As promised, the Duchess of Cambridge made her third appearance of the week today in Wiltshire, England. This was her first trip to Wiltshire, and she flew solo to visit the Centre for Addiction Treatment Studies, part of her work with Action on Addiction (one of her patronages since 2012).
Kate wore a £325 coat by Reiss and a dress by Emilia Wickstead. The Reiss coat reminds me a lot of the biscuit-grazing-slitty Ralph Lauren she wore for her triumphant return to royal work back in September. I think it reminds me of the Ralph Lauren because both pieces are black-and-cream houndstooth? Is her new “thing” the houndstooth print? Because I honestly wouldn’t hate that. Kate has such an extensive coat collection, but this one is easily one of the best ones of the year. Very age-appropriate and flattering. Good length too.
The Wickstead dress is pretty (great color), but it too reminds me of about a million other dresses in Kate’s closet. She loves pleats almost as much as she loves doily-lace and buttons. Her taste in dresses is very “girly,” and I mean that in a negative way. It’s often so girlish and young, it swings around the other way and ends up looking dowdy, like she’s being dressed by a grandmother who thinks she’s 5 years old. Just my opinion. Now, all that being said… she gets some points for looking professional and wearing knee-length (and possibly adding weights to the hems?). Right?
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
She really needs to return all her Emilia Wickstead clothing. They are so poorly tailored it gives me an eye twitch. This particular dress is the best of a bad bunch. How is Emilia in business??!!
ITA – Have said this time and time again- for the cost and “designer they are so bad. And this is identical to her pink dress except for the colour.Since Kate rarely wears this style of coat- anytime she does I feel she is pregnant- its also a mismatch between coat and dress.
How come this woman gets the crap-end of Brit tailoring? We’ve countless badly tailored McQ coats and coatdresses. Same with Packham.
+1
Speaking of eye twitches every time someone attributes Burton’s poor designs and tailoring under the McQueen name it happens.. Ugh.
And this outfit design is also in her closet as Red and Pink that we know of so far, right?
It could be worse, but from personal taste I don’t care for it. And depending on what filter and edits to the photos I don’t like the color too.
I know Burton was McQ’s assistant…but good grief was there no one else to pick? Same can be said for Scott and Moschino.*shudders*
Its her body shape. Kate makes everything look weird.
Agreed- her Wickstead pieces often fit more poorly than stuff she wore from Warehouse or Zara FFS!
Well if what the Fail reports, she and her mother/sister still swap clothes and use the same everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all use the same crap tailor. Look at how poorly tailored Carole’s outfit was on the day of the wedding, you could see it at the bottom. Though I suspect they’ve got someone ‘on the cheap’ doing it for them.
But now they (All) have access to Royal tailors or top professionals. So, why is this continuing?
How this dress poorly tailored/fitting, aside from perhaps the sleeves?
Where to even start? Look at the seams. They should be smooth and straight. There shouldn’t be any puckers. Perhaps the stitches where the buttons are sewn in are supposed to show and be part of a “design element” so I’ll give them a pass.
She always looks the same
Seriously. Her clothes are so repetitive that they all blend together for me. Either I don’t realize that they’re different pieces, or I get irrationally frustrated that she buys the same thing over and over again
For someone that has access to every designer in the world, she is so ho-hum boring!
I think the dress is nice.
Me, too. She looks business-like and appropriate.
Same
And while I’m not a fan of houndstooth it’s not horrible here. Only from a personal taste do I not like the dress.
Nice colour, not sure about the pleats or hem weights (it looks wool and if there was weights wouldn’t u see them because they have stretched the material thou if it is wool it might be heavy enough to withstand the wind)?
She looks nice and appropriate
Someone needs to do something about that makeup!! The way she does it makes her look really ancient …
Yeah I think her make-up is more the problem than anything else. I don’t think that will ever get solved…
The blush is horrific. It’s like she hasn’t changed her technique from when she was five and playing with her mom’s makeup.
Her hair looks SO much better with this considerable trim.
Don’t love the dress OR its color, but the coat is fantastic!
