The Duchess of Cambridge in Kate Spade
On the recent tour of Canada, we witnessed the Duchess of Cambridge add a handful of new luxury designers to her wardrobe - a sign, perhaps, that, five years into her royal status, she's finally ready to embrace a more glamorous public look.
Today, Kate reaffirmed that message - eschewing her habit of recycling high street dresses and those nude court shoes for a new £425 dress from Kate Spade, a designer known for dressing glossy New Yorkers.
To celebrate the annual World Mental Health Day at a special Heads Together event at County Hall and the London Eye, the Duchess chose a rose-printed pussy-bow dress by the New York Fashion Week label. The Encore midi, with nipped-in waist and gentle pleats, is part of Spade’s current autumn/winter collection and is due to drop onto the UK retail site soon.
Kate Spade AW16
The feminine ‘rose flutter’ design marks a new dedication to glamour from the Duchess. While the rest of us succumbed to the lure of our winter coats this morning, Kate braved London’s blustery Southbank in just a slip of pink silk, paired with Gianvito Rossi pumps (an upgrade from her trusty nude LK Bennett Sledge courts) and a pale box clutch.
Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge Credit: Rex
The Duchess’s recent dedication to designer fashion was affirmed by the estimated cost of her 2016 Canadian royal tour wardrobe. The £41,487 total marks a big difference from the last time the royals visited Canada in 2011 - when Kate’s clothes totted up to approximately £19,065.
But it’s not just that Kate has acquired a bigger clothing budget, she has started to exercise some serious style prowess. With the help of PA-turned-stylist Natasha Archer, the mother-of-two has dabbled with new designers, dress cuts and silhouettes. The red, off-the-shoulder Preen by Thornton Bregazzi dress, which she wore to a glittering reception in Canada, not only nodded to her host nation’s colour, but supported homegrown talent and channeled an air of mid-century elegance while showing more skin than ever before. It was a knockout.
The Duchess of Cambridge in Preen Credit: Getty
Just days after this experimental move, the new confident Kate plucked another new brand out of her Canadian wardrobe. A £1190 bold red coat by American designer Carolina Herrera - who is famous for dressing US First Ladies and Upper East Side socialites - signaled that Kate is beginning to understand the labels that cater for her status as one of the world's most watched fashion personalities.
The Duchess of Cambridge in Carolina Herrera Credit: Dominic Lipinski
Today’s floral Kate Spade look marks another shift towards this polished socialite persona. The brand was founded in 1993 after Katherine Noel Brosnahan found herself disenchanted by the amount of lifeless black handbags being carried by women in New York. Nowadays, it is her colourful, creative and zany handbags that define the brand. Among the novelty clutch bags (perfume bottles, cocktail glasses and fruit have all manifested as leather Kate Spade bags) sits a selection of hard-working handbags that would slip neatly into any working woman’s wardrobe. The ready-to-wear collection, meanwhile, is feminine and flattering, but boasts character via pattern and stylistic flourishes, like Kate’s pussy-bow.
The Duchess of Cambridge in Kate Spade Credit: Rex
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Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/duchess-of-cambridge-kate-spade-floral-dress-425-mental-health-d/
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