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It is the most traditional of assets for any ambitious young male politician: a fashionably dressed, beautiful young wife. But as with everything else about the rise of Zohran Mamdani, his wife, Rama Duwaji, represents a new era of politics which speaks to a new generation of voters.
Married to the soon-to-be leader of the biggest city in the US, Duwaji, 28, is arguably the US’s first generation Z “first lady”. Duwaji is an artist and illustrator of Syrian heritage, whose work explores themes of Arab identity, female experience and social justice. Working in paint, line-drawing, ceramics and animation, she graduated with a master’s degree in fine art from New York’s School of Visual Arts in 2024. Her thesis was titled Sahtain!, an Arabic expression which translates as “bon appetit”, and explored the communal act of making and sharing a dish and its role in Middle Eastern culture.
It is fair to assume that one does not pursue a career as a socially conscious artist contributing line drawings to niche left-leaning publications with the aim of becoming a global celebrity. But Duwaji’s life took an unexpected turn when, in 2021, she met Mamdani. The couple married in February this year, about eight months before Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, and Duwaji was thrust into the spotlight as New York City’s 28-year-old first lady. In the week since Mamdani’s triumph, Vogue headlines have included “Zohran Mamdani and Rama Duwaji Are Making Finding Love on Hinge Seem Possible Again” and “Fall’s Next Cool-Girl Haircut Is Officially the Rama”.
First lady is one of the most high-profile spots in US politics and culture. From Eleanor Roosevelt’s civil rights advocacy to Hillary Clinton’s healthcare reforms, the political wives of the White House have long been impactful players on the political scene. As the first lady of a city, rather than the nation, the stakes are more muted for Duwaji – but the buzz around her husband is shining a spotlight on both of the new inhabitants of Gracie Mansion.
New York City last had a first lady when Chirlane McCray, Bill de Blasio’s wife, oversaw a portfolio of mental health programs with a budget of $850m. (Eric Adams, the current mayor, is unmarried.) But the position has a significance that extends far beyond policy. First ladies are expected to fulfil the role of America’s sweetheart, embodying shared values and semaphoring tone with every public appearance. Michelle Obama’s recent comments, characterising the media’s fixation with her toned arms in sleeveless dresses as a strategy to “otherize” her as a Black woman, illustrate the extent to which the first lady discourse can become a cultural battleground around the status of women and people of colour, while the ongoing psychodrama about Melania Trump’s non-appearance on the cover of American Vogue speaks to an enduring fascination with the first lady as a poster girl for the US itself.
Duwaji’s victory-speech look was sober: all-black, with a high neck and calf-length skirt, and silver jewellery. But her low-key style did not deflect a feverish online reaction, with her chic dark bob and vintage-style boatneck top bringing instant comparisons to Audrey Hepburn. The outfit was notable for being consistent with Duwaji’s personal style, rather than a cut-and-paste political wife style. (“Rama Duwaji Is New York City’s First Lady, and She’s Not Wearing a Sheath Dress,” noted Harper’s Bazaar magazine approvingly.) Fashion industry paper Women’s Wear Daily reported her style choices under the headline “Rama Duwaji’s Election Night Look Bridges Brooklyn and the Middle East”, noting that Duwaji’s denim top, embellished with laser-etched embroidery, was by the Palestinian-Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi. The choice of a Palestinian designer was widely interpreted as a deliberate and political choice by Duwaji, who has expressed clear and vocal support for the plight of Gaza. Duwaji’s velvet and lace Ulla Johnson skirt and silver Eddie Borgo earrings showed support for two independent New York designers drawn from outside the traditional high-status Manhattan names – Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera and Michael Kors – with whom modern first ladies have been most associated.
In their style and in the story of their relationship, Mamdani and Duwaji blend youthful energy with traditional elements. Mamdani maximises his youthful advantage as a digital native and uses social media as a political broadcast channel, but does so while wearing the most traditional of outfits: a dark suit and tie. Duwaji, likewise, steers clear of the first lady cosplay of a pastel skirt suit, but her quirky retro-tinged elegance has a ladylike tone, albeit one forged in the vintage boutiques of Brooklyn rather than the department stores of Fifth Avenue. She has a taste for chunky flat boots and oversized white shirts, layered necklaces and winged black eyeliner. These are recognisable as the authentic style choices of a 28-year-old woman, but they do not present as challenging or radical. Likewise, their love story is both strikingly modern – the two met on Hinge – and solidly traditional in being formalised by marriage. Wedding photos shared on Mamdani’s Instagram show the couple holding hands on the subway as they travel to city hall, Duwaji wearing a vintage coat and her trademark flat boots with a short white dress, Mamdani carrying an umbrella. Their combination of romcom-worthy New York spirit and down-to-earth, affordability-conscious relatability has charmed the public.
In the ultimate cultural flex, Duwaji has already had a vibe shift named after her. “Aloof wife autumn” is trending on social media after a New York Post headline reported that the new mayor-elect’s “aloof wife … quietly steered his campaign from behind the scenes”. Duwaji’s husband is conspicuously absent from her Instagram page, where she posts street selfies in chic monochrome outfits and “things I saw that made me want to make art”. Her creative purpose and cool-toned self-possession are in striking contrast to the docile, gingham-aproned “tradwife” aesthetic that has stormed the TikTok algorithms in recent years.
As a visual artist, Duwaji is aware of the power of image-making. She is also comfortable moving in the circles of the more avant garde end of the fashion industry, recently attending a catwalk show for Diotima, which is helmed by Rachel Scott, an American designer of Jamaican heritage who is a rising industry star. Scott, who dedicated the collection to “the honour of all displaced persons”, said that she invited Duwaji because she was “intrigued by her work and her personal style”.
The stylist Bailey Moon, who helped Dr Jill Biden with her wardrobe throughout her tenure as first lady, was last week reported to have been working with Mamdani and Duwaji. Bailey, who is also credited with the recent high-fashion makeover of actor Pamela Anderson, is an experienced political stylist, who told Vogue that clothes “are part of the conclusion people make of an event or an appearance”. However, Moon told the New York Post that he was not on the Mamdani payroll, noting that he “shared some advice” but that no fee was charged.
For many young New York voters, who have not until now felt themselves represented in civic life, Duwaji’s style is more than ornament. It represents a shift in what public leadership can look like, and speaks to voters who are accustomed to absorbing news and understanding values through visual clues and messages. The biggest city in the US is about to rewrite the first lady myth for a new generation.
