“Job seekers allowance for a year is £3796. One pair of Theresa May Trousers £1000. So glad she is in touch with the common people,” Pamela Fitzpatrick, a counselor in Harrow for the opposition Labour Party, wrote on Twitter, referring to unemployment benefits.

One political cartoon making the rounds on social media showed a diabolical-looking Mrs. May, hunched over an old-fashioned sewing machine, making leather trousers from the skin off the back of her divisive foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. “In the spirit of austerity, from now on, I shall be making … my own leather trousers,” the cartoon reads.

For all the tut-tutting, many commentators of both sexes argued that Mrs. May was the victim of a double standard, asking whether anyone would question the cost of her trousers if she were a man, or comment on her fashion sensibilities — including her much-discussed penchant for kitten-heel animal-print shoes.

After all, President-elect Donald J. Trump had been able to fashion himself as a working-class hero despite his luxurious Brioni suits, which can cost as much as $17,000. Mrs. May’s predecessor, David Cameron, who attended an elite boarding school, meanwhile, sometimes wore made-to-measure suits from Richard James, estimated at more than $4,000. Conversely, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been criticized for his scruffy appearance but has worn his frumpiness like a badge of honor.

The online fashion editor of The Guardian, Morwenna Ferrier, lamented that even as the number of women in government grows, there is still no political uniform for them equivalent to a men’s suit, leaving female politicians more vulnerable to unjustified scrutiny of their clothing choices.

“Hillary Clinton’s Ralph Lauren pantsuit is as close at it gets,” she wrote on The Guardian’s website. “But even she was vilified for dressing like a flag (she wore red, white and blue for each of the three debates).”

Mrs. Clinton was also criticized for wearing an Armani coat that retails for $12,495 while warning about the perils of social inequality in a speech celebrating her victory in New York’s Democratic primary.