Is SamCam's stylist now helping Rishi's wife create a new look?

EMILY PRESCOTT: Is Samantha Cameron’s stylist now helping Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty create a new look?

As a former fashion designer, Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty knows a thing or two about what makes a good look. And flaunting your wealth with high-end clothes when your husband is trying to lead the country out of a biting cost-of-living crisis is definitely not a good look.

That’s why the 43-year-old is increasingly earning the praise of fashionistas – including The Mail on Sunday’s Alexandra Shulman – for choosing affordable, middle-of-the-range British brands over luxury labels. And one recent visitor to No 10 could be behind those winning choices.

It seems that Ms Murty may be seeking style advice from Isabel Spearman, the PR guru who previously worked as an unofficial dresser to Samantha Cameron during her husband’s tenure in Downing Street.

The brand consultant was spotted heading into No 10 just days before last weekend’s Coronation, for which the Prime Minister’s wife wore a £495 baby blue dress from Claire Mischevani that one commentator praised as ‘incredible’.

DRESSING DOWN: Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty at the Coronation lunch outside 10 Downing Street

Akshata Murty at the Coronation (left) and the Buckingham Palace reception the day before (right)

At the Buckingham Palace reception the previous day she wore an eye-catching royal blue lace dress, costing £400 from Self-Portrait.

And for the Coronation Big Lunch outside Downing Street last Sunday, Ms Murty wore an £85 blouse from Boden, a high street brand loved by the Princess of Wales.

Her choices – described by one observer as ‘a masterclass in modern soft-power style’– are a far cry from the £570 pair of sliders she was pictured wearing for the school run in October. A snip for someone said to be worth £700 million and heiress to billions more, but beyond the pockets of the vast majority of voters.

Celebrity stylist Miranda Holder said: ‘Head-to-toe designer is passé. Dressing more mid-range and mixing things up is an effective, stylish way to support smaller British labels. And Ms Murty’s affordable wardrobe messages are being transmitted in a positive and welcome way.’

Ms Murty, who gave up a high-flying finance career to launch her own designer clothing label in 2011, is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, who is reportedly worth £50 billion as a founder of Indian IT giant Infosys.

Ms Spearman – the former PR director of accessories brand Anya Hindmarch – was special adviser to Samantha Cameron from 2010 to 2015, on a taxpayer-funded salary of about £60,000 a year. She controversially received an OBE in David Cameron’s 2016 resignation honours and her website boasts of how she played ‘a formative role in building the international public persona of [Samantha] Cameron’.

Both she and Downing Street declined to comment last night.

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