The British have bought into the "sold out" fashion effect, which signifies the power and influence of a certain figure to boost a brand’s sales. After Princess Kate and Meghan Markle, known for their ability to support the fashion brands they wore, it’s now Victoria Starmer's turn.
Her journey to her current role and her new residence at 10 Downing Street, London, was hand in hand with her husband, Keir Starmer, Britain's new prime minister. He wore a black suit (with trousers in need of hemming) and a burgundy tie, while she wore a red maxi dress with white external stitching from the brand Me+Em. According to the brand, the dress worn by Lady Starmer, priced at 1,900 shekels, sold out in less than 48 hours. However, after checking the brand’s website this week, we found a few remaining units of the red dress, also available in black.
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The Starmers before the elections in Buckingham Palace
(Photo: Victoria Jones - Pool/Getty Images)
She completed her look with a pair of silver heels from Russell & Bromley, currently on sale for £145 (685 shekels) after a 50% discount. Her fashion choices were not luxurious British premium brands, which reflects Starmer's agenda in her appearances: a mix of promoting domestic brands while maintaining an accessible look that almost any woman can relate to.
Lady Starmer, a 51-year-old British Jew, former lawyer, and currently working for the National Health Service (NHS), married Sir Keir Starmer in 2007 but had stayed away from the spotlight until recently. She worked to keep their two teenage children off the media's radar, who moved with them from their family home in Camden, North London, to the new residence. In an article published earlier this month in Vogue, her friends described Starmer as the "cool neighborhood mum," and Grazia magazine noted that "She’s sleek and polished, the one who makes us try to up our game" and setting a fashion benchmark for other mothers in the area.
At first glance, Starmer's relaxed style seems different from the other ladies and royalty around her. It’s not as precise as Princess Kate's, not as luxurious as Melania Trump’s, not as custom-tailored as Jill Biden’s dresses, and not as minimalist as Queen Letizia of Spain. Instead, Lady Starmer shows signs similar to Michelle Obama, who entered the White House for the first time in 2009. Starmer brings a new spirit to Downing Street, unafraid of combining brightly colored and patterned dresses, projecting ease in maxi dresses that allow for free movement, paired with sneakers or low heels.
Like Obama, Starmer also emphasizes choosing local brands. For the NATO summit in Washington earlier this month, she descended from the plane with her husband wearing a simple white lace dress from the brand Needle & Thread by designer Hannah Coffin, priced at £450 (2,130 shekels). Earlier, Starmer wore a sequined embroidered dress with a cape from the same brand for a visit to Buckingham Palace, which hosted Emperor Naruhito of Japan and his wife. The price of the dress was £725 (3,430 shekels) which is not cheap, but not outrageous compared to evening dresses from designers like Alexander McQueen, Jenny Packham and Christian Dior worn by other guests that evening.
Needle and Thread’s founder and CEO, Hannah Coffin, told The Telegraph that she was “delighted” to see Lady Starmer wearing her designs. "She looked beautiful and elegant in our Heart Lattice gown at Buckingham Palace and in our Lace Knit gown on her first foreign trip as ‘first lady’,” she said. “It’s fantastic to see her wearing female-founded, independent British brands to represent British style on these occasions and we are honored she chose to wear us."
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Victoria Starmer wear Needle and Thread
(Photo: Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Starmer's colorful choices are unapologetic: the red is a fiery shade and the floral dresses look like a spring garden in Kensington Gardens. Besides a stylistic consistency indicating personal taste, she creates a visual presence that attracts all eyes. Lady Starmer put her fashion choices into practice when her husband, the prime minister of Britain, spoke about his desire to strengthen ties with EU countries after Brexit. Starmer visually supported his statements with a French red The Kooples dress, priced at £320.
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Victoria Starmer stands out in NATO summit
(Photo: Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)
In a joint photo alongside the prime ministers of Bulgaria and the Netherlands and the president of the European Council and his wife, Lady Starmer's red dress was the only one that stood out and also represented her husband's foreign policy ambitions to the world. Less than a month into the job, Starmer seems to have applied what first ladies before her have learned: fashion choices are not a matter of chance, but a way to express messages through visual codes. It will be interesting to see how she perfects her art in the coming years.