Prada shoes, designer suits: Rishi Sunak’s stealth-wealth wardrobe a contrast to that of his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson
- Liz Truss wore high street brand earrings. Boris Johnson’s suits were always crumpled. The new British prime minister’s style stands in stark contrast to theirs
- Sunak has a taste for Prada shoes and for suits that cost thousands of dollars, but also tries to appear in touch with ‘the people’ by dressing semi-casual
According to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, a late-night talk show in the US, there is a major backlash under way in Britain over the appointment of the country’s first Asian Prime Minister.
This is surely a case of Americans stamping their own culture wars on the rest of the world – because the truth is that the vast majority of Britons are proud that the son of immigrants has risen to the highest office in the land.
Her shares in her father’s business have made the couple two of the richest people in Britain, with a combined fortune of £730 million (US$840 million).
It is not the first time Dishy Rishi (as the tabloids nicknamed him during his Covid spending spree) has been in the papers for his expensive, but also unusually fashionable, taste in clothes.
The Palace of Westminster has never been a particularly trend-focused place. But Sunak – in his Common Projects’ Achilles shoes, which are a favourite in Silicon Valley and which come embossed with gold serial numbers – has done his best to keep the side up.
As it is, he has had to drop down a notch or two in the luxury stakes by wearing Everlane jumpers and lean, nipped-in tailoring.
Unlike many of his colleagues – rarely spotted in anything other than a navy suit – Sunak keeps it semi-casual in open-neck shirts, backpacks and trainers, as well as hoodies and Palm Angels slides with socks – even beaded friendship bracelets, one of which spells out Dada.
He exemplifies that very modern phenomenon of trying to seem in touch with “the people” through the laid-back style of clothing he wears, rather than how luxurious the brands in question are.
The contrast with his former boss, Boris Johnson, is stark. Where Johnson never knowingly ironed anything, Sunak rarely looks anything other than immaculate.
His shirts are sewn by hand by the Travelling Artisan, a bespoke Italian shirtmaker, while his suits are usually custom made by Savile Row tailor Henry Herbert.
“He styles himself well – hence people being surprised by how small he is,” says men’s fashion stylist James Smythe. “At 5ft 6in (171cm) and very slight, he’s shorter than the average man in Britain, so his suits will have to be tailored.
“For example, look at the narrow proportions and elongated lapels, both of which create an illusion of height.”
While visiting him in Yorkshire, Murty has been spotted in a simple Club Monaco dress; at parties, meanwhile, she has been photographed in Lanvin.
Murty is a woman who understands the fashion industry: she began her career in finance in California before starting her own fashion label, Akshata Designs, which launched its first collection in 2011.
According to news sources, the business collapsed within three years but Murty still has vested interests in various brands, including high-end English men’s fashion brand New & Lingwood, which sells handmade silk dressing gowns that retail for nearly £300.
According to a 2011 Vogue profile, Murty once worked with artists in remote villages to create Indian-meets-Western fusion clothes that are “vehicles to discovering Indian culture”.
“I believe we live in a materialistic society,” she told the magazine. “People are becoming more conscious about the world they live in. Doing good is fashionable.”
Let us hope – for the sake of the currently beleaguered United Kingdom – her husband feels the same way.
