For Sarah Palin, becoming John McCain’s running mate has certainly had its perks. There is the campaign jet, the national celebrity and, it emerged yesterday, the £90,000 wardrobe, hair-dos and make-up about which most hockey moms could only dream.

For anyone wondering if Mrs Palin’s trademark red jackets, the $2,500 (£1,530) Valentino outfit worn for her Republican convention acceptance speech, or even the $3,000 Louis Vuitton handbag that her six-year-old daughter, Piper, was holding on September 11, came from the wardrobe at her home in Wasilla, Alaska, they did not.

The array of couture was provided courtesy of the Republican National Committee’s bank account.

Mrs Palin, who has been extolling the virtues of Joe the Plumber in these times of economic crisis, has had tens of thousands of dollars lavished on her by the committee, including a shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue in St Louis, Missouri ($49,425), and Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis ($75,062).

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After her surprise choice as Mr McCain’s running-mate at the end of August, Mrs Palin has been provided with an average of $37,500 a week for clothes, make-up, hair styling, accessories, and even baby kit for her six-month-old son Trig. Such a weekly outlay is more than the average annual salary for a plumber.

The Republicans spent $4,716 on hair and make-up during September, more even than the $400 haircuts that so embarrassed John Edwards, the former Democratic presidential candidate, this year. It is cheap in comparison, though, with the haircut that President Clinton got aboard Air Force One in 1993, which is reported to have cost thousands of dollars.

Before Mrs Palin’s arrival on the Republican ticket, no such expenditures appeared in the national committee’s financial disclosure records. Yet a review of its September reports by Politico, a political website, found a new category – “campaign accessories”. Payments of $789.72 were also made to Barneys New York, and $9,447.71 to Bloomingdale’s.

The McCain campaign initially refused to answer specific questions, including whether it was necessary to spend so much. Hours after the story was posted, however, Tracey Schmitt, a McCain spokeswoman, issued a statement. “With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it is remarkable that we are spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses. It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign.”

Mrs Palin’s hairstyle and wardrobe have been a prime topic in magazine pages and on satirical shows, but it has never been clear where her clothes have come from. One item that appears to predate the new collection is her Kazuo Kawasaki 704 spectacle frames, which cost $350.

There were also a few purchases at Pacifier, a baby store, and Steinlauf & Stoller, suggesting that $295 was spent to help Mrs Palin’s son Trig to join her on the campaign trail.

If the items had been bought by the McCain campaign itself, they would have violated campaign finance rules, which prohibit the use of funds for personal use. However the RNC is perfectly entitled to buy her as large – and costly – a wardrobe as she wants.

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