Dressing the Prime Minister's Wife

When you are the representative for a country you have to have every little single thing in order, because you will be judged in every way possible. You have to be a role model and a person to set an example, but do you have to compromise with the person you are because of that?

When a politician becomes a Prime minister and head of the country, his spouse will on the same time become the first lady of the country, and a number of responsibilities will automatically come with that title. She might haven't done anything to get that title and she might not even want it, but she cannot abdicate the following responsibilities if she wishes to be a supportive wife to her husband and doesn't wants her family to be stamped as conflict filled. Troubles on the home front could mean a loss in his career as a Prime Minister because people will equate it with his way of making policy which is why, as before mentioned, everything has to be in order.

Even when it comes to how they dress it is judged and put into context with policy, so by being in the media's spotlight they also have to be very considerate about what they wear and where they wear it at. The Prime Minister and his wife might have been somewhat wealthy before gaining the titles and the Prime Minister's wife may have loved to wear expensive designer clothes but with the title and for an example at an event for poor it is to be dressed expensive apparently ill seen. Taking the example Alexandra Shulman comes with in the article from Vogue UK whose huge focus on the Prime Minister's wife's way of dressing rather than her other matters is because of the magazine's profile as a very famous fashion and lifestyle magazine. The example with Samantha Cameron, the current Prime Minister David Cameron's wife, she wore a £750 designer dress at a tough economic time where there were child-benefit cuts and public-service sackings. This did the media and public not approve of because they thought that it was inconsiderate in the given situation. But should the country's condition really affect her way to dress because of her husband's occupation? It is not only the way she dresses which is influenced by this also her whole identity; constantly she is referred to as 'the Prime Minister's wife'. This fact does Miriam Clegg, the wife of the deputy to the Prime Minister, comment irritated on to Vogue UK "Please, please stop talking about political wives," she said and continued "My husband is married to a lawyer, but nobody calls him a legal husband." This point makes it clear to understand the dissatisfaction from Miriam Clegg about being so affected of the husband's occupation. We live in the 21st century with a focus on equality between men and women, so it is fair to say that women should not be that controlled and definitely not all the way down to how they dress because of their husbands. Alexandra Shulman