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Jodie Haydon was well on the path to becoming Australia’s first lady of fashion before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese placed a wedding ring on her finger at The Lodge on Saturday.
Selecting a wedding dress from Australian label Romance Was Born confirmed Haydon’s aptitude for a style of dress diplomacy favoured by former US first lady Michelle Obama and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The flattering silk dress, with a modest silhouette, covered buttons and embellishments referencing Australian flora designed by Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales of Romance Was Born, was a bold statement of respect for local creativity over famous luxury labels.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon at The Lodge for their wedding ceremony.
Flower details were taken directly from the playbook of the late Queen, who wore a dress by Norman Hartnell embroidered with garlands for her 1947 wedding to Prince Philip. Elizabeth repeated the trick at her 1953 coronation in a white satin Hartnell dress with gold embroidery, featuring the floral emblems of Commonwealth countries, including the acacia for Australia.
Haydon has clearly been doing her research. In 2023 at the US state dinner to honour Albanese’s visit to Washington, hosted by then President Joe Biden, she wore a grey tulle gown from South Australian label Paolo Sebastian, embroidered with native birds, Sturt’s desert pea and wattle.
This consideration of fashion is usually looked down on in political circles. For female politicians, the path to successful dress diplomacy is loaded with landmines that can be detonated at the first sight of something too expensive, too loud, too much … too fashion.
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop was frequently placed under scrutiny for her expensive accessories, including Jimmy Choo shoes and jewellery by Queensland jeweller Margot McKinney estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Julia Gillard’s uniform of blazers while in office as Australia’s first female prime minister drew barbs from a wide range of armchair couture critics, including feminist Germaine Greer.
“The jackets are intended to brighten up her image, each one fresh out of the box,” Greer wrote in 2012. “Instead she looks as if she’s wearing clothes that don’t belong to her, like an organ-grinder’s monkey.”
Countless articles deriding Victoria’s first female premier Joan Kirner, former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and former federal Labor MP Cheryl Kernot’s red feather boa worn in The Australian Women’s Weekly in 1998, show that fashion can place a target on a politician’s back, especially when the clothes aren’t from Target.
The position of first lady offers enough distance to play dress-ups mindfully as seen in the memorable wardrobes of Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Obama.
Jackie’s selection of an ivory gown by Parisian couturier Hubert de Givenchy to meet French President de Gaulle alongside President Kennedy in 1961 was seen by the press as an integral part of a charm offensive to strengthen relations between France and the US.
Michelle Obama updated the approach, wearing a wide range of designers while her husband, Barack, was president. At an Indian state dinner in 2009, she wore a dress by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan and a bronze Atelier Versace gown to host the Italian prime minister in 2016.
Former model Melania Trump has had less success as first lady, most memorably wearing a Zara jacket emblazoned with “I really don’t care, do u?” as she boarded a flight in 2018 to a facility in Texas housing migrant children separated from their parents.
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There is no official position of first lady in Australia, but Haydon is playing her part in international relations more successfully. On a visit to the Great Wall of China with Albanese she wore a $599 short-sleeve midi-dress with a floral print and mandarin collar from Leo Lin, a label founded by a Chinese-born Australian.
At a time when Australian designers face financial pressures from US tariffs, online fast fashion brands and increased costs of manufacturing, a potential Jodie Effect would be welcome.
While Michelle Obama was first lady, a New York University study estimates she created $US2.7 billion ($4.11 billion) in value for the 29 companies she wore in her first 189 appearances.
Haydon is already trying. In a February photo shoot for The Australian Women’s Weekly, she kept the focus on Australian labels, confining her choices to local brands such as Lee Mathews and Jac + Jack.
A spike in sales would be welcome for Romance Was Born which, despite the support of actors Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne, is frequently overshadowed by the international success of Zimmermann, familiarity of Carla Zampatti, cool girl appeal of Camilla and Marc and regular red carpet appearances of Rebecca Vallance and Alex Perry.
As our unofficial first lady, Haydon doesn’t have to make Australian fashion her sole focus, she just has to keep it in the picture beyond her wedding photos.
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