Rama Duwaji via her Instagram / @ramaduwaji
Anytime a man is elected in a significant governmental role, it is almost always their female counterpart that is put on display for crowd analysis. Once he is elected, she is no longer perceived as an individual, but rather, a politician’s wife. All sense of self is stripped away from her and she is instead expected to fit the ever so tight mould of the politician’s wife: graceful poise and manner, political neutrality, and a so called ‘timeless’ sense of fashion. Any deviation from this mould and she is to expect public scrutiny. Follow these rules perfectly and she is also subject to public scrutiny. All in all, the politician’s wife’s shoes are almost always impossible to fill. Rama Duwaji, the new First Lady of New York, has proven that it is perhaps better not to try to fill these shoes.
The recent election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York has brought Rama Duwaji to center stage. However, what people found was that she is not the typical politician’s wife. Duwaji is a Syrian-American artist who met her husband on Hinge; not the typical story we see for major political marriages. She has an instagram which she controls, rather than one curated by a PR team, and posts about her life in her voice. In other words, Duwaji seems to be in charge of her own life and image, rather than it being perfectly curated online by a team of people. Duwaji feels like a refreshing representation of real people and at times when we’re overloaded with so much false information and performative images, it is what we need when we are faced with someone so close to the political realm. Aside from maintaining her true personality, Rama Duwaji has also maintained her true sense of style and dresses as herself, elevating her all-inspiring, fresh image.
Rama Duwaji via her Instagram / @ramaduwaji
In politician’s wives’ dress, we usually see tailored, modest suit dresses, colours that indicate party loyalty, and high-end politically neutral brands. It represents a cosplay of high society and a constriction into stereotypical fashion rules of femininity. Think Brigitte Macron, Hillary Clinton, Ivana Trump. Even Jackie O’Nassis, who has always been so highly admired for her sense of style, was adhering to the rules of the politician’s wife, and it is less clear whether that was in fact the real Jackie. The way that these women dress doesn’t just present them as a prop for their politician partners, but it represents a wider issue of female conformity and passiveness.
Then it all changes. New York City election night arrives and Rama Duwaji steps out in an all-black ensemble. An elegant, classic and seemingly neutral outfit has instead caused a massive step for the politician’s wife. Duwaji wears a sleeveless black top with cut-out embroidery, etching a pattern representing Palestinian heritage. Not only does she demonstrate these deep cultural signifiers to a wide audience, but she is also representing Jordinian-Palestinian designer, Zeid Hijazi. Alongside Hijazi, Duwaji’s remaining pieces are from New York designers, Ulla Johnson and Eddie Borgo. Although quiet luxury is always favourable in the politician’s wife’s outfit, putting together a capsule of small designers and meaningful brands is a rare, refreshing sight to see. Duwaji therefore shows that she is not in fact selling her persona to whatever brand is in trend or on offer, but rather designers that stand out to her, ethically and aesthetically. This careful curation of her outfit not only shows the time and thought put into her style, but that she is not compromising any part of herself at the same time.
Considering that Duwaji is a celebrated animator and artist, it is also not a surprise that she has such a sure sense of style and character. Her Instagram is full of careful choices of art and images that have inspired her. She shares her own art that exposes the inequalities of the world and the ways in which we need to look out for one another. She is very active in commenting on the current situation in Palestine, despite the possible political repercussions for her husband. In fact, she illustrated an article for The Cut titled ‘I want to Have Something to Give my Daughter from Gaza’ and has created several illustrated videos explicitly showing the nature of the genocide. From reminders such as “Not a hunger crisis, it is deliberate starvation” to quotes from Rasha Abdulhadi, Duwaji’s commentary on Palestine has been able to reach a lot of people through her position as First Lady of New York, and will continue to do so, as she uses her platform to raise the voices of those who aren’t given one.
On this Instagram, she also shares outfits that stay consistent to her character. We see a pattern of black and white pieces, which keep her look classic, but cut in ways that bring a Gen-Z, modern edge that no one expects to see in a politician’s wife. She deeply accessorises with jewelry often from small brands, which make a statement on her non-passive presence in the room. One of her illustration projects was for a Vogue article on 9 of New York’s garment workers, of which she shared on her Instagram with the caption “Illustrated a piece on highlighting the people behind the craftsmanship of Fashion Week and how labor visibility is so important when so much of everything feels so extractive and non-human!!” Ultimately we gather how important the designer, the process and the labour is to Duwaji, which is why she is seen consistently supporting small brands. It is quite rare to see celebrities, who often benefit from the unethical production of the fashion industry, speak out like this about the issues in production and highlight that our roles as consumers are the strongest ways to address this.
Rama Duwaji via her Instagram / @ramaduwaji
The fashion industry often thrives off of celebrities who wear big name brands, and politician’s wives’ represent a level of elegance that any brand would love to be associated with. Duwaji, however, breaks this pattern of favouring these mass-producing brands and instead shows that true style comes through the choices and messages that are closest to us. As a result, the politician’s wife’s fashion mould is starting to crack and instead we are beginning to get a glimpse of these women taking their place as individuals with their own important messages to share. Duwaji’s fashion is never going to be the most important facet of her personality, but it serves as the visual reminder we need that there is a new wave of political liberation ready to happen. In many ways, she is ready to become Gen-Z’s new Princess Diana: an icon who is both revered for her fashion but also for her activism as an individual – and this is the kind of person the world really needs to see again. Zohran Mamdani may be a refreshing image for the people of New York, however, Rama Duwaji is an equally, if not exceedingly, invigorating image for women of the world.
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