CAMILLA’S AUDIT
THE question is one the Duchess of Cornwall could be forgiven for feeling stumped by. What does a royal consort wear to meet a camp chorus- line of drag queens, musicians and assorted San Francisco theatrical oddballs? In the event, the outfit Camilla paraded when she attended the outrageous Beach Blanket Babylon revue, one of the last engagements on her U.S. tour
with Prince Charles, was perhaps
too perfect for the occasion.
In a black jacket and gaudy, beaded
scarlet skirt, she blended in seamlessly
with the red creation worn by the transvestite standing right next to her.
It’s been a rough trip for the Duchess.
Never a natural clothes horse, she has
tried to walk a delicate sartorial line
between understated gentility and high
fashion.
In the main she has succeeded. Even
the aforementioned Alice Temperley
skirt was fresh and appealing — once you
took it out of its unfortunate context.
Camilla is used to being lampooned by
the Brits as having a face like a Rod Hull.
Still, the comments Stateside have been
very cruel. One headline last week
branded her: ‘New York’s Frump Tower’.
What do the Yanks expect — Cameron
Diaz in a tiara? The Duchess is 58, and
she has been trying, bless her.
She has undergone quite a make- over
since her elevation first to the Prince of
Wales’s partner and then more recently
his wife. She has lost weight, had her hair
restyled, had a new wardrobe made for
her and, by the looks of things, now
spends many hours in make-up.
For her trip to the U. S., the Duchess
was said to have packed no fewer than
80 outfits. Her new ensembles include
the pink tweed suit which she wore to
visit New York’s Ground Zero — critics
said it was ‘too bright’.
Then there was the navy bouclé jacket
with matching chiffon skirt she sported
to meet Laura Bush (‘unflattering’), and
the navy velvet dress with the white chiffon collar and cuffs. One critic said this
made her look ‘like an escapee from the
choirboy pew of Westminster Cathedral’.
AJOURNALIST on the Los Angeles Times damned her and Charles with faint praise during their time in Washington DC, with the comment: ‘ In the nation’s capital, where sober- minded, middleaged people in ordinary clothes are the norm, Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla fit right in.’
The problem is the Americans just don’t ‘ get’ Camilla. They don’t appreciate that, as a member of the English aristocracy, she is not supposed to care how she looks.
Old money doesn’t like new things — whether houses, furniture or clothes. They prefer to mooch about their crumbling old piles in jumpers with holes in.
The Americans should applaud Camilla. To have allowed herself to be restyled, she’s had to go against her upbringing.
There is an obvious parallel here. Lady Diana Spencer was a lumpy Sloane with bad dress sense when she married into The Firm. Over the years, though, she metamorphosed into a fashion Princess.
The great advantage Diana had was youth. Camilla is almost bus pass age. She has to look ‘with it’ without looking like mutton dressed as lamb.
She also wants to please Charles. He is the one who encourages her to keep her flicky helmet hairdo.
As for the outfits that have come in for such a pasting — they are no better or worse than those sported by Laura Bush. When Camilla wore her navy suit to meet the First Lady, Mrs Bush was a vision of dullness in grey.
The Yanks should lay off Camilla. The Duchess of Cornwall isn’t perfect, but even if she doesn’t always get it right, the old girl deserves an ‘ A’ for effort.