Faced with the daunting task of presenting herself on the world stage as her father takes the oath of office, Tiffany Trump was on her own. She had no wardrobe budget, no style team, no glam squad. And the 23-year-old was in the thick of law school applications.
Then, Phillip Bloch stepped in.
Bloch, a longtime friend of Trump’s mother, Marla Maples, and a former creative style director for the Miss Universe pageant, is a go-to stylist and designer for celebrities. Maples contacted Bloch and asked him to help her daughter prepare for the inaugural weekend’s festivities.
“I don’t think she went into it with any idea what she was doing,” Bloch told CNN. Trump has her personal style, he said, but there was no team behind her, “no Trump thing putting it together.”
He has been consulting her for a “few days” as Trump prepares. Bloch was quick to add that Trump is making the decisions herself and has done most of the work on her own.
Unlike her siblings, she was raised primarily on the West Coast by her mother. But now, she’s stepping into the first family spotlight, alongside sister Ivanka and brothers Donald Jr., Eric and Barron.
“She was very interested in working with women designers,” he said, noting that, like her older sister Ivanka, female empowerment is a top issue to Tiffany.
Trump and Bloch, whom Maples refers to as Tiffany’s “fashion fairy godfather,” have been communicating over the phone this week, sending pictures back and forth.
She wore a silver-and-nude beaded Anne Bowen dress with a silver belt for Thursday evening’s formal dinner at Washington’s Union Station. On Friday evening, she will wear a dress Bloch describes as “movie star glam.”
Trump, who is staying at the Blair House Thursday night, is still deciding between a few options for coat and dress for Friday’s morning ceremony.
Bloch has a vision for Trump, one separate from the political lens of her new role as a first daughter.
“My goal is to make her a style star,” he said. “This is not about politics. This is a girl who loves her dad and my job is making dreams come true. I create princesses and fashion stars and that is my goal.”
Maples will wear a Joseph coat in a soft lavender for the inauguration ceremony.
“The point is to look beautiful,” he said of Trump’s second wife, who will not sit with the family during the ceremony. “She wanted something light and positive.”
Bloch will continue to work with Trump on her looks for official events moving forward.
He also wants to make her father, the soon-to-be President of the United States, happy.
“He’s my president and I am honored to serve one of the first daughters of our country,” he said.
