So effusive are the accolades lavished on Amal Alamuddin, the human rights lawyer recently engaged to an up-and-coming Hollywood actor, that a reporter on Radio 4's Profile confessed on air that she had been one of their most difficult subjects. If only Profile had examined her clothes. The clues to her character are all there.
That not wholly surprising charge that she's a workaholic, for instance. Well, duh. Anyone who takes such a 360-degree, meticulous approach to monochrome as Alamuddin recently displayed in one of her dress-down sorties must be able to call on extraordinary focus. If you were an international war criminal or a victim of injustice, that's the kind of attention to detail you'd want on your team.
Then there are the Soft Power Suits. A far cry from the strident shoulder pads and misbegotten shapes of the Take. Me. Seriously crowd, Alamuddin's matching tops and skirts (very now) in vibrant colours are a quietly confident manifestation of effectiveness.
Beauty and brains have always been a high-wire double act, the one tending to cancel out the other as far as many observers are concerned. But Alamuddin, an alumnus of Oxford, fluent in Arabic, French and English and possessor of undeniably shiny, Middletonian hair, seems to be extremely agile. At 36, she has both represented the unlovable (Assange and Gaddafi's spy chief) and advised the august (Kofi Annan) - as well as topping the 2013 tumblr poll of London's Hottest Barristers.
Geoffrey Robertson, QC, cites her defence of the morally dubious as evidence of her commitment to "the basic idea that everyone is entitled to a basic level of dignity".
It may also be that she's instinctively drawn to the controversial and teeth-grating. That's not an unidentified "close friend" saying that: that's the somewhat unconventional pairing of her ripped jeans and frilly socks talking.
Either way, Robertson was so impressed that he offered her a job on the spot, after she came to talk to his chambers about Lebanon, where she was born. "We offered her an exceptional pupillage, which we do for exceptional people, and she was indeed exceptional," he told Profile.
Never mind Clooney - the style-osphere is smitten. There are now websites devoted entirely to the contents of her wardrobe (although at least one of them came over a bit faint over her ripped jeans).
To be fair, it is quite a large repository of clothes. Brogues, metallics, top-handled bags, white trousers and that trophy of 2014 trends, the pink coat, all feature regularly in Alamuddin's fashion library, along with a roster of top fashion names. That pink coat was by Balenciaga. The silver brogues were Prada. Another pair were by Nicholas Kirkwood.
This does not suggest a traditional bluestocking who gets dressed in the dark and whose head is so deeply interred in the records of the Hague's Criminal Courts that she doesn't have time for a sneaky peek at Vogue or Grazia.
She is a bluestocking, though - albeit the souped-up, 2014 model who knows this year's Miu Miu from last year's Mulberry and who likes to reward herself after a hard day's grinding research. She may even occasionally distract herself from Clause 470, Section XXXVII, with a DIY manicure. Again, this observation is evidence- rather than proof-based. But we wouldn't be surprised. Human rights, as Robertson points out, is not intrinsically glamorous work, "cramped over a desk with thousands of pages of case law to get through in an evening".
The daughter of an academic father and a high-profile journalist mother, she moved to London from war‑ravaged Beirut when she was three. Those dual cultural influences are also present in the way she dresses: dexterously businesslike during the day, classically but sedately sexy at night, in silky red dresses and high heels - but always with a ladylike tote bag nestling in the crook of her elbow or dangling off a shoulder. When that marriage finally happens in September, the fashion world will go crazy. For Alamuddin is the real thing: a woman who can't be bought; a racier Duchess of Cambridge; and a genuine intellect (as opposed to the rent-a-pseuds who appear in various glossy ad campaigns).
Does any of this matter? Yes, if you think we could do with a few more positive role models of intelligent women who haven't had to compromise their liking for pretty, feminine stuff to get ahead. Additionally, there are plenty of commentators who theorise that in finally committing to a woman who is more than his intellectual equal, Clooney may have set his sights on a world beyond movies.
Karen Krizanovich, film-writer and broadcaster, believes that Amal and George are planning bigger things. "I think we can look at the White House… the George and Amal show [could be] like the Bill and Hillary show."
But with far better clothes.
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CRACKING THE DRESS CODE by Ellie Pithers
Amal Alamuddin in October 2013; in a Balenciaga coat in April 2014; in monochrome in May 2014. Photo: FilmMagic, Splash News, WENN.com
FROM L-R: SEDATELY SEXY
Last October Alamuddin was still 'unidentified woman in a red dress' - but one look at those silver lace-up Chanel boots tells us the barrister is ready and waiting to take up the mantle of being 'George Clooney's fiancée'. The nude tights are slightly ageing, but the red is a fearless acknowledgment that a law career will now necessarily be offset by exclusive photo shoots with People magazine.
