Oh dear, Theresa!
Our fashion editor’s verdict on PM’s pink holiday dress
GETTING your outfit right as you jet off on your summer break can be tricky – especially if you happen to be the Prime Minister. And Theresa May became the latest victim of the Curse of the Casual Holiday outfit as she kicked off a three-week trip to europe at Lake Garda in northern Italy yesterday.
We’ve seen it strike countless times with male politicians – who could forget a bare-chested David Cameron in baggy orlebar Brown swim shorts, or William Hague ‘getting down with the kids’ in his questionable baseball cap?
But for Mrs May to miss the mark with this £26 baby-pink shirt-dress from next is a shock, as she prides herself on being something of a fashionista.
For a start, it’s the sheer pastel girliness of it. We have become so used to seeing the PM stride through Westminster in power suits and statement coats, and this skittish frock just doesn’t seem right. It is something you would expect to see in a primary school, not on a world leader.
of course, Mrs May has every right to relax in something more breezy than usual on her welldeserved break. But like many of us do, Mrs May has fallen into that very British trap of wearing a summer dress over a wintry, dare we say it, pearlescent body.
Without question, this is a Day seven holiday dress, not a Day one number. Perhaps she wasn’t aware the scooped sides would reveal quite so much leg, which would have benefited from a bit of colour – natural or bottled.
Instead, she showed off skin that was pasty and noticeably shiny – the sign of a recent leg wax, perhaps, or a layer of suncream?
While her shirt-dress is no doubt fashionable – pink is the colour of the season – it would look better against a skintone that is more caffé latte than pinta milk. But ever the hawkish fashion observer, Mrs May redeemed her look somewhat with a stylish pair of Jackie o sunglasses. Very La Dolce Vita.
The PM and her husband Philip were seen strolling around the town of Desenzano del Garda next to the lake. They will break off from their holiday to attend commemorations for the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on Monday, before spending two weeks in switzerland.
They will return to Downing street on August 14. The pair are keen hikers and are expected to spend much of their trip walking.
Last summer they went hiking in the swiss Alps, and their most recent break was a walking holiday in snowdonia in April – on which Mrs May famously changed her mind about holding an election.