{"id":96684,"date":"2026-01-11T21:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/96684\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T21:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:48:14","slug":"zohran-mamdanis-wife-rama-duwaji-inauguration-look-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/96684\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani’s Wife Rama Duwaji Inauguration Look Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMelania Trump has one:\u00a0Herv\u00e9 Pierre Braillard. Michelle Obama had one, too,\u00a0Meredith Koop. And Rama Duwaji, the chic visual artist wife of New York\u2019s new mayor,\u00a0Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, has a stylist as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst ladies, after all, can\u2019t be expected to dress themselves.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuwaji\u2019s now-viral look \u2014 a vintage Balenciaga<\/a> coat paired with Miista\u2019s pointed-toe, lace-up Shelley boots \u2014 was put together by Vogue editor\u2013turned\u2013New York stylist\u00a0Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who, we\u2019re told, actively pursued the mayor\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

\n\tKarefa-Johnson, of course, exited\u00a0Vogue\u00a0under somewhat hostile circumstances, after a viral Paris Fashion<\/a> Week dust-up in which she publicly took issue with the Miu Miu T-shirt worn by\u00a0Gigi Hadid\u00a0\u2014 criticism that quickly snowballed well beyond the clothes.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis time, the backlash wasn\u2019t about the stylist \u2014 it was about the mayor\u2019s wife. After photos of Duwaji in Balenciaga and $630 boots circulated, critics online pounced on the optics of a so-called \u201cdemocratic socialist\u201d in luxury fashion, particularly given Mamdani\u2019s rhetoric around affordability. It was soon reported that the look had been rented: the vintage coat from Irene Albright\u2019s bi-coastal Albright Library, the boots likely loaned by the brand.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe controversy escalated quickly. Although Miista says the Shelley boots are now selling briskly, some social-media protesters have been harassing those involved online. Karefa-Johnson gave a handful of interviews about her styling for Duwaji, but then suddenly went quiet. According to multiple sources, she has signed an NDA with the mayor\u2019s office. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Karefa-Johnson and her representatives: no response.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo what happens next? Will Karefa-Johnson dress New York\u2019s first lady again? Will Duwaji continue renting designer fashion under this level of scrutiny? If Duwaji\u2019s recent fashion shoot in\u00a0The Cut\u00a0\u2014 published Dec. 23, 2025 and handled by fashion editor\u00a0Jessica Willis\u00a0\u2014 is any indication, she\u2019s emerging as the mod-political style figure of the moment. The spread featured Jacquemus, Diotima and Marc Jacobs, many noted as \u201con loan,\u201d and positioned Duwaji as a contemporary echo of \u201960s muse\u00a0Peggy Moffitt.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fashion world, at least, is watching closely.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you love Hollywood insider fashion items, sign up for THR\u2018s \u201cLoose Threads\u201d newsletter by Merle Ginsberg to come to your inbox weekly at\u00a0https:\/\/cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com\/signup\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melania Trump has one:\u00a0Herv\u00e9 Pierre Braillard. Michelle Obama had one, too,\u00a0Meredith Koop. And Rama Duwaji, the chic visual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1215,1242,9,11,10,87,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-96684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-balenciaga","9":"tag-fashion","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}