Akshata Murty, the Prime Minister’s wife, wore a suit designed by Lady Samantha Cameron at an event on the final day of London Fashion week. Was this a ‘style’ iteration of the call for assistance sent from Rishi Sunak to David Cameron last year, as he appointed the former PM as Foreign Secretary?
The event was a lunch at Downing Street, which saw 20 founders of independent fashion brands gather to celebrate the UK fashion industry. The decision by Downing street to support the event harks back to the Cameron years, where there was continuous explicit support for London Fashion Week. Samantha Cameron was seen at various London fashion week shows during her husband’s premiership – and made a concerted effort to wear clothes from affordable UK homegrown designers. In the past two years of the Sunak premiership, there has been minimal visible backing for London fashion week.
For Tuesday’s occasion, Murty wore a £180 corduroy waistcoat with matching £200 trousers from Cefinn, the label founded by Cameron in 2017, the year after her husband resigned in the wake of the Brexit vote. Cefinn is a name created using the initials of the Camerons’ four children. Murty paired the Cefinn waistcoat and trousers with a £120 striped shirt by British Label With Nothing Underneath. The founder of With Nothing Underneath, Pip Durell, was at the lunch.
Lady Cameron was also in attendance and must have appreciated the gesture from the woman now occupying her former place in Downing Street. Lady Cameron herself was wearing a £320 polka dot dress, also from Cefinn. Other big names seen wearing Cefinn of late include the Princess of Wales and Holly Willoughby. It is reported that Lord Cameron invested £100,000 in the label shortly before his ennoblement and return to government.
