Winning wardrobes
Samantha Cameron’s election dress, plus Alexa Chung and Twiggy outfits up for grabs
It can be a conclusive moment when a former politician sells their “winning” outfits. Indeed, when a selection of Margaret Thatcher’s most famous power suits went under the hammer at Christie’s back in 2012 they fetched £73,000 – 10 times their estimated value.
Today, Samantha and David Cameron are retiring some of theirs to the fashion history books. The former prime minister and his wife have donated items which they wore when Cameron won the 2015 election to be sold at a Christie’s charity auction, organised in conjunction with The Telegraph’s Stella magazine.
The Camerons join Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, Dame Shirley Bassey and more stars, all of whom have donated items from their personal wardrobes for a unique good cause. The money raised will go directly to Smart Works, the British charity which helps vulnerable unemployed women to secure new jobs, typically following career breaks caused by personal illness, homelessness, domestic violence or needing to act as a full-time carer to someone else.
Mrs Cameron is an ambassador for Smart Works (which has been partnered with Stella magazine since 2018) and has seen first-hand how the charity’s service – offering personal styling sessions and interview coaching – works to prepare each candidate for success in their forthcoming interviews.
“I volunteered for Smart Works when I was in Downing Street, doing interview training,” Cameron explains. “The work they do is so valuable and it is an extremely targeted, efficient and effective charity. I am now an ambassador for Smart Works and am always delighted to do anything to support and help them, whether by donating one of my dresses for this auction, or stock from [my fashion brand] Cefinn to dress the charity’s clients.”
Cameron has donated the electric blue dress, designed by London fashion duo Preen, as well as her husband’s tie, to the cause, which is expected to achieve between £42,100 and £61,800 in total for the charity, based on estimates by Christie’s. Bids can be placed from 11am today, until the hammer goes down on September 15 – the estimate for the Camerons’ joint lot begins at £800.
“We wore these outfits on the day after the 2015 election, David having been re-elected as prime minister but this time of a Conservative government after five years as prime minister of the coalition government with the Liberal Democrats,” Cameron remembers. “I accompanied David outside Downing Street that morning when he made his first speech to the country and press, post the results coming in. This dress, to me, symbolises the excitement and relief of winning the election.”
Cameron says that the process of choosing what to wear for such a momentous occasion did take some consideration, but that it wasn’t a given that she should match her husband’s tie, nor that she should wear “Tory blue”.
“You are aware of perhaps not wearing a red dress or a black dress but otherwise I chose it just because I liked it and thought that it would work for the occasion,” she explains. “Isabel [Spearman, who served as an image consultant to Mrs Cameron during her husband’s time in office] and I laughed a lot about the fact that the press were reading all kinds of significance into the colours – did the green on the back represent the Liberal Democrats? We absolutely hadn’t thought about it. I might have shown David the dress in advance just to check he didn’t hate it.”
The rest of the day, Cameron says, was hectic but filled with relief that she could return to Downing Street with her young family.
“Having hugged some of the staff in Downing Street that become almost part of the family, and that you are delighted you are not about to say goodbye to, I went straight up to the flat to talk to Florence [then four] about what had happened and call friends and family,” she remembers. “We had driven back from the constituency early that morning having not seen the children for a couple of nights. I remember Nance [Nancy, then 11] and El [Arthur, then 10] being very excited that we had ‘beat the red team’ before they went to school that day.”
Cameron says that her only personal requirement when choosing what to wear was that she should feel comfortable in it – particularly given the fact that photographs of her would be circulated globally.
“You never know in politics how things will turn out: if this would be the dress I would be leaving Downing Street in or the dress that you would walk back into Downing Street in as your family home again for the next few years,” she explains. “[Either way] you know you will be having to stand in front of the world’s press and hundreds of photographers, so the pressure is on and you need to make sure it is a dress that you feel really confident in.
“Being photographed on the steps of Downing Street was never something I particularly looked forward to, but if you’re going to do it, you might as well be prepared and do it as well as possible.”
Smart Works aims to give all its clients the outfits and the skills to help them feel confident ahead of a potentially life-changing job interview – hence why Cameron felt that this particular confidence-boosting dress from her wardrobe was the one which she should donate to the cause.
Every one of the 34 women involved in the Stella x Smart Works charity auction also has a highly personal story to tell about the piece they have donated. From the Hermès Birkin bag donated by Jane Birkin herself, to Victoria Beckham’s Noughties fashion corsets, to a stunning dress by the late Alexander Mcqueen, donated by Dame Helena Morrissey, discover the auction in full at Telegraph.co.uk, and please bid generously at Christies.com.
For full descriptions of each item, please see the Christie’s catalogue. To place a bid, visit christies.com/stellaxsmartworks
‘The outfit symbolises the excitement and relief of winning the election’