Designer behind Lady Starmer’s £1,200 jacket: ‘I’m so proud to have her here’
On Monday morning, Victoria Starmer donned her biggest sunglasses and joined the fashion pack. She chose to show support for Edeline Lee (whose dress she also wore at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool last year) by attending the designer’s debut London Fashion Week catwalk show.
The PM’s wife wore a polka-dot blouse and trousers for the occasion, sample pieces lent to her by the brand, from the spring/summer 2025 collection that featured on the catwalk. She also wore Lee’s £1200 “Tammy” jacket in navy.
Her wardrobe choices have been the subject of political controversy in recent days after it was revealed that Labour donor Lord Alli had previously bought Lady Starmer’s designer clothing and the services of a personal shopper. It was likely deemed both more supportive and less risky for her to wear a sample look from Lee than to attend wearing any other designer outfit. Lee’s dresses usually retail for between £900 and £1200.
Lady Starmer sat next to the British Fashion Council CEO Caroline Rush and her friend, the television presenter June Sarpong, on a front row that was mainly filled with business executives – Baroness Helena Morrissey, New Look CIO Lynda Petherick and Google managing director Vanessa Kingori.
Lee’s label suited them all in both senses of the word; dressed from top-to-toe, together they read like a colourful pack of high flyers, exactly the clientele Lee has appealed to since founding her label a decade ago.
“I’m so excited to have her here, I’m really proud,” she said of Starmer, before adding that she had “wished she was sitting among the audience, it looked so fun out there.”
Lee’s signature dresses, the Dada and the Pedernal, have a particular appeal amongst city women and wedding guests alike – the textured silk fabrics are ultra flattering, and hold brilliant “happy colours”, Lee said. Updates for the next season will include ochre and turquoise. They also photograph beautifully, a factor that Starmer will no doubt appreciate now that her every outfit is both snapped and scrutinised.
“We’ve worked really hard on them over time to make the sizing and the fit really democratic for lots of different sizes,” Lee told The Telegraph backstage. Indeed her model casting was one of the most diverse we have seen all week. “I always want to show that the woman is wearing the dress, rather than the dress overtaking the woman.”
In Lee’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection, that signature mottled silk material was reimagined in new silhouettes, spanning high-low trapeze hems and ruffle maxis with draped backs. The inky polka dot print which Starmer and several of the models debuted was inspired by the tapestry artist Carolina Mazzolari – she too was in the audience, wearing a sharp suit with a shirt printed in their collaborative design.
Victoria Starmer continues a tradition of Britain’s “first ladies” supporting London Fashion Week. Predecessors, such as Samantha Cameron and Sarah Brown, thoroughly enjoyed this ambassadorial role. Others such as Carrie Johnson, never sat on a front row and shied away from supporting the industry.
Why does it matter? The fashion industry contributed £28.9 billion to GDP in 2021 and employs over 800,000 people nationwide – a “first lady” can act as a poster woman, of sorts, drawing attention to fledgling businesses and big brands alike.
For Lee’s small label, the backing felt significant.
“I wanted it to feel like our whole community was here; the women who wear my dresses,” she said. “As this is our first catwalk presentation, it should be about welcoming people into our world.”
