Rama Duwaji's styling choices are already making a statement as NYC's first lady.
The Syrian-American illustrator and animator, and the wife of newly sworn-in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, wore a custom brown faux-fur and wool coat from Palestinian-Lebanese designer Cynthia Merhej's brand Renaissance Renaissance. According to the brand, the coat – featuring a three-tier fringe detail – was completely sourced and made in Beirut, Lebanon, based on a design from its fall/winter 2023 collection. She paired the coat with brown lace-up boots.
Stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson worked with Duwaji on the look, as well as her lower-key inauguration look during Mamdani's private inauguration in a former subway station below City Hall after midnight on New Year's Day. Karefa-Johnson wrote on her Substack that the piece was a collaboration between designer Merhej's female family members, with the artist calling it "a testament to the superhuman strength of women and our community."
At Zohran Mamdani's swearing in, Rama Duwaji remains art-world chic
"On her first official day as First Lady of New York, Rama is wearing a small, independent woman designer from the Middle East," Karefa-Johnson added. "That representation resonates. It reverberates. Because fashion communicates. It sends a message."
