Decoding the politics of Akshata Murty’s ‘First Lady’ style
Until last week, Akshata Murty had been photographed publicly just a handful of times since her husband, Rishi Sunak, became Prime Minister last October. The only fashion headlines she had made were about the £570 J W Anderson sliders that she had been spotted wearing on the school run.
It seemed she wasn’t too keen to step into a more traditional First Lady role. Even if her own mother had boasted in April that her daughter “has managed to make her husband the Prime Minister of the UK”, Murty, 43, was staying very much in the background.
It was in contrast to Carrie Johnson’s appearance when Boris took office in 2019 (the dress she wore, by the British high-street brand Ghost, sold out that day). Nor were there any signs of Murty being deployed to help make the Prime Minister seem more relatable, as when Samantha Cameron accompanied “Dave” to Tory conferences wearing M&S.
That, perhaps, would have been a futile exercise, given that Murty is the daughter of a billionaire. Her silence didn’t stop news stories about her estimated £690 million fortune, from shares in Infosys, her father’s IT empire, her non-domicile status and tax affairs – but she kept her low profile even when criticised.
Now it appears that Murty was biding her time. In the past week or so, she has stepped up her public appearances, harnessing the Coronation weekend as a hard-launch moment for her personal interpretation of the unofficial First Lady role. It seems to have cut through. She has more than doubled her Instagram followers from 15,000 last week to more than 38,000 – not exactly viral, but enough to suggest she’s now making a serious impact on the British public.
It’s a shrewd move, with a general election expected next year. Murty appears to be both clever and personable – so could she be Sunak’s secret weapon?
Murty’s Coronation weekend fashion show was a masterclass in modern soft-power style. She began last Thursday, when she welcomed Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, to a bunting-bedecked No 10 to launch a new reading partnership between the two countries. On social media, she offered a glimpse inside the Sunaks’ flat, where the walls are painted in a Farrow & Ball-ish shade of greige, with on-trend dark-blue cabinetry. She was pictured next to Zelenska wearing a £200 blossom-printed blue shirt by the Ukrainian label Sleeper – giving an understated yet meaningful show of sartorial support for the country.
The next day, it was Jill Biden’s turn to be welcomed to Downing Street. While the US First Lady opted for a traditional bright-pink coat dress, Murty went for a more youthful £325 silk dress by the British label Rixo – tellingly, the style is now sold out in most sizes – and blue suede heels by L K Bennett.
Amid the glitzy foreign royals and celebrities at Saturday’s Coronation ceremony, Murty emerged as one of the best-dressed, this time showing her support for the Shropshire-based small-business owner Claire Mischevani.
So popular was the outfit that Mischevani’s website now has a warning on its homepage: “Following the overwhelming success of the outfits worn at His Majesty the King’s Coronation, there will be a short delay in the delivery of our orders.” Murty resisted the urge to go matchy-matchy and wore a black Jane Taylor hat with her powder-blue frock, looking more approachable than many of the other guests.
To Sunday’s Coronation concert at Windsor Castle, and Murty’s new place as part of Sunak’s publicity machine became clear when the couple – in co-ordinated red, white and blue – posted a joint Instagram post declaring this was “not your average date night”. Given that he has shared little about his family life so far, this felt like quite the attempt to insist that the PM and his ultrawealthy wife are just a normal mum and dad, enjoying a night off from parenting together.
Earlier that day, the couple had brought their daughters Krishna and Anoushka out for a rare public appearance as they hosted a Big Lunch at Downing Street, with Jill Biden as a special guest (Murty and Biden went to a trendy SoulCycle exercise class in Notting Hill ahead of the event). While Biden stuck to couture in a Gabriela Hearst dress, Murty had her woman-of-the-people moment in a quirky £85 heart-print shirt by the high street stalwart Boden.
These mid-price outfits project a very different tone to Murty’s usual wardrobe. Besides those J W Anderson shoes, there have been Gucci trainers at the Frieze art fair and Valentino leather coats for less high-profile date nights.
She’s known to have Chanel handbags and Louis Vuitton shoes in her collection – and let’s not forget her husband’s penchant for Prada.
The real question about Murty’s raised public profile is, why now? It could merely be a one-off blast of appearances to coincide with the Coronation, but the careful social-media placement behind them suggests a resolve from her to be a more public-facing part of her husband’s team, lending a softer, more family-orientated view of a PM who has so far attempted to craft that side of his image alone (see photos of him playing cricket and holding babies). And after the Tory losses in last week’s council elections, maybe an injection of glamour and relatability wouldn’t go amiss.
Besides, while Murty has likely taken professional advice with her new “everywoman” wardrobe ((rumour has it she has been getting pointers from a stylist), fashion is an area in which she takes a natural interest.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved clothes,” Murty told Vogue India in 2011, a time when she was heading her own label, Akshata, which blended Indian craftsmanship with Western silhouettes. “My mother, a no-nonsense engineer, was always baffled why I would spend so much time creating different outfits from my wardrobe.”
Her mother once reportedly berated Murty for her shopaholic tendencies. But what better excuse to indulge in some retail therapy if it’s all in aid of shoring up her husband’s political reputation?
