Theresa May, a prime minister in Vogue
Looking poised at Chequers, her country residence, Theresa May wears a navy outfit by British designer L.K. Bennett in a photo shoot for US Vogue magazine
Theresa May chose a subscription to Vogue magazine as her Desert Island Discs luxury item, so one can only imagine her delight to become the first British prime minister to be featured within the hallowed sartorial pages of the American edition. But, ever the sensible stoic, she did not let the excitement get the better of her, opting for a polished, pared-back look in the portraits shot by Annie Leibovitz.
Clearly, Mrs May has learnt from Trousergate, which consumed Westminster observers late last year after she was photographed in a pair of £995 Amanda Wakeley brown leather trousers for a magazine photo shoot. In some quarters, Mrs May was applauded for her daring choice, a poster woman for a generation which no longer concedes that ageing means dialling things down. But soon, the thorny issue of JAMs – the Just-AboutManaging whom Mrs May has promised to help – was raised. How would this ostentatious fashion statement look to them?
In the Vogue images, Mrs May is poised in a navy £225 dress and matching £425 coat, both by British label L.K.Bennett. The fashion crowd might be disappointed not to see the PM flying the London fashion week flag, lighting up Chequers in a sumptuously colourful dress by Roksanda or a Christopher Kane biker jacket, but her choice to wear one of the country’s best-loved workwear brands makes perfect sense and the look is an expertly pitched level of chic.
Not that Mrs May has completely conceded to the trousermoaners. In a second shot of her striding the grounds beside husband Phillip, she wears a £450 red coat layered over a made-to-order £1200 cashmere jumper, both from conceptual London-based brand Egg, offering the subtlest hint of luxe. To balance things out, the patent boots are an old pair of Russell and Bromleys.
Mrs May fashion watchers might be disappointed to learn that we might not see the Black Watch tartan Vivienne Westwood suit again any time soon. It was labelled her “lucky suit” after she wore it both on the day she announced her Tory party leadership bid and to deliver the speech she gave in January setting out
her Brexit plans. “I think I’m going to stop wearing it now,” Mrs May tells Vogue “irritably”.
The PM is stoical about the attention her clothes attract: “It doesn’t stop me from going out and enjoying fashion,” she says of the commentary on her outfits. “And I also think it’s important to be able to show that a woman can do a job like this and still be interested in clothes.” Hear, hear.
Comparisons to Margaret Thatcher might cause Mrs May to bristle – “I’m Theresa May. I do things my way” – but the two women’s quotes on fashion are uncannily similar. “I am passionately interested in fashion. It brings both pleasure – because being well-dressed gives everyone pleasure – and it brings jobs,” Thatcher told British Vogue in 1985. More than 20 years on, her successor continues to prove the point admirably.