Victoria Starmer, wife of former prime minister Keir Starmer, made one of her first public appearances since her husband stepped down by modeling at a London fashion week show on Sunday. She appeared in designer Edeline Lee's spring/summer 2027 show, held in a school sports hall in north London.
Show details and setting
The show took place at Haverstock school in Chalk Farm, with an unusual format: models were fitted and adjusted in full view of the audience, dancers rehearsed beside the catwalk, and a drone filmed from the gymnasium's high ceiling. Starmer wore a bright turquoise knitted midi dress with a high neckline, pleated detailing, and short sculptural sleeves, paired with white block-heeled shoes, her hair in loose waves.
Photographs showed Starmer having her makeup done beside the catwalk, with a football net in the background and makeup and hair products spread on a table. Ballerinas stretched nearby, and synchronised swimming-inspired dancers in bright red costumes performed as part of the show.
Designer's inspiration and background
Lee, a London-based Canadian British designer, said the collection was based on the Greek myth of Sisyphus, where a man is condemned to push a boulder uphill only for it to roll back down. "There's a general feeling right now of relentlessness, a sisyphean cycle," Lee said. "I was already thinking about the ballet – dance is incredibly transporting, but the work behind it is so intense, the way dancers train for years, the endless repetition, for one ecstatic moment of performance, and then they're back in the studio. I wanted to acknowledge the rigour and hard work behind that moment – much like the skill and artistry required of my team to present beautiful clothes."
Lee's clothes are a favourite of the Princess of Wales and have been worn by celebrities including Taylor Swift and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Her main creative design studio is based in east London.
Starmer's style and past appearances
During Keir Starmer's time in office, Lady Starmer kept a low public profile but was often admired for her "political chic" and "modern British" style, favouring brands such as ME+EM, Needle & Thread, and Edeline Lee. At London fashion week's spring/summer shows in 2024, she took a front-row seat at Lee's show at Millbank Tower, wearing a borrowed £615 cream pussy-bow blouse with a navy polka dot print and matching £715 wide-leg trousers.
That appearance came amid a row over free clothes for Lady Starmer, with Keir Starmer facing an investigation over a possible breach of parliamentary rules around gifts. He had failed to declare that some of his wife's designer clothes were bought by his biggest personal donor, Lord Alli, with The Sunday Times reporting that the Labour peer had paid for a personal shopper, clothes, and alterations before and after Starmer became prime minister.
