye.

The offense took place in Wyoming in July 2025, when Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner were on a glam-looking vacation (yet again ... must be nice). The first daughter posted a carousel of images from their summertime getaway, including her posing, once again, in fashion choices that tell us Ivanka Trump can't be bothered with politics. Among the pics was one of her wearing a khaki dress with a silver belt, leaning against a classic pickup truck with a lantern on the ground next to her (don't ask — we don't get it either). There are her token scenery pics of horses, a fawn, and fireworks. And then there are images of her wearing the offensive outfit: a black top tucked into a skirt that had a Native American aesthetic, and white cowboy boots. Online viewers immediately cried foul. "Omg her skirt look! It's Native American patterns is she serious!" wrote one commenter. Another added, "Are you really that tone deaf?" As it turns out, this isn't the first time she's been caught up in a cultural appropriation scandal.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, cultural appropriation is "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture." Fashion and cultural appropriation is a dicey issue. For instance, the ikat print is a dyeing method from Indonesia and Malaysia originally and has had prominence throughout history in other regions like Uzbekistan, but no one seems to think twice about wearing it. Celebrities galore have worn ikat, including Kristen Stewart, Emma Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, and Taraji P. Henson. Have they been called out for cultural appropriation? Not that we're aware of.

When it comes to wearing pieces that might be significant to Native Americans, Ralph Lauren has appropriated it for decades. In 2011, Oprah Winfrey went to Lauren's ranch and they went into a teepee and she wore one of his Navajo-inspired designs. For the record, Winfrey did receive a small bit of backlash, but perhaps not to the level that Ivanka received after she wore a Native American-looking skirt and a silver belt.

But hold on. Upon investigation, we discovered that the silver belt Ivanka wore may in fact be from Ralph Lauren, as part of a collaboration that he did with a Native American designer. Lauren (or his team) are finally getting it by working with Native American designers and highlighting their beautiful craftsmanship. While we don't know if the same is true with the skirt, at least in one regard Ivanka was in fact supporting a Native American artisan. 

While the inappropriate skirt outfit that Ivanka Trump wore in Japan will always haunt her, there's been another instance of an overseas fashion faux pas that she may have learned from, and that was in India in 2017. Ivanka was part of a global delegation sent to south Asia, where she donned what looked like her interpretation of Indian-ish garb. What critics called her out for, however, was that she didn't wear Indian designers, but rather looks by Erdem and Tory Burch that riffed off traditional Indian fashion elements.

She didn't make that mistake again. When the first daughter returned to India in 2020 with her husband and the president and first lady, she opted for looks by Indian designers, including Rohit Bal and Anita Dongre, who designed Ivanka's white sherwani, a traditional knee-length coat worn over tapered pants.