Zohran Mamdani sworn in as New York City’s first Muslim mayor
Zohran Mamdani becomes New York City’s first Muslim mayor with a historic oath and street party.
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.”
“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.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Mamdani’s team for comment.
According to the stylist, Duwaji’s midnight inauguration outfit was a cozy yet minimalist vintage Balenciaga coat paired with archival gold, sculptural statement earrings from New York Vintage, both rented. She wore both with a pair of knee-length formal shorts from New York clothing store The Frankie Shop and black ankle boots on loan from London-based Miista, according to Karefa-Johnson.
Duwaji, 28, has continued to subvert expectations in her clothing choices as the incoming first lady, favoring understated, modern looks with creative-class sensibility. “I love fashion, and I love being creative and putting things together and styling things,” Duwaji told The Cut in a piece published Dec. 23, later boasting about her hidden thrift finds in the city.
Online, she’s seen in similarly modernist looks, and as the 34-year-old democratic socialist Mamdani made his victory speech in November, Duwaji was by his side wearing a dark denim square-neck top by Palestinian-Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi and a Ulla Johnson black skirt, also with statement dangling earrings by New York City jewelry designer Eddie Borgo.
As she told The Cut: “It’s nice to have a little bit of analysis on the clothes … During the general-election night, it was nice to send a message about Palestinians by wearing a Palestinian designer.”
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