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Ivanka Trump's Dress At The SOTU Sends A Different Message Than Her Sister's

by Jo Yurcaba and Caitlin Cruz
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images

On Tuesday night, the Trump siblings got ready to watch their father deliver the 2019 State of the Union address. About 20 minutes before it started, Donald Trump Jr. shared a photo to Twitter of his siblings and their spouses dressed for the occasion. Ivanka Trump's outfit at the State of the Union was a black two-piece suit with a belt, two front pockets on the jacket, and a slit detail on either side of the skirt that revealed small red panels.

It was much more serious in comparison to the senior presidential adviser's outfit for the previous year's State of the Union, which was a black, white, and red plaid and herringbone dress designed by Oscar de la Renta. That year, Ivanka shared a photo to Twitter and Snapchat of a family dinner (presumably at her home) before the address.

But this year, people were comparing Ivanka's outfit to her sister Tiffany's dress. While Ivanka kept it simple and serious in all black with a touch of red, Tiffany wore white, which many female lawmakers in attendance were also wearing, in a nod to suffragettes. Cristina Marcos, a reporter for The Hill, tweeted, "Along with virtually all the House Democratic women, GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik is also wearing white. So is Tiffany Trump. (Ivanka is in black.)"

Twitter certainly noticed the contrast between Ivanka and Tiffany's looks. One user wrote "Tiffany Trump is wearing white along with the Dem women and Ivanka isn’t... I have to stan!"

Another user noted that Tiffany sat across the aisle from Ivanka and Jared:

And some thought that combined with Tiffany's choice to wear white meant something.

People found it at least interesting and at most a sign of subtle shade that the sisters wore opposing colors.

But Ivanka didn't address her decision not to wear white to the State of the Union. She did make headlines earlier in the day for an issue related to women's rights, when she responded to a new art exhibit at the Flashpoint Gallery in Washington D.C. Jennifer Rubell's piece, "Ivanka Vacuuming" features an Ivanka lookalike who is pushing a vacuum on a carpeted floor, according to The Guardian. The exhibit encourages the public to “throw crumbs on to the carpet, watching as Ivanka elegantly vacuums up the mess, her smile never wavering," The Guardian reported.

Ivanka responded to the piece in a tweet on Tuesday, writing, “Women can choose to knock each other down or build each other up. I choose the latter."

Both of her brothers came to her defense as well. Eric Trump retweeted her tweet, and Don Jr. retweeted her and wrote, "Sad, but not surprising to watch self professed 'feminists' launching sexist attacks against @IvankaTrump. In their crazed world, sexism is OK if hurts their political enemies. That's ok, they can go put on their stupid hats & she’ll get back to actually fighting for women."

Later in the night, though, the colors that Ivanka and Tiffany wore didn't matter as much. When Trump touted the high number of women joining the workforce and the record-number of women in Congress, the entire room stood — regardless of whether they were wearing white or black.