The Clothes Behind the Campaign
By Haasini Sanisetty
What can clothes tell us about the new people in charge of New York City? The answer is a surprisingly large amount.
On January 1st, the Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani was officially sworn in under the lights of one of New York’s original subway stations. His wife, Rama Duwaji, was right there with him, making a statement in a Balenciaga coat, wide leg shorts, low-heeled boots, and vintage earrings. Her outfit was stylish in a quiet way, but it challenged convention loudly. All the pieces that Rama wore during the ceremony were borrowed, the coat from the Albright Fashion Library, the shorts from the Frankie Shop, and the gold earrings from New York Vintage. Through choosing to make a statement with recycled fashion, Rama is staying true to herself even as she steps into her new role as the First Lady of New York City. She’s expressed that thrifting and carefully cultivating her fashion pieces is important to her, and wearing borrowed items during her first appearance as First Lady makes that clear. In a city that’s widely considered to be a fashion capital and a hotspot for thrifting, Rama echoes the sentiments and habits of many New Yorkers through her intentional fashion choices.
Even while donning his signature suit, Mayor Mamdani found a way to tell a story through his tie choice. The designer behind his brown silk tie is Kartik Kumra, a New Delhi resident who strives to bring creativity and humanity back to clothing by utilizing traditional craftsmanship and inspiration from his homeland. This simple fashion decision allowed Zohran to pay homage to his ethnicity and upbringing while taking a step into the future of the city and his administration.
The public ceremony the next day was no less eventful when it came to the First Lady’s fashion. She stepped out in an elegant brown coat dress and lace up boots, her own spin on the classic inauguration style. Her coat was designed by Cynthia Merhej, a Palestinian-Lebanese designer who focuses on heritage and feminine power. Her choice of wearing a small Middle-Eastern designer during the public ceremony makes a statement: Rama Duwaji is her own person. She’s showing support without even speaking a word, and that’s the power of fashion. In a city and an era where the power of clothes is more widely recognized, Rama is being herself in a way that speaks volumes about her character.
Her stylist Karefa-Johnson described the process of collaborating with Rama and Cynthia: “References and renderings flew back and forth, all in service of subtly subverting expectations of how a First Lady can—or “should”—present.”
The coat isn’t just a bold fashion statement, it’s a symbol of change. New York City is entering a period of reform under the new administration, one that a lot of New Yorkers are closely observing. Mayor Mamdani and First Lady Rama Duwaji are taking New York into the future through big decisions and great clothes.
Sources:
https://brainmatterbygkj.substack.com/p/rama-duwaji-zohran-mamdani-first-lady-inauguration-fashion
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/02/style/mamdani-rama-duwaji-style-inauguration
https://www.vogue.com/article/rama-duwajis-first-lady-style-and-the-politics-of-borrowing-fashion