From Margaret Thatcher to former first lady Sarah Brown, Britain has never made a big statement when it comes to political leaders overlapping as fashion leaders -- until now.

With a new Prime Minister, David Cameron, succeeding Gordon Brown this week, there's also been a changing of the guards when it comes to first lady fashion, and we think it's all for the better.

Sarah Brown, who has never been a very exciting dresser, favoring solid-colored skirt suits and all-black cocktail frocks, has been replaced by Samantha Cameron, has a stellar style sense and a fashionable resumé to match.

The leggy Sam Cam, as they call her, studied fine art in her early twenties and has been working as the creative director of Smythson of Bond Street, the stylish stationery and leather goods shop, since the mid-Nineties.

Although she recently just announced, according to WWD, that she will reduce her role at the company to creative consultant due to her pregnancy (she's having her fourth child in September), while at Smythson Cameron was responsible for recruiting Erdem and Giles Deacon to do collaborations that boosted the brand's stance in the fashion community. And she looks to do the same with British first lady fashion.

As far as her style goes, Sam Cam leans more Michelle Obama -- fun patterns and jackets, mixing high and low -- than the proper Dior-clad, former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy of France.


With her own job, and a sister who is deputy editor of British Vogue, Sam Cam is tapped into trends and not afraid to take fashion risks. She's a fan of the hip little jacket and has been photographed mixing a graphic-print silk dress by Erdem with a sharp tuxedo blazer from Topshop. On other occasions, she's been spotted pairing the same Topshop blazer with a ground-skimming dress, and spicing up a simple black frock with Phillip Lim's artfully voluminous cocoon coat.

As for accessories, she's faithful to a particular pair of gray Zara heels, which she wears all the time, but has also been spotted out wearing Converse All-Stars as well as navy wedges. And, again, like MObama, she frequently cinches her waist with a stylish belts, including a skinny number she paired with an adorable headline-making $85 dress from democratic retailer Marks & Spencer. Beauty fans will also be happy to hear that Sam Cam has been seen sporting fashion-forward black nail polish.

All said, it looks like Naomi and Kate might have to share the podium for Most Fashionable Brit sometime soon.