英首相夫人低調節儉 租借華服出席國宴
Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, has resorted to renting expensive designer clothes for official functions, it has been disclosed.
Mrs Brown pays hundreds of pounds of her own money to rent the items - including a £9,000 top worn at last week's G20 summit events with other leaders' spouses.
Mrs Brown's approach is in stark contrast to that adopted by her predecessor, Cherie Blair, who was criticised for receiving free clothes or discounts worth thousands of pounds from top designers. Carole Caplin, Mrs Blair's lifestyle guru, is said to have negotiated many of the discounts amid concern from senior civil servants at the time.
For recent banquets with foreign leaders and the Lord Mayor, Mrs Brown has rented dresses from Amanda Wakeley, the British designer. She wore one of Amanda Wakeley's dresses for the state banquet with the President of Mexico last week.
She is also understood to have rented dresses and jackets from Brett Lintner and Graeme Black - including a jacket she wore to the official G20 summit dinner.
The rentals typically cost about 10 percent of the retail price which means that Mrs Brown regularly incurs bills running into hundreds of pounds for her outfits. The money cannot be recouped.
Mrs Brown is said to usually wear clothes from high-street retailers such as Marks & Spencer and New Look. However, a friend of the Prime Minister's wife, said: "Sarah thinks it's important to dress well for big State occasions, and renting her dresses makes that a bit more affordable."
Mrs Brown was a successful public-relations executive who owned her own company. However, she gave up paid work when her husband was Chancellor to avoid any conflict of interest. She is thought to have taken out a mortgage on a flat owned by the couple which helps fund her spending while her husband remains Prime Minister.
有消息透露，英國首相夫人莎拉•布朗在出席正式場合時所穿的昂貴名品禮服均爲租借而來。
布朗夫人通常是自掏腰包，花幾百英鎊租借這些服裝，其中包括上週她與各國領導人夫人出席G20峯會時所穿的一件價值九千英鎊的上衣。
布朗夫人的做法與前首相夫人切麗•布萊爾形成鮮明對比。切麗曾因接受頂級設計師贈予的價值數千英鎊的免費服裝或折扣而受到指責。據稱，她的形象顧問卡羅爾•卡普林多次參與砍價，當時很多高級政府官員對此不滿。
爲出席近期的外國領導人和倫敦金融城市長晚宴等活動，布朗夫人從英國設計師阿曼達•威克麗那裏租借了禮服。在上週的墨西哥總統招待國宴上，莎拉所穿的一套裙裝就租自這位設計師。
她還從佈雷特•林特爾和格內木•布萊克等設計師那租借過裙裝和上衣，其中包括她在G20峯會的官方宴會上所穿的一件上衣。
這些服裝的租金一般爲其零售價的10%，這意味着布朗夫人通常要花費幾百英鎊租借服裝。而這些花費不能報銷。
據稱，布朗夫人經常在馬莎百貨和New Look等商業街零售店選購服裝。而首相夫人的一位朋友說：“莎拉認爲在重要的國事場合穿得體面一些很重要，而對於她來說，租借在財力上更能承受。”
布朗夫人曾自己開公司，是一位成功的公關主管，但當布朗就任英國財政大臣後，爲避免利益衝突她辭掉了工作。據稱在布朗擔任首相期間，莎拉將她與布朗共有的一處公寓作爲抵押，向銀行借錢支付日常開銷。
