LONDON — Rishi Sunak is the new British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, the third in seven weeks.
He is also the first prime minister who loves to dress in Prada, British tailoring, Palm Angels and Common Projects.
The new prime minister made headlines on July 21 after the Daily Mail reported that Sunak, Britain’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer, was wearing a £3,500 Henry Herbert two-piece suit and £490 Prada shoes. pounds.
Sunak, an Oxford graduate and Fulbright scholar with an MBA from Stanford and a former Goldman Sachs banker, has often been criticized for his education and wealth.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List, he and his wife Akshata Murthy are worth £730m. Murthy’s family are self-made millionaires and she has shares in her father’s tech firm, Infosys; Jamie Oliver’s Pizzeria and Jamie’s Italian; Wendy’s outlets in India; babysitting agency Koru Kids and gym operator Digme Fitness.
Akshata Murthy and Rishi Sunak at the Frieze Art Fair 2022 VIP Preview at Regent’s Park.
Dave Bennett/Getty Images
The British government hasn’t had a smart dressing room at the helm since Theresa May, who resigned in 2019 and Johnson took office. One of Johnson’s greatest assets in office was his image. He did not fit the mold of previous prime ministers, which has traditionally been dry and clean in navy blue suits and striped ties: the more wrinkled the suit, the better.
Truss followed in those footsteps with her stark silhouettes, block colors, and neat short blonde hairstyles. She prefers British high street brands and outfits that are a far cry from the minimally stylish corporate uniforms of her colleagues. Her preferred brand is Karen Millen, which is now owned by British fast fashion retailer Boohoo Group.
Let Sunak avoid Savile Row and opt for a discreet young tailor as Henry Herbert says. The company, founded in 2009, is a fledgling compared to the giants of Savile Row, some of which are more than 200 years old.
In October 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Charlie Baker-Collingwood, the founder and owner of the tailoring business, died, and 30-year-old Alexander Dickinson took over the small business he had joined in 2014. .
Although the lockdown was difficult, he has returned to making tailored clothes, and not just suits, for professional clients: lawyers, bankers, tech workers and politicians.
The tailor, who used to sit alongside the elite corps on Savile Row, has moved into a more self-conscious space opposite a Korean restaurant and humble British pub not far from the British Museum.
“You can get off the beaten track and pay £2,500 for a more personal service with the same fabrics made by the same people where you have much more control over your own garments. On Savile Row you’re probably buying the style of the house,” Dickinson told WWD over the summer.
“They [Savile Row businesses] they stick very much to tradition, which definitely works for the US market, but the British gentleman is getting smarter and realizing he doesn’t really have to pay £5,000 [for a suit]”, he added.
Rishi Sunak in a £3,500 Henry Herbert two-piece suit.
AFP via Getty Images
Although Dickinson declined to comment on Sunak, the politician’s four-figure suit may not have been new.
Sunak would also not be the first British leader to wear a tailored suit.
Winston Churchill began visiting Savile Row at the age of 19, endorsing the likes of Henry Poole & Co. and Turnbull & Asser in times of war and peace; John Major and Gordon Brown turned to Gieves & Hawkes.
Tony Blair came to Downing Street after winning the election in May 1997. Blair, the ‘New Labour’ man, made a fresh choice of dress when in office often wearing Paul Smith. Brown’s successor, David Cameron, also favored a British fashion label, often wearing suits by Richard James.
Sunak, with his absolutely clean and teetotal lifestyle, has never tried to hide his habits, with regular 6am Peloton workouts and a breakfast of Greek yogurt and blueberries. He led the country through the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing financial relief to workers affected by the recession.
As prime minister, he now faces the task of politically and economically stabilizing the UK, which has been reeling from Truss’s disastrous economic policies which caused the pound to fall against the dollar, government bonds to fall and stock market crash. . He will also have to try to figure out how to tame an inflation rate that is among the highest in Europe.
Johnson, who was vying for the job for the second time, dropped out of the race on Monday, along with Sunak’s opponent, Penny Mordaunt, paving the way for Sunak to become the UK’s first British Asian prime minister.
Truss congratulated Sunak on Twitter and pledged her full support.
If Sunak lasts as prime minister until May 2023, he can show off his British tailored suits at the 49th G7 Summit in Japan, alongside other smartly dressed men like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Justin Trudeau. Emmanuel Macron.
Source: news.google.com