DUCHESS Of DOWNING ST
Where DOES Carrie find her style inspiration? Judging by these photos, down the road at Kensington Palace
HERS is the trickiest of tasks. Being the first ever unmarried woman to move into No 10 with a prime ministerial boyfriend has attracted considerable attention. and, sadly, not all of it complimentary.
So how, then, has Carrie Symonds, girlfriend of Boris Johnson, chosen to rebrand herself? Simple: she has channelled the Duchess Who Can Do No Wrong.
as these striking pictures show, she appears to have become the ultimate CopyKate, adopting the Duchess of Cambridge’s most stylish yet unthreatening ensembles.
Feminine florals and striking patterns have been deployed with skill, creating just enough of a ‘look at me’ effect. Hemlines, by and large, have been fashionably long — but as both young women have slender figures, they are not afraid to wear shorter styles occasionally.
Take Boris Johnson’s first speech outside No10 in July. Carrie looked on wearing a dainty red, fuchsia and white floral tea dress by Ghost, accessorised with flesh-tone suede court shoes.
Just two weeks earlier, the duchess and her family had attended a charity polo match in Surrey, sporting LK Bennett’s printed red and pink silk chiffon Madison dress with fluted sleeves and a pair of flesh-toned suede wedge-heeled Carina espadrilles by Spanish brand Castañer. Carrie, we mustn’t forget, is a PR expert who previously worked as director of communications for the Conservative Party.
She is a skilled reputation strategist who knows wooing the public is key.
It makes complete sense for Carrie, just 31 and similarly thrust from relative anonymity into the global spotlight, to learn the ropes from a woman who has won plaudits for her hard-working wardrobe of British designers and High Street labels.
Just last week, for example, accompanying her partner on the traditional Prime Minister’s summer visit to the Queen at Balmoral, Carrie chose a Sixties-inspired sky blue and white houndstooth tweed shift dress by label Eponine London, a label worn by Kate, 37, for a primary school visit in February this year.
The look also echoed the Duchess’s penchant for dogtooth: she has previously worn a black and white Rubik coat by Reiss and a red and white custom-made, doublebreasted style by London-based couturier Catherine Walker.
To finish off the look, Carrie teamed the coat with very similar kneelength black boots.
CaRRIE has also developed a Kate-inspired capsule collection of florals. Introducing Dilyn, her adopted rescue dog, to the world this month, she wore another Ghost maxi dress, in green and yellow, rather resembling a pretty frilled style by High Street chain & Other Stories that Kate chose for the Chelsea Flower Show in May.
and on a London street, wearing a
claret and red leopard print shirt dress by Karen Millen, Carrie mimicked her royal counterpart — who has worn a similarly patterned Vanessa Seward dress — by carrying her Hermes clutch bag in front of her with both hands.
The pose not only creates a protective barrier between one’s self and the banks of ever-present cameras, but also mitigates against skewing the line of one’s clothing, allowing a symmetrical, streamlined silhouette.
So, if you’re wondering what’s next for Downing Street’s chic new resident, you could do worse than look back at Kate’s winning style.
It would be a safer bet than predicting the next move by her co-habitee.