This girl is street smart
ON her wedding day, Kate Middleton wowed even the most picky fashionistas in an exquisite Alexander McQueen gown. She has graced a small forest’s worth of glossy pages since, but a year is a long time in fashion. Days before her first anniversary, is she a bona fide style icon? That term — once reserved for the likes of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn — is now so freely applied that it’s often hard to discern the nonpareils from the wannabes. Celebrities can hire a great stylist and borrow clothes from designers before they hit the shops. How should that inspire the fashion lover on the street? “What does that teach us?” says Scott Schuman, the award-winning photographer behind The Sartorialist style blog. “That we should have more money? That we should be better looking? At some point looking to [celebrities] for style advice is about as useful as Usain Bolt telling your average track athlete, ‘Just run faster’.” Kate’s not likely to start offering fashion tips to Vogue readers, but when it comes to true style she sets a fine example.
Coco Chanel said that fashion passes but style remains. Kate definitely has a signature style which often recalls her maiden name. “Midi style” involves mid-length skirts, mid-high heels, mid-length coats, cropped blazers and cropped trousers. She even wears her hair half-up on blustery days. Very sweetly, she seems to look to the women around her for style advice. She shares dresses with her mother and bags and coats with sister Pippa. Last year, Kate told Grazia editor Jane Bruton she sometimes has to dress to coordinate with the rest of Britain’s Royal Family.
Like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, her casual wardrobe is influenced by the preppy set she comes from. In the winter, she’s all about equestrian-style blazers, tweed coats, skinny jeans and flat boots. In the summer, she likes floaty teadresses, blouses and pumps. Hers is the sort of sensible, streamlined approach to clothes that appeals to women who find high fashion inaccessible and a little too outrageous. Her choices ensure that even when she spends a lot on an outfit, it’s a safe investment that won’t date. “We’re grateful for the Duchess of Cambridge’s safe and pretty style. She’s made it OK not to be fierce,” writes Grazia’s Hannah Almassi. Anne Hathaway, reportedly as uninterested in trends as her The Devil Wears Prada character, loves Kate’s look. “Can I tell you how grateful I am to Kate Middleton?” the actress told USA Today last year. “She is such an advocate for dressing like a lady. I’m very grateful to Kate for making looking appropriate really fun again.” Former tomboy Katie Holmes is a vocal fan of both Middleton sisters’ clothes. Kate doesn’t strive for fashion icon status new Hollywood-style. The British Royal Family does not accept free clothes (Queen Elizabeth famously saved her WW2 ration cards to pay for her wedding gown, an ivory silk Norman Hartnell dress inspired by Boticelli’s La Primavera). Kate shops for clothes on London’s King’s Road, where designer boutiques neighbour Zara, Reiss and LK Bennett. She doesn’t use a stylist and does her own make-up.
“I don’t think she wants to be a fashion personality,” UK Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman told The Daily Telegraph. “I think that what she wears does translate into cash, which is great for the industry, but fashion is not her priority.” Kate declined to pose for Vogue last year and, unlike young European royals, doesn’t attend fashion shows. She re-wears outfits and accessories all the time, save for the sheer black number that caught Prince William’s eye in 2002 (that dress served its purpose). Even her wedding dress got a second outing to a Buckingham Palace exhibition last summer.
If she wears a designer piece it is usually off-the-peg and not necessarily new (the Amanda Wakeley gown she wore for her first solo engagement in October was from 2006). Several fashion editors deem her fondness for tan tights inexcusable. She also told Jane Bruton that she wasn’t even aware Mulberry made clothes until last autumn. Before she settled on Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton as a wedding gown designer, Buckingham Palace reportedly sought the opinion of London’s top designers on her behalf.
One of the most common criticisms hurled her way is that she’s unadventurous. Lady Gaga and her monsters are brave and inspirational but its Kate’s girl-next-door appeal that crashes online stores. Put simply, are you hoping to bag Rihanna’s Pucci pyjama-suit or Kate’s blue Moschino coat in the summer sales? And it is not just the labels we’re after. Kate has been selling-out high street clothes since she was snapped in a £40 Topshop tunic dress in 2007. The retailer reported it out of stock in any size within 24 hours. A monochrome Zara dress she wore in June 2011 went just as fast. The blush-pink “Shola” dress she wore to meet the Obamas caused a reported 500% surge in traffic to the Reiss website. Kate relied on LK Bennett’s nude patent “Sledge” pumps while touring Canada last year, making them more of a must-have every day.
Audrey Hepburn, a gold-standard, time-tested style icon, never saw herself as unique. “My look is attainable. Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large sunglasses, and the little sleeveless dresses.” We may not have seen Kate’s equivalent signature look yet but she’s given us a least five frontrunners. Whether shopping at Zara or Issa, her fashion sense makes good sense.
1. On St Patrick’s Day, Kate Middleton wore an emerald coatdress by Emilia Wickstead to hand out shamrocks to the Irish Guard at Aldershot Barracks. Her “Betty Boop” hat is from Lock & Co and she wears LK Bennett pumps.
2. Catherine touches down in Ottawa in a black lace dress by Erdem Moralioglu, an Anglo-Canadian designer.
This dress inspired numerous high street copies. She also wears her favourite nude LK Bennett pumps, which go with everything.
3. Kate Midleton wears a perfectly-fitted Orla Kiely coatdress to visit an Oxford primary school in February. The Duchess has worn the Irish designer twice this spring. Her buckled brown ankleboots are by US shoemaker Aquatalia.
4. Catherine sparkles in Jenny Packham, one of her favourite labels, at the ARK 10th anniversary Gala dinner in London last June.
5. “You look fabulous. No, you look fabulous.” Catherine greets Michelle Obama at Buckingham Palace last May in a “Shola” dress from Reiss. The Duchess is not allowed to accept freebies and is frequently spotted shopping and in clothes borrowed from her mother or sister.
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