When Nithya Raman stepped onto the podium for her first press conference as the newly minted Mayor-Elect of Los Angeles, keen eyes might have clocked her “if you know, you know” attire—specifically, a vintage tangerine Narciso Rodriguez motorcycle jacket and a pair of Eckhaus Latta jeans. Throughout much of her political career as a two-term LA councilwoman, Raman has deployed the classic conventions of a local representative—a sturdy button-down shirt here, a matching pantsuit there. Her more fashion-forward transformation in recent months comes courtesy of an unlikely political styling trio: fashion designer Zoe Latta (of bicoastal cool-kid brand Eckhaus Latta) and celebrity stylists Kat Typaldos and Turner.
No matter which way you cut a pantsuit, female politicians are often boxed in by frustrating parameters. Style is confined by reserved silhouettes barely spiced up by the addition of a pussy bow blouse. And while policy is more important than Prada, Latta, Typaldos, and Turner found that there are plenty of ways to change what’s expected of a candidate’s wardrobe. As Typaldos put it candidly: “If one more person says the word bold, colorful suit for a powerful woman, I will throw my computer out of the window.”
The cohort connected with Raman’s cause via their mutual LA friend Chas McCarty, a restaurateur and man-about-town. Latta says: “It was in the back of Botanica [a local restaurant, where Raman was holding a campaign gathering]. I had my baby with me and the binky fell out and Nithya was mid-sentence and got up from the table, got under the table, grabbed the binky, continuing to talk about small businesses and handed it to me, and I was just like, ‘This woman has my book, whatever she needs.’”
In the weeks following Raman’s surprise bid against incumbent mayor Karen Bass, a shift in wardrobe wasn’t exactly at the top of her to-do list. In those early days, Raman wore what Latta affectionately described as, “a lot of capes,” but her traditionalism—and prior lack of a styling team—was part of her appeal. “She wasn’t doing anything wrong, she had other things to do,” says Latta. The task at hand: to give her wardrobe a little zhuzh. “She wears clothes really well, it is a treat to get to dress her, and she enjoys it. And that, to me, is so fundamental, it’s not in a peacocking way.”
Unsurprisingly, there was no high-glamour, full-look policy here. Instead they took a little-bit-of-this, little-bit-of-that approach to come up with their trustworthy results. It could be a white Akris blouse, a plum Erdem dress, or a burnt orange Altuzarra leather skirt paired with a long-sleeve shirt from LA-based designer Cleo Camps. Yes, there were suits, like the one from J.Crew that Raman wore to debate Bass, but all were items that a constituent would wish to have in their own workwear closet. “I think in that process, we watched Nithya develop agency about what to wear and how clothing can empower,” says Typaldos. “And I think for me, what was cool is that she’s such a denim person and I was like, I trust nobody more [than the person] wearing a striped shirt and a denim and a loafer. Clothing has that impact—how can you make it feel like a second-skin enough?”
When it comes to dressing a politician like Raman, unlike a musician or an actress, there’s no calling in favors. The Mayor-to-be couldn’t take so much as a friends-and-family discount from Latta’s own brand, nor did she have interest in splurging on outlandish pieces. Should it be otherwise, fashion would be an even larger point of contention for opponents looking to undercut her platform. Case in point: Following New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration, his wife Rama Duwaji’s borrowed and rented designer items were the subject of much discussion, with their brand names and price tags splashed across rage-bait headlines in The New York Post. In a feature with The Cut published two months later, the fashion credits rather untraditionally made it explicit that the clothing was on loan from the designers, despite that being the standard behind-the-scenes editorial procedure.
Latta, Typaldos, and Turner have never worked as a styling trio before. They attribute their banding together in part to Nithya’s community building. “She really does bring people together,” says Turner. “I haven’t worked with another stylist or designer in this capacity, but it was thoroughly enjoyable to be in the presence of powerful women just trying to help another woman rise up. I think it’ll probably be my most important work to date.”