RATIONAL EXUBERANCE
Behold, Alamuddin's prime method of negotiating a paparazzi mob: striking colour, this time bubblegum pink Balenciaga. Not one to hog the limelight, she keeps the dress simple (black, tailored, short) and reaches for complicated accessories - in this case, an interesting pair of OASAP black ankle boots with a cut-out heel and a tasselled clutch bag.
METICULOUSLY MONOCHROME
The devil's in the detail with this workaday uniform; note how the buckles on the Roger Vivier pumps perfectly match the leather detailing on Alamuddin's Alice + Olivia tote bag. Note also the old-school scrupulousness: the trousers are freshly pressed, the shirt tucked in, the hair neatly blow-dried. Just imagine what forensically meticulous memos on drones reside in that handbag.
Amal Alamuddin in the power soft suit; a trench coat; a pink shift dress. Photo: Derek Jarvis/WENN.com, INFphoto.com, Paul/FameFlynet.uk.com
FROM L-R: THE SOFT POWER SUIT
As ever, the accessories maketh the outfit. A Balenciaga Velo bag in sandy suede hints at a more boho side, while patent Stella McCartney courts suggest she knows to tone down the wacky footwear when on duty. The matching jacket and skirt adhere to the legal eagle dresscode while asserting her knowledge of what suits her; the jacket sleeves are slightly cropped and the skirt hits just above the knee, to flattering effect.
TRUST ME, I'M A LAWYER
Another day, another nonchalant outfit. The neon Perspex necklace says 'I'm not all about white collar fraud', and the iPod headphones poking out from yet another smart handbag point to those reported 'intersocial skills to die for'. A trench coat teamed with comfortable low heels denotes an enviable practical streak.
SOFTNESS IS HER STRENGTH
This dress is dividing opinion on Twitter - too saccharine for a woman defending a murderous intelligent chief? - but whatever your stance, it's a world away from the ill‑fitting power suits normally associated with special advisers to Kofi Annan. Pink suits Alamuddin, and this demure shift dress (our money's on Moschino) demonstrates a relaxed, confident approach to workwear. Nul points for the mismatched shoes, though; a bit too Polly Pocket for our liking.
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THEY WEAR WHAT THEY WANT AND THEY THINK FOR THEMSELVES: HALLELUJAH!
Kirsty Wark in Dries van Noten; Chandrima Biswas. Photo: REX, Andrew Crowley
Amal Alamuddin's professional achievements effortlessly trump the circumstances that have seen her propelled into these pages. And yet, here she is - not only in The Telegraph , but in supermarket tabloids, via shameful online sidebar, to the heights of Vanity Fair .
Thrillingly, this gender-reversed, real-life enactment of the Notting Hill celebrity myth - the sudden introduction of a "civilian" into the spotlight - could disrupt the laziest habit in contemporary fashion: paying people to wear it. Alamuddin neither Instagrams her holiday swimwear (with obligatory macaroon) nor tweets her fondness for whichever brand of cashmere or champagne has slipped her a few grand to do so.
READ: New Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo speaks the language of style
Instead of "collaborating" on capsule collections of designer clothes (for a fee) she so far simply wears them - and when she does, no fashion brand has (yet) sent out a "dressing release" to inform media outlets that she has "chosen" (for a fee) to flash their shoes, bags, jewellery or dresses.
What began innocently enough at the Oscars 25 or so years ago, when Giorgio Armani offered grateful actresses the chance to wear his gowns as they walked the red carpet, has mushroomed into product-placement on an industrial scale. This overemphasises fashion as a spectator sport, at the expense of exploring the tastes of "civilian" men and women who keenly appreciate style but who might not care to selfie their thigh-gaps at Californian music festivals (for a fee).
These women of unfiltered taste - such as obstetrician Chandrima Biswas or the English National Ballet's Tamara Rojo, both of whom have featured in our Saturday "Lessons from the Stylish" interviews - are, just like Alamuddin, impressive human beings whose fondness for looking chic is merely one of their many attributes. Currently, people such as these are routinely thrust from the limelight by the for-a-fee brigade.
READ: Lessons from the Stylish: Chandrima Biswas
Often it is only when they happen to have prominent jobs - women such as Christine Lagarde, Kirsty Wark or Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo - that they outmanoeuvre the hard-twerking collaboristas into the wider public consciousness. This is a shame, and not because women (or men) of achievement should be routinely reduced into publicly scrutinised clothes horses.
It is extremely refreshing - at least from a fashion editor's point of view - to contemplate fashion choices that have been freely made, unmediated by stylist or contract, by people for whom what they wear is an adjunct to what they do - not the main event.
Via: Amal Alamuddin: Even more gorgeous than George
