Akshata’s striped dress by Indian label becomes ‘stuff of million memes’

As billionaire-heiress Akshata Murty stood quietly with an umbrella behind her husband, outgoing UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as he delivered his final speech outside 10 Downing Street before leaving the address, memers had a field day making fun of her red-white-and-blue chevron dress.

Media reports suggested that the businesswoman’s cotton dress, costing some 395 pounds (Rs 42,000), was from Indian fashion label Ka-Sha, sold through online boutique Omi Na Na. It’s colour scheme — featuring those of the UK flag — was telling, some believed, while the design, with the front featuring stripes that looked like arrows pointing downwards, made some compare it to the Tories’ nosediving fortunes.

Downward fortunes

“Even Rishi Sunak’s wife’s dress says you’re going down!!” wrote one user. The Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat to the Labour Party in the UK elections.

“Akshata Murty (serious face) standing behind her husband Rishi Sunak in a red, white & blue dress holding an umbrella as he weasels his way out of Downing Street is the stuff of a million memes,” wrote another.

“Nice to see Mrs Sunak wore an American flag style dress to help her guy hand his resignation to the King. Getting ready to hop on the private jet for the new life in the US as planned,” came another quip.

Zebra look

Some joked that it “looked like she was disguising herself as a zebra”. “He [Sunak] looks like he’s being haunted by the ghost of an Edwardian zebra,” read on post on X with the picture showing Akshata’s slightly out-of-focus figure in the striped gown standing right behind Sunak.

In the same vein, another use wrote: “He looks like he’s being haunted by the woman he ran over.”

Reference to boats

There were several allusions to boats, courtesy Sunak’s stop the boats pitch. “Dazzle camouflage is supposed to disguise a vessel’s direction and speed, but it doesn’t always work. In the case of Rishi Sunak’s wife here it’s obvious the answers are ‘out of Number 10’ and ‘right now’,” joked one.

“Say what you like about Akshata Murty, as a U-Boat Commander I would find it very hard to get a torpedo fix on her,” quipped another.

“Enemy submarines will struggle to judge Akshata’s course or speed,” came another wisecrack.

The umbrella

The memes kept coming thick and fast with one summing up, “Can’t get over Akshata Murty standing there like a subservient, mutilated zebra whilst simultaneously reminding everyone he forgot to take an umbrella last time. Quite bizarre.”

While Sunak earned the distinction of being the richest Prime Minister yet of the UK, his and Akshata’s combined fortune is estimated at 651 million pounds, making them the wealthiest inhabitants of 10 Downing Street as well. Akshata is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, founder of tech giant Infosys.