Are we being over-critical?

A group of us were talking this morning over our Saturday morning coffee get-together.  The subject, of course, came around to the Royal Wedding yesterday.   Then Jane mentioned our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and her outfit worn for the wedding.

Ms Gillard has been visiting world dignatories over the past week or so.  She was a guest at the Royal Wedding and had a one-on-one audience with the Queen afterwards.   Well, she is Prime Minister after all.

Last week Gai Waterhouse (and other women who are respected as high fashion exponents) commented on the fact that maybe our Julia needs a little bit of help in the choice of her fashion apparel.  They also mentioned her hair style, (she does have a live-in hairdresser to call upon!), but that doesn’t fail her as much as her dress sense according to many women. 

But has it occurred to you, as it most definitely has to us, that Julia’s dressmaker seems to have only one pattern (perhaps Butterick had a special deal on that particular pattern last year?) which she uses to make all Julia’s jackets?   Surely the position of Prime Minister would include a few experts in the art of dressmanship, colour co-ordination as well as styles and designs to suit her shape and figure?   The creamy, silver jacket chosen for her outfit of the day for the Royal Wedding was by Perth designer Aurelio Costarella, but was it really so different in styling to her normal every-day jackets? 

Have a look at a few pics taken from the internet (copyright remains the owners' property in all cases) and see if you agree.  

We all know that women in the public eye find themselves at the mercy of journalists and reporters and it must be difficult to please everyone all the time.  But "position" also dictates that fashion sense if not evident at first, can be learned and put into action.   "Make-overs" occur every day of the week, and they can be the difference between mediocre and stunning!    So are we being too critical?