KATE’S FASHIONING A NEW LOOK
IT HAS happened to the best of us. We have, all at one time or another, left the house with an item of clothing on back to front or inside out. have done it with tops, trousers, skirts... even underwear.
I was on to my main course at a friend’s birthday dinner when someone suggested I might be wearing my clingy Rick Owens midi dress the wrong way around. By then I’d had the frock on so long I had two choices: own it or turn it and walk around for the rest of the night with a tummy ‘pouch’ where my bottom had stretched the material. I chose the former.
This week the Duchess of Cambridge was accused of stepping out wearing her £790 purple pussybow Gucci blouse back to front. Contrary to accepted shirtwearing wisdom, the buttons – though not the bow – on this particular piece are supposed to go down the back.
Others have said the Duchess was ‘putting her own stamp’ on the item. I say, I don’t care. I just love that Kate is going ga ga for Gucci.
The silky blouse, which she teamed with wide-leg
Jigsaw trousers for a visit to a children’s centre in
London, is the second item she has worn by the Italian fashion giant. In February the 37-yearold attended a Women in Finance event in a soft, two-tone blush Gucci gown that was one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever seen on her.
But Gucci is not the only new label to sashay its way into
Wrong way round or not, this Gucci blouse looked great on Kate Kate’s closet of late. Alexander McQueen may still be her go-to for the ‘big dos’ but recent months have also seen the mother-of-three try out some new names.
Last month Kate pulled pints in a pub in Belfast wearing a pretty turquoise Missoni pleated midi dress and she chose a Dolce & Gabbana tweed two-piece for a mental health conference. Naturally many pundits have been quick to lay Kate’s new-found fashion freedom at the feet of her sister-in-law the Duchess of Sussex. It suits the tired narrative of the duchesses being arch rivals. I don’t buy that rubbish.
It is possible that Meghan’s fondness for high-end, expensive pieces – she donned almost £18,000-worth of clothes and accessories for two Commonwealth Day events on Monday – has led Kate to feel more relaxed about blowing the budget, but it’s not as if William’s wife is still stepping out in Zara and Topshop these days.
For every £300 LK Bennett tea dress, there’s an Amanda Wakeley one-off design. And how much do you think all those custom-made McQueen dresses cost? The broadening of Kate’s horizons possibly has more to do with the fact that her stylist, Natasha Archer, is on maternity leave.
There is talk that a new clothes whisperer is operating behind the scenes. If that is the case, she or he is nailing it, and I can’t wait to see which designer Kate wears next.
I won’t hold my breath that she’ll be stepping out in Saint Laurent or Versace any time soon. Then again, the idea of a future queen in Alexander McQueen would have been laughable 10 years ago.