As the calendar turned to a new year, New York City welcomed Zohran Mamdani as its new mayor. The inauguration ceremony took place on a crisp Thursday afternoon outside City Hall, drawing a notable crowd of supporters and dignitaries. Among those present were Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Attorney General Letitia James, as well as former mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams, who all braved the cold to witness the event.

Rama Duwaji, the city’s new first lady and Mamdani’s wife, made a stylish entrance that suited her new role. She was elegantly attired in a high-collared brown coat, accented with fur trim at both the cuffs and hem. Her choice of footwear—a pair of tall, lace-up boots with sturdy block heels—added a touch of practicality to her ensemble.

Completing her sophisticated look, Duwaji accessorized with sculptural silver earrings, opted for understated makeup, and sported a maroon-colored manicure. Her sartorial choice was in harmony with the ensemble she wore during Mamdani’s swearing-in at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day.

For that earlier occasion, held in an abandoned subway station near City Hall, the Syrian-American artist donned a similar funnel-neck, button-front coat in black. Paired with a matching knee-length skirt and several pieces of bold gold jewelry, her appearance was both striking and refined. She also wore what appeared to be Miista boots, laced elegantly up the back, further showcasing her distinctive style.

It was a fitting complement to Duwaji’s outfit for Mamdani’s swearing-in during the first minutes of the new year; standing alongside her husband in an abandoned subway station near City Hall, the Syrian-American creative wore a similar funnel-neck, button-front coat in black, along with a matching knee-length skirt, several pieces of bold gold jewelry and what appeared to be Miista boots that laced up the back.

At 28, Duwaji is NYC’s first Gen Z first lady as well as its first Muslim first lady. And over the course of Mamdani’s campaign, she’s chosen to eschew established fashion brands in favor of smaller, independent ones that communicate her values and align with her husband’s democratic socialist platform.

At Mamdani’s election-night victory party at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in November, for instance, Duwaji wore a laser-cut denim top from Palestinian designer Zeid Hijazi, which she paired with a lacy velvet skirt by Manhattan native Ulla Johnson and silver spike earrings by NYC jeweler Eddie Borgo.

Even the dress she wore for her courthouse wedding last year — a vintage ivory lace slip styled with beat-up black riding boots and a pair of $122 earrings from Indian designer Bhavya Ramesh — defied convention for a future first lady.

Presumably in an effort to keep the public’s focus firmly on politics and away from her fashion choices, Duwaji exclusively wore muted colors and simple silhouettes throughout Mandani’s campaign. That tactic extended to her first (and so far, only) major interview, a cover story for the Cut that saw the illustrator posing in a series of subdued styles from Marc Jacobs, Jacquemus, Diotima, Ashlyn and Peter Do (all loaned for the shoot, as noted in the credits).

Now that she’s officially the city’s first lady and has made the jump from Astoria to the Upper East Side, how might Duwaji’s wardrobe evolve? One thing’s for sure: You won’t catch her in a plain designer pantsuit anytime soon.