‘Charlotte effect’ starts a run on vintage floral birthday dress
SHE may only be six, but it seems Princess Charlotte has inherited her mother’s talent for trendsetting after a dress she wore in a recent birthday picture became the fastest selling item in the brand’s 25-year history.
The vintage floral print dress by Rachel Riley proved so popular that the luxury children’s wear shop sold six months’ supply in three days.
After the Duchess of Cambridge photographed her daughter in the navy and pink puff-sleeved, button-front dress for an image published to mark her sixth birthday on Sunday, sales of the £59 frock shot up by 670 per cent.
Website visits increased by 826 per cent and after the dress sold out in 12 hours, pre-orders rose by 724 per cent.
Ms Riley, whose hand-embroidered designs have also been worn by Prince George, said that “the Charlotte effect” took her by surprise. “We could never
have anticipated the interest in this dress before the picture was shared,” she said. “We sold out of the dress in 12 hours and had so many messages from customers asking if they could still order it we set up a pre-order system. It will be back in stock in a few weeks.” The reaction echoed “the Kate effect” created by the Duchess’s ability to boost high street and haute couture sales with her choices of clothing.
It began with the sapphire blue “Issa” dress when her engagement to Prince William was announced in November 2010, catapulting the designer Daniella Helayel to international acclaim and doubling her sales in the next six months. A “What Kate Wore” website was set up, which, after the birth of her three children, spawned a “What Kate’s Kids Wore” sister site.
It is not the first time Charlotte has been pictured wearing Rachel Riley.
She wore a similar style “Ditsy” £65 floral button-front dress when she was photographed visiting the garden her mother designed at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019. Prince George, seven, has been seen in several Rachel Riley boys’ outfits, yet it has been Charlotte’s dress that has sold the most and the quickest of all the royal siblings’ outfits.