UNITED KINGDOM: Following in footsteps of U.S. and French First Ladies a look at the importance of the image of the UK political leaders' wives

Record ID: 838226

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Following in footsteps of U.S. and French First Ladies a look at the importance of the image of the UK political leaders' wives
  • Date: 27th April 2010
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FASHION EDITOR OF TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER HILARY ALEXANDER, SAYING: "She's (Miriam Clegg) a high-powered lawyer. This is a rare shot of her in a dress that's reasonably fashionable because I suspect most of the time in her day-to-day job she's in well-tailored navy, black, or charcoal trouser suits."
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Fashion,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD2C0QM9NB7FZF0Z2LBD4C4G9M
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The British general elections have sparked another race alongside the main attraction -- the race in the style stakes of the political leaders' wives.
    But many are questioning whether the day-to-day media coverage of Sarah Brown, Samantha Cameron and Miriam Clegg has serious weight on the campaigns of their husbands, respectively British prime minister and Labour party leader Gordon Brown, Conservative party leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.
    Hilary Alexander, fashion editor of the Telegraph newspaper, said the focus of the wives in this election is a milestone.
    "I think certainly in this particular election campaign, there seems to be more focus (on wives) than ever before. I think you can trace it back to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy which brought that whole American idea of the First Lady of that style and her image a little bit closer to our shores. We firstly became fixated on Michelle Obama, then Carla Bruni, then suddenly it was like 'ooh hey, what was happening with our First Ladies?'" she told Reuters Television.
    Alexander says she is frequently in contact with the press offices of both the Tory and Labour parties, trying to identify the labels and designers which Sarah Brown and Samantha Cameron wear.
    "I do think it's important they look good, they look smart, they're wearing something flattering and I think it's important they're wearing British but I wouldn't like to think that people were voting simply because of what dress Sam Cam or Sarah Brown was wearing, I think that would be a shocking mistake," she said.
    Sarah Brown, who has put her public relations career on hold for her husband, is credited with bringing a softer side to the British prime minister's campaign.
    The Labour party conference in Brighton last September sparked interest, when Mrs. Brown not only won over the audience with personal anecdotes, but also wore a dress by up-and-coming London-based designer Erdem Moralioglu that seemed to put her in front in the style stakes.
    However, Alexander says while Mrs. Brown seems to have improved her public image, she stills seems unsure of her dress sense.
    "I can't really yet see a coherent signature where I could say 'Oh that is definitely Sarah Brown'. One thing I do think is that her skirts are far too short. She would be much better off if she went a little bit lower because her calves are a little bit chunky here. She's got very nice slim ankles I think I would lower the hem to there, I think it would be a lot more flattering and also in more proportion to her height," said Alexander.
    David Cameron has called his wife, Samantha, his "secret weapon".
    As the creative director for fashionable Smythson leather goods and stationers, Mrs. Cameron, 38, has a look that is "deliberately normal", according to the Guardian newspaper. Despite her upper class upbringing, she has used her knowledge of rebranding to show the British public she is just like them by advertising she wears clothes from the high-street including Zara and Marks & Spencer.
    "It doesn't always work whereas with Sam Cam (nickname given to Samantha Cameron by her friends), it's effortless. She's one of the kind of women you sometimes long to hate because they just get it so right so often and you think 'Where are the times they look in the mirror and think - Oh my god I look dreadful!' I'm sure that never happens to her. She looks like she never has a bad hair day," said Alexander, pretending to punch a picture of Mrs. Cameron.
    Unlike her two counterparts, Miriam Clegg shies away from the spotlight due to her job as the head of international trade practice for the multinational law film DLA Piper.
    When asked whether she would go on the campaign trail like Mrs. Cameron, Mrs. Clegg told London-based news channel ITV, she said she didn't have the luxury of having a job that she can abandon for five weeks and that she didn't want to project a "sugar-coated image" of herself.
    "She's (Miriam Clegg) a high-powered lawyer. This is a rare shot of her in a dress that's reasonably fashionable because I suspect most of the time in her day-to-day job she's in well-tailored navy, black, or charcoal trouser suits," said Alexander.
    But not everyone is pleased about the wives of the political leaders being used to humanise the two main parties to their potential voters.
    Anne Perkins, a commentator and contributor to the Guardian newspaper, said in a recent article it wasn't too late to "backpedal on the personal".
    "There's far less of those kind of going out and campaigning on the doorstep. There are far more of these sub-royal visits where the leader and the wife turns up chuck babies under the chin and get pictured with a gorgeous class of infants. It turns them into very soft, very easy public engagements which are entirely different, much more popular, the McDonald's aspects of politics. I think the danger is that it turns into all there is in politics, this dominance of style," she said.
    Perkins pointed to Cherie Blair, the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair as having a cataclysmic relationship with the media and perhaps because of this, helped inspire Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Cameron and unwillingly Mrs. Clegg to think more carefully about their image.
    "You then of course had Mrs. Blair, Cherie Blair. And in lots of ways you would've thought of course her engagement in political life, which was always extremely controversial. She attracted more publicity. I mean if you could filter the coverage of the Blairs, there would be more negative press associated with Cherie than with Tony and the (Iraq) war," said Perkins.
    Similar to her current counterparts, Mrs. Blair was a high-powered career woman. However, despite her position as a barrister, she id often more remembered for her gaffes, including trying on overly large sunglasses while on a trip to Paris to champion British fashion designers and singing the Beatles' "When I'm 64" to an audience in Beijing, with her husband the then prime minister clapping to cheer her on.
    The British general elections will take place on May 6 with all eyes watching not only the main race but also whether the wives' campaigning, or lack thereof, have done enough to swing the vote.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register