Fashion

British politics, fashion collide at London Fashion Week

Canadian-British designer Edeline Lee presented her latest spring-summer 2025 collection at London Fashion Week (LFW) on Monday with a loyal customer in attendance โ€” Victoria Starmer, the wife of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The label with the fitting tagline โ€œClothing for the Future Ladyโ€, has dressed some of Britainโ€™s most powerful women, including Catherine, Princess of Wales and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

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Last year, Victoria Starmer, who generally keeps a low profile and has been praised for her style, wore a red belted dress by the designer for the Labour party conference โ€” one of her few political appearances.

Variations of the same outfit were on display in the new collection โ€” belted jacquard dresses with flutter sleeves in cornflower, yellow, coral pink and emerald green.

At the brandโ€™s first-ever LFW catwalk show, Lee presented tailored midi and maxi dresses, flowing pantsuits and sequinned gowns intended to make the wearer feel โ€œpolished, ready and powerfulโ€.

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Attending the show on the banks of the River Thames while her husband was in Rome meeting Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, Victoria Starmer opted for a blue and white polka-dot jumpsuit with a tailored navy blue jacket.

However, she could not fully step away from politics.

Over the weekend The Times newspaper accused Keir Starmer of breaching parliamentary rules by failing to disclose that a Labour party donor had bought more than ยฃ5,000 ($6,600) worth of designer clothes for his wife.

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