I know female politicians get it in the neck far more than their male counterparts but, seriously, if you can’t fork out for a full-length mirror or run a comb through your hair, how on earth can you be expected to run the country?
The latest combo sported by Angela Rayner – our Deputy Prime Minister, remember – makes SpongeBob SquarePants spring horrifically to mind.
Arriving at Downing Street this morning, Rayner chose the trendy, mid-price label beloved by the style set and influencers – Me+Em. (It’s one of her faves; last year she wore three pieces by the brand including a £550 vivid green suit, a £227 orange dress and a £325 coral dress with cap sleeves). Today’s cream wool herringbone jacket is £295; the wide-leg trousers £225.
But is she so busy vaping by the coast, she only shops online and therefore never tries anything on? The outfit just isn’t right for her shape or, more importantly, her job.
Let’s dissect the jacket. It is far too short, too boxy, too fussy: puff sleeves, decorative buttons and a scooped lapel no woman with a fuller bust should wear. A double-breasted jacket makes any woman look wide. Rayner needs more of a long-line style that reaches to her fingertips when an arm is dropped at her side, and single breasted.
The Deputy PM arrives at the first Cabinet meeting of the new parliamentary term in an ensemble from Me+Em
Her latest combo ‘makes SpongeBob SquarePants spring horrifically to mind’, writes Liz Jones
Ms Rayner greets Foreign Secretary David Lammy on her way into No10
The green trousers? They are far too long, making it look as though she is on casters. The colour is too casual: summer holibobs are over. The shoes are from a brand called Irregular Choice, which seems apt. And the sunglasses? It’s as though she thinks she owes us no respect. You are not Elton John. Or Christopher Biggins. You are meant to be running the country.
I have no issue with Rayner accepting discounts or freebies when it comes to her wardrobe. She should be in made-to-measure Savile Row, or at least a great British high-fashion label such as Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney or Burberry. Flying the flag, not resembling one.
What is the point of commendably dragging yourself up from a council estate childhood if you do not then ditch the chaotic, the budget buys, the creases, the rainbow colours? It is clear she doesn’t care whether the fashion police approves or not. But she should care.
No French or American or Italian female bus driver would wear this lot, let alone a foreign leader. Rayner should channel Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, who has an impeccable, mostly navy uniform so we listen to what she says, not gawp in horror at what she is wearing…
It’s time Rayner stopped trying to appeal to Everywoman – the middle-aged woman who can’t afford a stylist and is confused by too much choice in Marks & Spencer. She is not one of us. She represents us. Big difference.
