Power blazer? Victoria Starmer marks key political moment in cream

N ot a white flag but a cream blazer was what Victoria Starmer chose to wear to accompany her husband, the prime minister, to vote on Thursday morning. She follows in a long line of women who have mobilised the power blazer at high-stakes moments. Starmer’s, which looks much like a £1,690 ivory Alexander McQueen crepe design, comes hot on the lapels of another. In episode one of the new series of Amandaland , Amanda wears a beige double-breasted iteration in a high-stakes fictional moment: to give a toe-curling talk about her (not shallow) lifestyle brand Senuous as part of careers week at her kid’s school. Earlier in the week, the Princess of Wales launched the Foundations for Life report wearing a creamy beige high-waisted Roland Mouret suit . High-stakes fictional moment: Lucy Punch as Amanda in Amandaland. Photograph: BBC/Merman The cream blazer has, according to the stylist and DC-based fashion consultant Lauren Rothman, who styles politicians and business people, “a professional, creative aesthetic to it that says: ‘I’m in my own lane of power dressing, and that requires standing out while still signalling competence.’” Rothman refers to the blazer in general as “the third piece”: “the layer that turns clothing into presence”. Blazers, she says, “create visual structure, and structure is psychologically associated with authority, preparedness, competence”. …