She has carefully honed a silhouette that works for her—narrow tailored shoulders, cinched at the waist, fitted through the torso—but there is a common denominator in all of these looks: the hemline is now longer; always falling demurely below the knee, hitting midi-length or more. In fact, she hasn’t worn girlish knee-length hemline (or just above) for at least a year, and that’s a big statement.
Let’s face it, the simple task of getting dressed—even with all the help and advice imaginable—can’t be easy when you’re the Princess of Wales. First and foremost, and yes, it’s a boring one, but what she wears has to be practical. Working royals endure long days and so the clothes have to work, from being comfortable, to weather-appropriate, to magically immune to wrinkling. Nothing can be too fussy, so forget a slit that’s tricky to navigate, or a collar that needs tending to. Then there is the sheer impossibility of pleasing absolutely everyone. Because, you know, being the wife of the future king—and mother to his heir—means the entire world is watching; scrutinizing. Meanwhile, the not-so-insignificant pressure of living up to the fashion legacy of her late mother-in-law, whose title she has inherited, looms large. If Kate feels any of that, you certainly wouldn’t know it.
She has embraced bolder colors: cue the Alexander McQueen red power suit she wore to unveil her “Shaping Us” campaign; the cobalt-blue Catherine Walker coat dress for Easter this year, and the vivid blue 1995 vintage Chanel boucle blazer she wore to Coach Core’s 10th-anniversary celebrations. Her choices are modern but she respects traditions. I don’t know too many details surrounding Easter’s nail varnish furor—nitpickers seemed livid—but I applaud a moment of boundary pushing, especially one…
Read the full article here
