Photograph by Natrice Miller / AJC
“I cover abortion, I cover guns, and somehow the best-dressed list is the most controversial story I write all year,” says Maya T. Prabhu, government reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and unofficial chief fashion critic of the Georgia General Assembly. She shakes her head. “I get the angriest emails, people stopping me in the hall, very upset that they weren’t included. I’ve had the parent of one lawmaker complain his son wasn’t on the list, and another lawmaker’s husband complained his wife wasn’t on the list.”
Prabhu launched her “Best-Dressed Lawmakers” list in 2019, a year after joining the AJC as a legislative correspondent. She credits Senator Elena Parent (D-North DeKalb) with inspiring her to turn lawmakers’ session styles into a competition. “There were a few days in a row where I saw her and thought, Oh, I like your dress, I like that coat,” she says. Over the many days she spent sitting in the back of legislative chambers, watching representatives wheel and deal over bills, Prabhu compiled a meticulous and entirely subjective list of sartorial icons. Just before the end of session, the AJC published her top 10 winners, among them Representative Park Cannon (D-Atlanta), Senator Mike Dugan (R-Carrollton), and, of course, Senator Parent. Overnight, Prabhu managed to inaugurate one of the most cutthroat political races in the state of Georgia.
“Best-Dressed Lawmakers” has since become a hotly anticipated event of the legislative session, with elected representatives elbowing fiercely for Prabhu’s favor. She often gets urgent texts from lawmakers asking her to find them in the halls—not to update her on legislation, but to show off their outfit of the day. “One lawmaker told me he was getting all his suits altered to have a better chance of winning,” she says. Prabhu has a no-repeats rule, so she’s always on the…
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