She was perhaps paying tribute to the Iron Lady, famous for her political wardrobe of pillbox hats and pussy-bow blouses.
But Samantha Cameron’s choice of outfit to Baroness Thatcher’s funeral failed to take off with fashion watchers.Her gold pussy-bow blouse and neat grey hat inspired a bout of mild teasing on Twitter, where she was likened to an air stewardess.Some even reworked her nickname, dubbing the Prime Minister’s wife ‘PanAm SamCam’.One user, Vivienne Clore asked: ‘Why did Sam Cam come dressed as a flight attendant?’ Rosie Ellis wrote: ‘Sam Cam is channelling her inner air hostess with choice of outfit today. I keep expecting her to point out the exits.’
And Nizaar Kinsella said: ‘I’m sure I saw SamCam working on my EasyJet flight the other day.’As a fashion power player, Mrs Cameron puts a lot of thought into her attire.She knows clothes deliver a message – hence her prudent ‘recycling’ of the same clothes for public engagements, and her desire to team expensive pieces with low-cost brands such as Zara, Topshop and Hobbs.
For high-profile occasions, Mrs Cameron usually looks the antithesis of a traditional Tory wife, choosing to champion up-and-coming and edgy British labels such as Alessandra Rich or Jonathan Saunders.And because fussy buttoned-up necklines are strictly not her usual style, it’s all the more unthinkable that yesterday’s blouse, teamed with a black pencil skirt, nude Jimmy Choo ‘Agnes’ heels, costing £360, and dark grey pillbox hat, was unintentional.
The pussy-bow is a style that our first and only woman prime minister trademarked during her tenure, most notably during a photocall aboard the ‘Thatcher Battle Bus’, ahead of her first election victory in 1979.Pussy-bow blouses first became fashionable in the 1940s, but the sterner more buttoned-up power dressing version we know today found favour in the late 1970s and remained popular throughout the 1980s.
Seen as the feminine equivalent to a man’s shirt and tie, the style became the office staple for a new generation of women in male-dominated offices who wanted to look powerful but feminine.No wonder then, that Lady Thatcher wore a great many versions of this look to one of the most masculine of all work places – Parliament.Which is more than can be said for Mrs Cameron, whose outfits have caused controversy – and plenty of Twitter debate – before.
Her decision to wear a jewelled hairpiece, rather than a hat, to the Royal wedding two years ago caused much consternation, as did some of her outfits during the Camerons’ Washington visit last year.However, Lady Thatcher would perhaps have approved of Mrs Cameron’s frugal approach to dressing.Although the gold blouse by French designer Paul & Joe was a hefty £280, she has worn it twice before – to a tea party in 2008, then to her daughter Florence’s christening in 2011. – DailyMail