ArtHistorian, Nobel dinner starting any second now. Swedish tiaras galore!
Thanks! Will have a look at Swedish TV.
Madeleine is wearing a gorgeous aquamarine belonging to one of her aunts. I’ve never seen that one before!
It’s Marghreta’s(sp?) sister to CG. Sofia needs contact with Vickan’s hairstylist, like her wedding day, the placing of that tragic,poky tiara is too far. The Nine Prong on Silvia makes like that garden tool, the Steel Cut. V in the Connaught,slaying, as per usual. Over in Norway, what IS that thing on MM’s head?
That headband thing from MM needs to go. She has used it many times. She has someone weave in a velvet ribbon to match whatever she is wearing (red, black. etc.). Or she leaves it plain but attaches a giant bow on the side.
Twitter and Pinterest are blowing up my phone with updates on the glorious sparkles and drapes 😀
The hair is good. Like she is now a woman w purpose not just a girl looking pretty and girly!
LAK – who is the women in plum? Is she a lady in waiting? Just wondering if you know bc she is wearing a brooch of some sort of order?
I love this coat and it fits her very well! She seems a bit more confident.. did anyone else notice from the photos thus far – NO Cambridge Crotch Clutch happening! She is making an effort to hold her bag at her hip! WOW!
She’s the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire – TQ’s reps in each County:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Lieutenant
thanks Betti!
@Cricket and Betti, thanks for that. My eye was immediately drawn to “the lady in plum”. I thought she looked very dapper and well put together. I find it interesting that more often than not the ordinary people at these events look far more appropriate and at ease than Katy Bucket and her lollygagging husband. One slight observation, I hope her “tippet” is not real fur, but it looks like it could maybe be her best heirloom from her mother’s wardrobe, ie, inherited fur, and not recently purchased fur, there is a difference I think.
@ antipodean
I agree with you that the lady in plum looks very good in that outfit. She looks like she’s the regal royal one here to do this event while Kate looks like her assistant or a representative of the charity or maybe even her daughter who’s not yet up to snuff on her mother’s styling.
I think you’re right about the difference between inherited fur vs one that was killed and caught during more ‘enlightened’ times.
There isn’t full-on crotch clutch but there is partial crotch clutch.
@ coconut
See the pics of her in the coat, including the thumbnail ones. More pics of the crotch-clutch in the coat over at the DM.
Also, there are pics on twitter and the DM of her crotch clutch when her coat is off too.
went out, came back to find question and answered already.
🙂
Am I the only one who despises houndstooth? I think I must not be, because the last time Kate wore it, that Ralph Lauren dress in the same colors as this coat referenced in this post, it was the first thing she had worn in…I can’t remember how long that didn’t sell out immediately. It remained available in all sizes for a long time which NEVER happens with the clothes she wears that are available to us plebes, and I believe it is not only still available but on sale now as well. I found it hideous.
I don’t care for houndstooth, either. It’s OK in small doses like accessories, but it looks kinda cheap and is optically distracting (for lack of a better word) on this coat. It may look better in person, though.
Also,, no fan of it, but here it’s isn’t awful.
Charlotte15
Many items Kate wears that sell out were low quantity to begin with. If things are still available it’s likely because it’s moderately to well stocked as normal as stores do this.
Someone (Tanna/Palmer?) did some digging a ways back and noted certain outfits that were credited to being out of stock via the “Kate Effect” were in fact reaching the end of their instore and online stock. So, it makes sense for the sell outs within an hour.
^I don’t know if it’s true but a few months back according to some confessor on Royal Confessions said that they worked for a company that makes kids’ wear. When one of it’s wares was seen on PGTips, press cried ‘sold out!’. The reality was quite the opposite, but PR decided to run with the tale to create hype.
COSquared
Now was that the time the clothing place claimed sold out hoping to drive up prices and interest when they restocked? Or the outfit where the store only have 4 or 5 in stock to begin with?
I think it’s the former. The brand HAD stock but chose to not reveal the truth.
