‘Kate Effect’ still going strong
If Prince George got used to being the centre of the world’s attention, then he was in for a shock recently. The cherubcheeked royal may have been his usual adorable self at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire, England but as many eyes were on his mother.
Scrambling to keep up with her energetic two-year-old, the Duchess of Cambridge appeared enviously svelte in a simple white-on-blue striped Breton top a mere six weeks after giving birth.
As is now par for the course, within hours the photos appeared on 40 news and fashion websites, crediting the “miracle slimming top” to British label ME+EM — which promptly sold out in all five colours. It seems the infamous “Kate Effect” is still going strong.
At ME+EM’s store, Clare Hornby, the label’s founder, was still reeling from the “crazy” impact on sales. The $93 Cobalt Stripe Breton top now has a 5,000-strong waiting list and the earliest shipping date is expected to be Sept. 23, but Hornby is confident her customers will wait. The public reaction is even more surprising given the Duchess had worn the top twice before in a different colour combination: during the Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand last April, and again at a charity polo match last June.
“We knew she’d ordered the tops, because her PA had contacted us (Hornby has never met the Duchess), but we thought we were probably her at-home brand, so we weren’t sure we’d ever see her in it.”
Both times the website crashed and the top sold out within hours, but what was different about the most recent reaction was the interest in the top’s slimming effect. The Breton Top is made of Lyocell, a rayon made from wood pulp “which is soft but holds its shape because I hate when you put on a new top and the fit goes by lunchtime,” says Hornby.
“And it’s thick enough not to reveal your bra.”
The midsection is subtly ruched to disguise the tummy area, and so the top can be adjusted to the most flattering length. “And we cut the neckline wide enough to show off your neck and shoulders, but not so wide it shows your bra strap,” Hornby says.
Hornby, 46, loves fashion, and it’s clear that what sets ME+EM’s apart is a focus on fit and fabric. She says they spend six times longer than higher-end name brands “finessing a garment and getting it right.”
She says there aren’t many mid-market brands that spend as much on fabric as ME+EM. “But you won’t get slim-looking clothes without it.”
She admits she is disappointed not to have seen a head-to-toe ME+EM outfit on the Duchess.
She points to skinny jeans which have darker shading running down the side of each thigh for a slimming effect. “She ordered these in a size 27 (inch waist) … but then, she ended up wearing maternity jeans that day,” Hornby says, implying that, despite already having a figure most women would kill for, maybe even the Duchess of Cambridge hasn’t regained her usual dimensions yet.