Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, has resorted to renting expensive designer clothes for official functions, it has been disclosed.

Mrs Brown pays hundreds of pounds of her own money to rent the items - including a £9,000 top worn at last week's G20 summit events with other leaders' spouses¹.

Mrs Brown's approach is in stark² contrast to that adopted by her predecessor³, Cherie Blair, who was criticised for receiving free clothes or discounts worth thousands of pounds from top designers. Carole Caplin, Mrs Blair's lifestyle guru, is said to have negotiated many of the discounts amid concern from senior civil servants at the time.

For recent banquets with foreign leaders and the Lord Mayor, Mrs Brown has rented dresses from Amanda Wakeley, the British designer. She wore one of Amanda Wakeley's dresses for the state banquet with the President of Mexico last week.

She is also understood to have rented dresses and jackets from Brett Lintner and Graeme Black - including a jacket she wore to the official G20 summit dinner.

The rentals⁴ typically cost about 10 percent of the retail⁵ price which means that Mrs Brown regularly incurs⁶ bills running into hundreds of pounds for her outfits⁷. The money cannot be recouped.

Mrs Brown is said to usually wear clothes from high-street retailers⁸ such as Marks & Spencer and New Look. However, a friend of the Prime Minister's wife, said: "Sarah thinks it's important to dress well for big State occasions, and renting her dresses makes that a bit more affordable⁹."

Mrs Brown was a successful public-relations executive who owned her own company. However, she gave up paid work when her husband was Chancellor¹⁰ to avoid any conflict of interest. She is thought to have taken out a mortgage on a flat owned by the couple which helps fund her spending while her husband remains¹¹ Prime Minister.

有消息透露，英国首相夫人莎拉•布朗在出席正式场合时所穿的昂贵名品礼服均为租借而来。

布朗夫人通常是自掏腰包，花几百英镑租借这些服装，其中包括上周她与各国领导人夫人出席G20峰会时所穿的一件价值九千英镑的上衣。

布朗夫人的做法与前首相夫人切丽•布莱尔形成鲜明对比。切丽曾因接受顶级设计师赠予的价值数千英镑的免费服装或折扣而受到指责。据称，她的形象顾问卡罗尔•卡普林多次参与砍价，当时很多高级政府官员对此不满。

为出席近期的外国领导人和伦敦金融城市长晚宴等活动，布朗夫人从英国设计师阿曼达•威克丽那里租借了礼服。在上周的墨西哥总统招待国宴上，莎拉所穿的一套裙装就租自这位设计师。

她还从布雷特•林特尔和格内木•布莱克等设计师那租借过裙装和上衣，其中包括她在G20峰会的官方宴会上所穿的一件上衣。

这些服装的租金一般为其零售价的10%，这意味着布朗夫人通常要花费几百英镑租借服装。而这些花费不能报销。

据称，布朗夫人经常在马莎百货和New Look等商业街零售店选购服装。而首相夫人的一位朋友说：“莎拉认为在重要的国事场合穿得体面一些很重要，而对于她来说，租借在财力上更能承受。”

布朗夫人曾自己开公司，是一位成功的公关主管，但当布朗就任英国财政大臣后，为避免利益冲突她辞掉了工作。据称在布朗担任首相期间，莎拉将她与布朗共有的一处公寓作为抵押，向银行借钱支付日常开销。