Like Angel Gabriel Blue counter tops? Just like Hyacinth
I don’t care for it either. I remember the late ’80s when it was gigantic and everywhere. I’m like Olenna — it’s ok in *very* small doses, but I wouldn’t want an all-houdstooth dress/coat.
Her hair looks SO much better that length! Not as heavy and doesn’t weigh her down so much. However I’m almost positive this Emilia Wickstead dress is a repeat. She has one in pink and I feel like we saw this on a tour somewhere.
I don’t like the houndstooth print, I dunno reminds me of the 80s for some reason.
it’s definitely a repeat. We first saw it on the AUS/NZ tour. The Pink one is even more atrociously tailored and IIRC, didn’t fit at properly. The collar is also the wrong shape for her shoulders.
And for what it’s worth Kate looks to be more of a jewel tone or fall/autumn colors. These washed out springs, summers, and cooler winters imo aren’t ideal.
Deep, warm jewel tones are her best ally.
FLORC, I think this is true of Mary of Denmark too. To me she looks much better in deep ruby, purple, and blue but she fades away in cream, tan, and pale pinks, blues, and grays.
She’s ALWAYS bland.
Considering that COSquared estimated that Kate worked only 65 hours this year, and if the sugars estimate her per-hour rate to be about $1,000, and how much in clothing and accessories it costs for her to show up to ‘work,’ I’d say it might be cheaper just to keep her at home.
Like it’s been said, she could cut down on her clothing costs by buying separate pieces so she can mix-and-match to create new ensembles and wear them more than one to three times and also use tailors instead of buying expensive brands.
She’d never survive on the Spanish royal budget. It’s the smallest in Europe. Kate should thank her lucky stars that she has no budget and gets away doing the bare minimum of work.
@ COSquared
So true. She wouldn’t be able to live on that. Yet, Queen Letizia’s outfits look better, fresher, younger, modern, sophisticated, elegant, etc. when compared to Kate.
I guess Kate is one of those people who think ‘expensive’ always mean better.
When she was trying to find her place in William’s circle of friends she was said to rent outfits from certain stores. As they had massive wardrobes and expensive clothes she might have felt she needed to keep up apearances. The Midds wealth has only been speculated, but nothing to support they could support Kate without going into debt somehow. My point being she knows how to stretch a pound. Maybe it’s because she had to do that for her own reasons she wants to kick shopping into overdrive like she’s chasing away from those days?
JMO
And in those early days I thought her style was very her. She appeared comfortable in the clothes and since she’s hard Charles’s Plastics her style doesn’t appear to be hers. The clothes are wearing her as they say.
*impatiently waits for Spanish state visit to UK in March 2016* I think this time she’ll be wearing a RFO. Leti should wear that red stunner from Mary and Fred’s wedding. Jeez, I’m talking about this but it’s only December!
Wasn’t the new manor mortgaged to a swedish bank? Very random.
Cosquared
They applied to the financial innstitution that Nico later worked at. And that employ the owners of the home on Mustique the Midds use to vacation at now for privacy. The mortgage info was there long enough for people to see and TMK the loan never went through as suddenly they had cash to pay for it. It was just there long enough for us to get a peek into their finances. Businesses having debt makes sense. Loads of businesses have debt that later is resolved. With how the Midds spent in their private lives though.. That much debt was a cause for alarm.
Apparently PP makes less than £300k p.a. This puts their lifestyle into serious question: Pippa with no employment, Boomf and a flashy car etc… The Middleton lifestyle screams Gary’s private ‘endeavours’. It’s also quite interesting that the Nico romance fizzled out after he got that job with the Middleton contact-Like someone said a few months back, Nico seems like a social climber.
Nico I give slack to. He’s not riding on public funds.
And if PP was what sustained the Midds i’d give them slack too. Once they took those tax dollars for needlessly extensive renovations and upgrades to their private home to house Kate longterm with George they showed their PP company really wasn’t enough.
An not even including Gross Uncle Gary and his involvement in under age girls awfulness, drugs, and the sales of both. Well, his money is terrible and all who took it should be ashamed.
