Behind every great man is a great woman, or so the saying goes. And for the majority of Rishi Sunak’s political career, this has been the case quite literally.
Despite her own considerable attributes, the Prime Minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, has remained firmly behind the scenes.
In fact, she has doggedly eschewed the limelight with a diligence that led people to assume that a more prominent role simply wasn’t her thing…
Until now. For in recent weeks, Akshata, 43, seems to have had a dramatic change of heart, taking to the stage with the gusto of an X Factor contestant — only with much better style.
There’s been a change in her wardrobe, too. Where to begin in documenting the plethora of judiciously chosen labels, colours, fabrics and prints of late?
Akshata Murty opted for an £85 blue Boden shirt embroidered with red hearts, coordinating Me+Em red trousers and blue and white shoes for the Coronation Big Lunch at Downing Street
Britain’s First Lady seems to have ditched her billionaire bling. In February, she was pictured wearing £570 JW Anderson slides for the school run
She hosted U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, dressed in blue suede LK Bennett heels and a £325 silk dress by Rixo
Take her most recent appearance atop the steps of a British Airways plane after landing in Tokyo yesterday — the first time she has ever accompanied her husband on a foreign trip.
In an excellent example of ‘dopamine dressing’ — dressing to lift the mood — her bright pink Chinti & Parker jumper and emerald green Me+Em trousers looked cheerfully optimistic.
Their hues were no doubt carefully chosen for that all-important ‘feelgood factor’ that every First Lady needs to convey when her husband is hoping to secure billions of pounds of Japanese investment for the UK.
The palette was expertly judged and so, too, the price point. These were mid-market labels that wouldn’t frighten the horses.
Lessons have clearly been learned since she wore £570 designer slides on the school run in February.
Yes, the shearling-lined, gilt chain-embellished footwear flagged her fashion credentials, but they also highlighted her billionaire budget. Which does not go down well with the rather more squeezed electorate.
Akshata’s canny new approach made its debut on the Thursday of Coronation weekend, when she greeted Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, wearing a £200 blossom-print shirt by Sleeper, a Ukrainian label, and a clever example of sartorial diplomacy.
The following day, she hosted U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, dressed in blue suede LK Bennett heels and a £325 silk dress by Rixo, a British label whose dresses have also been worn by the Princess of Wales and actresses Sandra Bullock and Margot Robbie.
Disembarking the plane at Tokyo, Akshata dressed to lift the mood in bright pink Chinti & Parker jumper and emerald green Me+Em trousers
Standing under a Union jack flag with her husband, Akshata wore a £675 Joseph midi for the G7 summit in Japan
Akshata opted for a patterned Jigsaw dress, £225, as she was pictured alongside her husband Rishi Sunak, former US president Bill Clinton, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Belfast in April
With its handkerchief hem and striking floral print, it was a lesson in ‘soft power’ that served to make Mrs Biden’s pink tailored outfit look staid.
But it was at the Coronation itself that Akshata really showed her fashion flair.
A high-profile occasion such as this is very easy to misjudge, but she more than held her own against the congregation of celebrities, dignitaries and international royals.
Her dress — powder blue, belted at the waist, with a subtle print of roses — was perfectly pitched neither to stand out nor blend in, and was sensibly paired with black heels, a black clutch and a black Jane Taylor hat.
The dress, by Shropshire-based designer Claire Mischevani, created so much demand for the small, rather unknown label that, two weeks after the Coronation, Mischevani’s website still has a message on its homepage advising customers that there will be a ‘short delay’ in the delivery of their orders.
Meanwhile, at the Coronation Big Lunch that took place in Downing Street the following day, Akshata opted for an £85 blue Boden shirt embroidered with red hearts, coordinating Me+Em red trousers and blue and white shoes. Another example of electorate-friendly elegance.
Rixo, Boden and LK Bennett have all noticed an uptick in sales as a result of her recent patronage.
This isn’t surprising: good publicity always leads to increased sales. What’s more surprising, arguably, is that Akshata is wearing these labels in the first place.
After all, she is a woman of very considerable means: her father, Narayana Murthy, a founder of Indian IT giant Infosys, is reportedly worth £4 billion. Akshata herself is said to hold £430 million in shares, making her richer than King Charles.
The Prime Minister’s wife looked elegant in a blue Self Portrait dress, £400, for the Coronation reception
Akshata showed her fashion flair at the Coronation, opting for a powder blue dress, £945, by Shropshire-based designer Claire Mischevani
As befits a fashion-loving woman of means who gave up a high-flying finance career to launch her own designer clothing label in 2011, Akshata’s wardrobe is bulging with designer swag.
She favours handbags by Chanel and Louis Vuitton, as well as clothes by Celine, Erdem and Gucci.
The £570 school-run slides, designed by fashion darling JW Anderson and also worn by actresses Katie Holmes, Emma Corrin and singer Dua Lipa, are a case in point.
But like her husband’s immense wealth — they are estimated to be worth £730 million together — Akshata’s own fortune doesn’t play well with the electorate.
This is not a year to be chanelling Marie Antoinette. At a time when many people are having to choose between heating and eating, wearing super-slippers on the school run was really not a good look.
Which is presumably why, in recent weeks, Akshata has taken a leaf out of Samantha Cameron and Carrie Johnson’s book, two former Tory First Ladies who made a point of dressing in labels with price points they could more than comfortably afford.
In fact, if rumours are to be believed, Akshata has gone so far as to engage the woman who masterminded Samantha’s wardrobe choices, fashion consultant Isabel Spearman, to help effect her transformation from rarefied fashion plate to relatable First Lady.
Spearman has neither confirmed nor denied any such arrangement.
But Akshata’s recent wardrobe of Boden, Jigsaw, Rixo, Sleeper, LK Bennett, Me+Em and other mid-market brands that hover around the £80 to £350 mark are familiar territory for the 44-year-old fashion consultant, who became so indispensable to Samantha during husband David’s tenure as prime minister that she went on to become a key part of Cefinn, the independent label Mrs Cameron launched in 2019.
Like Mrs Cameron, Akshata has her own well-honed sense of style. But in an age where everyone with a wifi connection is able to decode the meaning behind a choice of skirt or dress, it doesn’t pay to give out the wrong message.
So no matter how fashion-literate a woman might be, if she is in the public eye, it’s essential to enlist an extra pair of eyes.
However many clothes, shoes and handbags Akshata owns that came with four-figure price tags, the idea that she’s just a regular wife and mother is likely to be played out for the remainder of her husband’s stint in power — through her wardrobe.
It’s no coincidence that she launched her own Instagram account in February, @akshatamurty_official, from which she’s been posting enthusiastic content that, alas for her fans, stops short of tagging her clothes.
Her 20-grid posts and regular stories have so far amassed her 43,000 followers. Her most recent posts show her at Tokyo University ahead of the G7 summit, wearing a soft green Joseph dress and eating takeaway.
With a general election expected next year, Akshata’s new-found ‘relatability’ could be the popularity boost her husband needs. And while Rishi is ‘banging the drum for Britain’, Akshata has finally seen the power of banging the drum for British fashion, too.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk