Sixty thousand dollars for wardrobe and styling is a fee that is as conservative as Tony Abbott.
Labor did not really err by spending $60,000 hiring someone to tell Opposition Leader Bill Shorten what tie to wear and to wash Chloe Shorten's hair during last year's election campaign; it was actually a smart investment and a boost to the local creative economy.
![Makeover: Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and wife Chloe in the campaign bus in July last year.](/web/20170312121156im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/v/6/d/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guvfod.png/1489263411971.jpg)
It may be the salary of a grassroots member of the party but that money also would have employed an entire glam squad, from an industry that thrives on short-term contract work.
"It's a pretty standard industry figure," stylist Mikey Ayoubi said. "That's attending to two people for two months who were 'on' seven days a week."
![Looking smart: Chloe Shorten listens as her husband, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, addresses the media in Logan, ...](/web/20170312121156im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/v/6/e/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guvfod.png/1489263411971.jpg)
Ayoubi, whose clients include singer Jessica Mauboy and Orange Is The New Black star Yael Stone, charges between $1000 to $2000 "a look" – or an outfit – usually for just one event, such as the ARIAs. Shorten and his wife were on the hustings meeting people, attending events and smiling for cameras for eight weeks.
Add in hair, make-up services and the purchase of garments, and it's easy to see how Bill 2.0 racked up a five-figure bill.
"Hair and make-up artists can charge $1500 a day," Ayoubi said. "Don't forget assistants are required. Just collecting things, steaming and ironing something like seven shirts a week would cost about $200. It's big business."
"Having a stylist is a luxury, no doubt, but for people in the public eye, like politicians, consistency in the messaging is key, and that starts with what they wear."
Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Kellie Hush agreed.
"It is money well spent," she said. "I can understand why they engaged a stylist. If Bill or Chloe looked terrible it would have led news bulletins. Just look at how much coverage Donald Trump's bad hair, complexion and suits get," she said.
"Looking smart, elegant and well-groomed allows them to do their job without being distracted. It then, in turn, ensures people aren't distracted by the way they look."
Fashion contributes about $12 billion to the Australian economy every year and generates more than 220,000 jobs.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, a vocal supporter of the rag trade, coined the term "fashion diplomacy" in 2014. The style sector is now a major pillar of trade and foreign policy.
It's great news the Shortens' got professional help and the party that claims to "put people first" employed a whole crew to zhuzh up the couple, as well as some frontbenchers and volunteers.
Not since Paul Keating, a man who understood the soft cultural and economic power that fashion possesses, has someone from the ALP been an advocate for the industry.
So unless party members on $60,000-a-year offer to steam a shirt, blow-dry hair or can pick their merino from their cashmere, here's hoping more people in public office engage the services of our presentation professionals.
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