Earlier this week, Zohran Mamdani won a record-breaking mayoral race in New York City. The moment also marked the first time much of the world encountered his wife, artist Rama Duwaji. (Eagle-eyed Vogue readers, however, may recognize her work from our Fashion Month package highlighting nine garment workers at the top of their field.)
At the campaign’s election party on Tuesday night, the future first lady of New York City wore a top from Palestinian-Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi and a skirt from Ulla Johnson, but it was her signature crop that had our social media algorithm ablaze with excitement.
Duwaji’s dark chocolate hair is cut to a length that falls somewhere between a bob and pixie (it was called a bixie when the cut started trending earlier this year) with almost microbangs. For her and her husband’s big night, the Syrian American’s locks were styled by Xavier Velasquez, with makeup by artist Aya Tariq (who used Dua Lipa’s favorite brand KJH).
“Rama cut her own bangs the morning of Election Day,” Velasquez says of the look, which he describes as a bit of a pixie but grown out into its own shape. Brooklyn-based hairstylist Lauren Sottile gave Duwaji the original cut about a month ago with a razor. “I was there to help elevate it a little bit without taking away from the fact that she’s an artist who lives in Queens and air-dries her hair. Rama is 28—I didn’t want to make her look like a stereotypical politician’s wife.” He adds that Audrey Hepburn, Taylor Russell, and Yellowstone’s Kelsey Asbille were all references.
It’s a look that worked—and resonated. “The new It girl haircut just dropped,” content creator Sydney Robinson declared in a TikTok with almost half a million views and more than 500 comments, likening the chop to the ever-referenced Rachel cut. Fellow TikToker Elmira Vaidya expressed her desire for the cut—but bemoaned her fear that she’d look less like Rama and more like Claire in that famous scene from Fleabag. (Commenters, for the record, soundly disagreed.)
“We don’t have anybody who has come in and asked for the cut yet,” Manhattan-based salon owner Jenna Perry says. “But it’s definitely coming. I love her eyeliner too. She’s bound to be a beauty icon.”
For Velasquez, who has lived and voted in New York City for 13 years, this moment was a life and career milestone wrapped into one. “The energy was palpable,” he says. “I can’t wait to see what comes next.”
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