Kate’s Vogue makeover

The Duchess has got her fashion mojo back – and ALEXANDRA SHULMAN says the credit goes to a former magazine colleague who’s now a chic mum

AFEW months ago, having lunch with my old Vogue colleague Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey, I asked where her pale green shirt was from. It was a perfectly ordinary cotton shirt but it was the way Ginnie wore it, with lowrise white jeans and the cuffs rolled just so, that made it so desirable.

She told me it was from Zara, and when I left the restaurant I immediately charged into the store to scoop up a blue version for myself.

So it is absolutely no surprise to learn that Ginnie is now helping her old university friend, the Duchess of Cambridge, with her wardrobe. She is the perfect person for the job – as you can see from the results.

At Vogue, Ginnie was retail editor, a role that involved hosting reader events and industry trend talks. Her skill was in translating fashion information for real people rather than edgy fashion shoots.

You can see how all of this would be invaluable to the Duchess, whose every hiking boot and clutch bag is analysed and scrutinised.

While Catherine has a very distinct sense of her own style, she is not interested in spending hours poring over fashion pages and reading designer profiles.

Her stylist will be responsible for sourcing clothes for her to choose from, trying to balance the tried and tested with the new and trendy and making sure that her wardrobe can cope with an ever-growing list of public engagements – as well as making those all-important tweaks that can make the old look new.

To this end we have already seen the Duchess in slightly more fashion forward styles in recent months, demonstrating a new confidence in playing with her clothes.

This may partially be thanks to Ginnie, but might also be the result of having seen her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex, seemingly less hidebound by established Royal style and definitely not feeling the need to court favourable public opinion by

dressing inexpensively. While Catherine is not remotely interested in being a clothes horse, she knows that it’s a huge part of the job and will want to be seen as being at the top of her game. Ginnie, like the Duchess, has young children but, unlike the Duchess, works full-time. She and her husband left London to bring up their two daughters in the countryside, but that didn’t slow her down professionally. She is an ambassador of Smart Works, the charity – where Meghan is the new Royal Patron – which cleverly helps less privileged women get jobs through mentoring and dressing them for interviews. Ginnie also runs her own successful styling consultancy, VCHStyle, which has at its core an understanding of how real women of different shapes and ages can make the best of themselves. Her own taste is bright and cheerful, mixing in a bit of boho – embroidered smocks and ethnic fabrics – with clean, classic shapes such as shirt dresses, slim trousers and kitten heels. She is no stranger to society weddings and racetrack meetings in her own life, but shops for herself on a tight budget which involves a lot of High Street and the odd investment splurge. I would expect her to introduce some new names to the Duchess’s repertoire, or encourage her to bring some of those she has in her private wardrobe on to the public stage. Chinti & Parker’s expanding range of patterned cashmere knitwear, newly popular event dressing designer Anna Mason, and Richard Quinn, winner of the first Queen Elizabeth II Award for design, might all get a look in. What’s for sure is that Ginnie, with her easy manner, big smile, natural discretion and wealth of experience is a real pro rather than a limelight seeking amateur. The Duchess couldn’t find herself in better hands.