Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | February 2, 2026
Lauren Sanchez Bezos has been a regular feature at this year's big fashion events. She was Anna Wintour's plus one and has stylist Law Roach picking outfits for her benefit. The wife of one of the richest men to ever stain this planet has been working overtime for several years to reinvent herself in the public eye. The one-time newsreader and mistress to Jeff Bezos wants to be an icon, particularly in the fashion world, and through sheer force of wealth, she's battered down the doors and clothed herself in couture. The reactions have not been in her favour.
Fashion is an elite world where snobbery is not only encouraged but seemingly welcomed by its fans, including those who don't have pockets deep enough for a Birkin bag. It's an industry that was built on slowness, of impeccable craft and femininity that couldn't be rushed to order. That's obviously not the case now - high fashion is suffering from a lot of issues in terms of quality decline despite rising prices - but people still seemed surprised that Sanchez Bezos was given the red carpet treatment. Yeah, she's obscenely wealthy, but she's also kind of tacky, and that's never been more evident than it has as she tries to bulldoze her way to icon status.
It's often been said that you can't buy good taste, and it's true. Money certainly opens doors and gives you greater access to designers and craftspeople, but there's no number on the cheque big enough to imbue you with the innate ability to pull it all together. Some of the most beautiful people in the world aren't naturally stylish and their teams struggle to compensate for that lack of verve. Consider Sydney Sweeney, who is gorgeous and has a body for high fashion but seems so lifeless in everything she wears. Many A-Listers in big-money exclusivity deals with designers are forced into outfits they'd never typically choose, and not even killer charisma can balance out a misguided dress. There are things you can do to be more stylish, but taste? Charisma? Pure unfettered nerve? That's priceless. We cannot all be Zendaya.
Sanchez Bezos is trying to pull off a style that is somewhere between Jackie O and Kim Kardashian. At her wedding, she went for full Grace Kelly cosplay but at Trump's inauguration she choose a blazer and bra combo that didn't scream professional but was oddly fitting for the event. Law Roach has put her in expensive skirt suits that look cut-price on her. As many people put it on social media, she is allergic to serving. There's no joy or attitude in the fashion. Much like Kim Kardashian, it's a display of wealth more than taste (and even then, Kim has a better sense of fit.)
These women are not unlike Melania and Ivanka Trump, two conservative women who have harnessed their modulated hyper-femininity to pander to a hard-right binary of gender, all while desperately trying to force themselves into a mould of classic fashion. Ivanka does Audrey Hepburn ripoffs but lacks the legend's unique grace (and basic human decency.) Melania tries to model herself as a girlboss with monochromatic photoshoots and tailored trousers but in service of a demographic who think women should be in the kitchen.
And then, of course, there's the Mar-a-Lago Face of it all. It's hard to talk about the aesthetics of Trumpian fascism without delving into the nips, tucks, and injectables of this phenomenon. One by one, the women in the MAGA world all began to reshape themselves to fit this red hat-endorsed strain of femininity: overblown artificial lips, visible fillers, heavy tans and eyeliner, tightly stretched skin that is still evidently sun-damaged. It's intended to hijack youthfulness but ages everyone drastically. It is, to be frank, the face we think these people deserve. While Sanchez Bezos is not officially part of the Mar-a-Lago Face club, she is undeniably a sufferer of the same affliction. If fashion is about standing out in the crowd, such things seem impossible when you've committed to a face that has become a representation of political and cultural obedience.
Sure, money doesn't buy good taste, but when you've got enough of it, you can get all the tastemakers in the room to lay out the red carpet and pretend you're their equal. Law Roach will take the money. The Kardashians will have you at their parties. Oprah will attend your wedding. Anna Wintour has kissed the Bezos ring repeatedly, going so far as to all but hand the keys of the Met Gala over to the couple. Rumours still persist that they may even buy Vogue itself, a horrifying prospect given how Jeff has dismantled The Washington Post for no reason beyond his own pettiness. What would Lauren's Vogue look like? It's not as though it was ever a bastion of progressiveness to begin with.
What Lauren Sanchez Bezos seeks is legitimacy. She's the mistress turned second wife who wants to be the glamorous second half to a power couple, and she got Vogue to bolster her PR efforts on that front. She wants to be viewed as creatively vibrant and aspirational. As with too many of this era's billionaire weirdos, she has a crushing desire to be liked. Isn't it so strange and revealing how this generation of fascists, billionaires, and bigot shepherds are all so dang obsessed with having the rest of the world like them? You went into a bit of space and had to pretend it was an act of feminist altruism because you're so desperate to be liked? Isn't the money enough? Must we adhere to your whining insecurities in the name of the saddest propaganda efforts this side of Trump's AI image searches? If you can't even dress well when you've got all that cash, not even the loneliest fashion nerd will root for you. Frankly, who would want to be part of a club where she's a member?
