David Miliband, Vogue and the fashion vote
David – not Ed – Miliband appears in this month’s Vogue. His interview is trailed on the cover, where he is hailed as “David Miliband: a man on a mission”, no less. It all translates as a big air kiss of approval from the fashion establishment, Team David all the way. While the interview has David dodging the question on his brother – “I made an absolute commitment to myself not to play into the story,” he says – the contrast between siblings is clear for style insiders. David, always slick, with an eye for a well-cut suit, has an Obama-like knack for grown-up power dressing. It doesn’t run in the family. Forget the Labour leader’s four million conversations, Ed might start to persuade voters to go his way if he sorted out his shirt, which looked in need of an iron at the launch of the party’s election campaign on Monday. It’s a detail you can’t imagine the older Miliband missing. Here are six reasons why David gets the fashion vote.
His hair
Both Milibands have the kind of thick dark hair that receding men gaze at with envy. But while Ed’s current longer, side-parted style has something of the banker about it – especially when teamed with a suit – David’s grown-out buzzcut is a bit cool. He gets extra points for sticking for yonks to a style that suits him and the signature badger-ish stripe of grey at the front. Fashion loves a power haircut. See Anna Wintour’s bob.
The cuffs
Here’s a man who speaks fashion’s language. He knows that, when it comes to a slick look, it’s the infinitesimal tweaks that matter. Sure, most people won’t notice the 5mm peek of shirt at his jacket’s cuff but those are the details that get fashion people – not usually the most politically active – interested. And where fashion leads, the apathetic follow, surely.
The collar
The semi-spread collar – as modelled here by Miliband – is GQ-approved and you can see why. It’s not flashy but semaphores that the wearer is too clever to entirely dismiss fashion as frivolous. The combination of the punchy collar shape and wider tie keeps the proportions right. Top marks.
Excellent puddling
Jacket length, collars and cut are all very well but get the trouser length on a suit wrong and everything is out of whack. There really is nothing worse than trousers that are unintentionally too short or too long. Judging him only on his trousers, which hit the top of his shoes without revealing a bobbly sock, David tends to get things on the money.
Inky suit
As anyone who travels at rush hour knows, suits come in endless variations – not all of them good. This is a good suit, even with the elbow creases. The fabric looks expensive, the cut sits right on the shoulders. The slim cut on sleeves and trousers, plus nipped-in collar, keeps it slick and modern. Looser-cut trousers scream office junior and should be avoided at all costs.
Posture
A direct gaze, wide-legged stance and good posture will get you far in public life. And, you’d have to say, in a Vogue photoshoot. Excellent crossover appeal, then.
Seven politicians who pass the fashion test
Chuka Umunna
Chuka Umunna has become famous for the immaculately shaved perfect dome of his head, its neat precision echoed by the rest of his look. This is GQ man: controversially pricey Savile Row tailoring, immaculate white shirts and ties in a block colour. Like Obama, the MP for Streatham wears only blue or grey suits, treating his working wardrobe as a uniform to ensure reliable levels of suaveness without daily dressing-room angst. HM
Theresa May
The home secretary chose a Vogue subscription as her luxury item on Desert Island Discs and her passion is evident in the riot of colour and pattern that is her wardrobe. From patent-black thigh-high boots to colourful Hermès scarves, from strapless dresses to tartan, her look is varied, occasionally chaotic and full of pizazz. She did not get fashion’s recent memos about normcore or understatement – and hurrah for that. HM
Justine Greening
Hair matters in politics, and Greening’s is superlative: glossy and flicky without a whiff of the professional blow-dry bar. In general, Greening’s look works because she dresses like a real person. The international development minister wears pinstriped skirt suits over sensible jumpers and practical heels, topped off with the kind of bobbly necklace your aunt might buy from Accessorize. Let’s call this solicitor chic, a look that is elevated to Good Wife levels on occasion, as here, when paired with a classic navy macintosh and a folder in grass green. HM
Tristram Hunt
Rather than hide his poshness, the member of parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central has decided to reclaim it, wearing velvet jackets and rollnecked jumpers, and shirts under navy blue jumpers. His suits are commendable, too: well-cut, with excellent shoulders and ties that look rakishly askew rather than disastrously so. He often goes tie-free, a smart-casual look that has public-school confidence written all over it. HM
Andy Burnham
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham is an offbeat choice but a strong one, owing to his delightful cocktail of integrity, navy suits and massive eyes. The left loves him because of his thoughts on integrated health and social care, fury over the coalition’s privatisation of the NHS and general stance on cuts. Style types love him because he’s unafraid of a blue swatch (note the nano-shades separating his shirts and suits), has been compared to Dirk Bogarde, and for those peepers – big, round and brown, as if he’s stepped off a Margaret Keane canvas and into our hearts. MF
Baroness Warsi
Yes Warsi quit the government over its Gaza policy, but her now-infamous walk down Downing Street in a bright pink shalwar kameez (she was the first Muslim in the cabinet) will for ever be remembered as a seismic moment in British politics. Ditto the colourful wardrobe that followed – non-western pieces married with suits and patent handbags, often set off by a Hermès-esque silk scarf tied nonchalantly and loose or 50s-style to the side. MF
Alan Johnson
In political circles, former home secretary Alan Johnson is and was Labour’s man of the people, having worked in Tesco and as a postman before going into politics. Style-wise, his preference for Fred Perry sweaters and the Who earned him the title of “Modfather of Westminster”. Let’s hope rumours of his return to the frontbenches are true, if only for aesthetic reasons. MF
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