She might be our reluctant so-called ‘First Lady’ (frankly who can blame her) but that hasn’t stopped Lady Victoria Starmer from easily sliding into a new style plate territory. After she walked into Number 10 wearing a buzzy tomato red £275 dress from Me+Em, the brand’s website traffic to buy it blew up 300 per cent; by Monday morning all sizes bar one were sold out (it’s still available in a rather stylish black and white iteration if you’re keen). Similarly the white cropped sleeve bolero jacket she wore to her husband’s landslide victory party at the Tate Modern on Friday night has sold out in all sizes except one.
To be fair to British women, they have been somewhat starved of decent examples of smart occasion wear to crib wedding guest outfit notes from. With the Princess of Wales’ unplanned departure from public view, the style pages and fervent micro-industry of social media accounts documenting her every move and fashion decision have fallen silent. Lady Starmer’s perfectly timed stroll into Downing Street fills a gaping hole in the achievable aesthetic affections of her fellow countrywomen desperate for leadership.
Her weapon of choice, Me+Em is a perfectly pitched go-to, sitting in the so called ‘sweet spot’ of the fashion industry - a veritable Goldilocks of a style pitch - not too spenny and conservative (awkward) but with a hint of cool. It is the sartorial comfort blanket of middle class frazzled women in need of easy throw on solutions, who stop there for both weekend and office looks. Its jeans and famed posh track-suit trousers are a hit as much as its relaxed suiting and frocks - all falling under its mission statement of ‘intelligent style’ which promises a capsule wardrobe of sorts, with pieces working easily as wardrobe building blocks.
The label was launched in 2009 by Clare Hornby, who’d previously worked in marketing and advertising, and saw a gap in the market for contemporary clothes at an upper, high street price point. Her data led strategy, as well as more recent lean into sharper, trend adjacent pieces and quality fabrics with steer from luxury brand consultants, has quietly positioned the label as an aspirational go-to, and a hugely successful outlier in a British fashion industry beset by calamity and misfortune.
At the upper end, independent luxury brands are floundering, while at the lower levels the remnants of our once world-admired high street are up against the might of hyper fast fashion megaliths such as Shein. Me+Em meanwhile, worn by everyone from Margot Robbie to the Princess of Wales and Amal Clooney, goes from strength to strength; with eight UK stores and concessions in Selfridges and Harrods, it has its eyes firmly on the US where it has recently opened three stores around New York - Madison Avenue for the Central Park crowd, downtown on Mercer Street in SoHo and latterly in East Hampton to capitalise on the vacation weekenders which might be tempted by its first foray into swimwear.
Lady Starmer is not the only new-new Labour woman to get in on the act. Angela Rayner plumped for a jaunty menthol green suit for her first stroll along Downing Street to be appointed officially to the new cabinet. In adherence with its usefulness as a brand dressing women for high profile moments, over the weekend one guest in the Royal Box at Wimbledon was wearing the very same zinging green floral maxi dress (currently £227.50 in the sale) that Lady Starmer herself sported at Sandown Park in Esher on Saturday.
Previous incumbents of the non-role role of PM’s wife have gamely leaned into the fashion playbook, ticking off diplomatic dressing 101’s in order to semaphore something of a stance. Samantha Cameron, having worked as creative director for Smythson, was in truth a part of the fashion world anyway, wore London Fashion Week stars Roksanda and Erdem and hosted fashion week parties at Number 10. The impeccably dressed Akshata Murty took up that mantle wearing JW Anderson sliders and holding court with fashion retailers at Downing Street; Carrie Johnson used her rented wedding dress and The Vampire’s Wife looks to launch her personal brand, now toted sepia-toned across her Instagram account.
One can understand the horror at the thought of every outfit scrutinised and cost calculated, every shoe analysed for its price point. It is an unedifying prospect. But the beleaguered fashion industry here could do with every bit of help it can get. Lady Vic might not want us to copy her outfits, but all publicity is a much needed potential click-to-buy in this world.
