Rama Duwaji surfaced in Manhattan Thursday evening for a SoHo shopping trip, her first public sighting since reports of her artist residency at a controversial Islamic wellness retreat in Portugal drew fire.
Duwaji, who is married to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, strolled Broadway with photographer Eli Rezkallah, grinning behind sunglasses and wearing black heeled boots and the same knee-length brown checked coat she had worn to the Diotima show at New York Fashion Week in February, according to exclusive images obtained by The Post.
The pair made stops at the MoMA Design Store and the Rachel Comey boutique, where items like the “London Dress” retail for $1,195 and the “Roir Blazer” for $1,350. They also visited 550 Broadway, home to Spencer’s spa and the workout studio Physique 57.
The outing comes weeks after it was revealed that Duwaji served as an “artist-in-residence” at a Portugal retreat run by Women Sanctuary, a group that posted incendiary messages about Israel on social media last October.
“The apartheid colonial state of Israel has committed a genocide against the Palestinian people,” the group declared in an October 2025 Instagram post. “Abolish the colonial apartheid state of Israel. Free Palestine.”
Women Sanctuary also called for Palestine to be cleansed of its “oppressors” in the series of posts.
Duwaji has cultivated a reputation as a fashion tastemaker since her husband took office, though her style choices have drawn both praise and scrutiny. She wore $630 leather boots on loan from Miista and a rented vintage Balenciaga coat to Mamdani’s January inauguration.
That look was assembled by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, a former Vogue contributing editor-at-large who resigned after an anti-Israel rant.
The Portugal retreat and its host organization’s political stance have placed additional attention on Duwaji’s public appearances and the circles she moves in. The SoHo sighting marked her first time being photographed out since the retreat details emerged.
Duwaji and Mamdani have not publicly addressed the controversy surrounding the Women Sanctuary residency or the group’s social media posts.
Mamdani, who took office in January, has faced his own scrutiny over policy positions, and his wife’s fashion profile has become a recurring subplot in coverage of the administration.