Kate’s maternity wear gives her crown ahead of Meghan as fashion queen
Royal influence on market puts Duchess of Cambridge in front of sister-in-law for searches on ebay website
THEIR fashion choices are constantly pitted against each other, but the Duchess of Cambridge is beating the Duchess of Sussex in the influence stakes, thanks to her bearing on the maternity wear market.
The Duchess of Cambridge has taken the crown as this year’s top royal style influencer, according to ebay’s annual UK Retail Report.
Kate, rather than royal newcomer Meghan, had the biggest impact on shopping habits, it found, with her maternity style while pregnant with Prince Louis ensuring she generated more online searches on ebay than any other royal over the past year. Searches for tailored maternity coats more than tripled in November 2017, while the Duchess was expecting her third child, ebay revealed.
In April, searches for designer Jenny Packham more than doubled when the Duchess appeared outside the Lindo Wing in a red Packham smock dress for Prince Louis’s introduction to the public.
Throughout the year, the Duchess of Cambridge’s go-to choices, Packham, Alexander Mcqueen and Seraphine, saw a 20 per cent upsurge in searches year-on-year, with as many as 43 searches every hour. It said her new sister-in-law, who is known for her signature boatneck necklines, came a close second.
The Duchess of Sussex’s fashion influencing power peaked at her wedding in May, when her Givenchy dress led to a more than 60 per cent increase in searches for the designer on ebay, hitting 55 an hour.
The former actress’s Stella Mccartney halter-neck evening wedding dress doubled searches for the brand. The American’s ice-pink off the shoulder Carolina Herrera dress at Trooping the Colour in June was also popular, with searches for the designer almost doubling.
Rob Hattrell, UK vice-president of ebay, said: “While Meghan was clearly the focus of the fashion pages this year, Kate’s distinctive style has long been a hit with shoppers on ebay since her wedding in 2011. We always see an uptick in searches around landmark royal events and 2018 was a bumper year for small businesses on ebay, with both the birth of Prince Louis and Meghan and Harry’s wedding driving purchases across the nation.”
Princess Charlotte, who was top in 2017, came third, with the flower crown she wore as a bridesmaid at Meghan and Harry’s wedding prompting a 60 per cent increase in searches for similar products on ebay.co.uk.