Regarding what it costs taxpayers for Kate to show up to ‘work’ once in a while… someone posted a twitter pic, dated today Dec. 10, of Kate boarding a copter, presumably to get to/from work. She’s wearing the same coat as shown in the article above, the same length hair, the same black clutch, and there’s no William in sight, so I’m presuming the photo was taken today:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MiddletonMaven/status/675036824981622784
I have a feeling that in addition to quell criticisms of yet another vacation, to up the end-of-year tally, another incentive to show up to work are either a new outfit, clutch, shoes, jewelry, McQueen belt, etc. and special transportation.
I am sick of her granny style. I get it she has to look professional but she limits herself to severe ensembles and grant coats. It ages her more than her poor genetics already !
Actually most grannies would add a nice scarf (red anybody?) or something to improve the styling.
Face it, most window-dressing dolls have more style on a bad day than Kate on a good day.
@ Pondering thoughts
That’s a good idea. A red scarf on that coat would have made upped it a thousand levels.
Why can’t she use Cams stylist. Camilla looked like a horses arse previously but had enough sense to realise she needed a make over. She has a bloody smashing stylist and slays every time now. Chuck and Cam outshine will and kate bucket. Its embarrassing. Remember Cams wedding ensemble. Remember Cams pearl encrusted white coat at georgies christening. SUBLIME. Kate is a loser.
^ I agree Cams is very well styled and I LOVED her wedding day outfit. Thou there are occasions I’ve though she could do with a better fitting bra.
My fave dressed British Royal is Sophie – she outshines Katie Bucket every time.
I think she looks VERY nice! And I don’t keep score but she appears to be doing a lot more appearances than the last few years. This site(which i love) is sooooo hard on her! 🙁
Nope she’s not. 2012 was her peak year. 2015 she’s done a little more than half of 2012’s engagements. 2012=>111 (thanks to Jubilee & Olympics)and 2015=> circa 65.
Didn’t she complain about 2012, that it was so busy and she was hoping things would slow down the next year? Priceless.
Yep. Even in 2012, she still managed to sit at the bottom of the tally. 2013 was simply 43. Amazing.
Maybe i’m being charitable today. Maybe just tired? Either way she did indeed get caught speaking like her schedule was 60 hours a week and she has no time to rest. Compared to her life previously of no commitments or worries except William related items she was the equivalent to an 8 year old primary student being tossed into a university schedule. suddenly things are expected of you from day 1 and assignments cannot be phoned in. For anyone else properly exposed to adulthood and jobs she might have viewed it as a cakewalk(if i’ve used “cakewalk” correctly?).
Yes, FLORC, you’ve used the term “cakewalk” correctly. I always forget this isn’t your first language! 🙂
notasugarhere says:
Didn’t she complain about 2012, that it was so busy and she was hoping things would slow down the next year? Priceless.
This comment really makes me realise kate has zero life experience and only somebody with no life experience would say this kind of thing. I don’t understand why she is so lazy. She really has bought into the myth that she is landed gentry and can put her feet up. She should have married somebody else. It of course doesn’t help that her manchild spouse thinks he is also landed gentry and doesn’t have to do anything worthy with his time. No wonder Di tried to get her 2 sons to socialise with the Branson kids. Wealthy and entitled but with a sense of worth.
I really think Ma Clairol Midds instilled in her children that they were special and should just hand about waiting for somebody wealthy to marry them. She wants them to live the life she never had. Even Uncle Gas said she always wanted to be the lady of the manor. Ha, why do you think she tried to live at Amner Hall. How ironic, Di had “3 in the marriage and it was a little crowded”, so too does Kate.
Nota
Haha! You really do! I take this as a high compliment 😀
I’ve actually got no beef with Kate’s youthful style, probably because I’m about the same age and also dress very “girly”. Why should she abandon clothes she likes and feels comfortable in? But hem weights…those she should invest in.
Like 2013,apparently those pics from the reception were…by….TANNA! Surprise, surprise!
That black-white coat is one of the most boring I have seen in years and that is due to the styling and not due to the design.
Must. Cover. Crotch.
(It’s starting to bother me.)
Dreadful. I can’t with the mom hair either. She is too young to be styled so old.