I started reading Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers last night. I started with the Kate Middleton sections because I didn’t want to spend the whole evening reading about Camilla and Charles (I get the horsey gist). It’s still early, but I can absolutely, 100% tell already that Brown has sources deep within Camp Middleton. Even the way Carole Middleton is referenced early on, the way Brown talks around Carole stage-managing her daughter’s relationship, it’s pretty clear that Brown is choosing to ignore certain things in an effort to highlight Kate’s long-slog marathon to catch a prince. I will give Brown some begrudging credit, in that she makes it perfectly clear that “landing William” was a joint project between mother and daughter, it was what they both wanted, and Kate clearly needed her mummy’s help the entire time.
All of that careful planning, all of those years of careful stage-managing and cosplaying Diana… and it all got blown away as soon as Meghan came around. Meghan made Kate look old-fashioned, fussy and boring. That could be seen immediately with their style comparisons, and how smoothly Kate began copykeening Meghan. This too was a joint effort made by Carole and Kate.
In the book The Palace Papers, which was released on April 26, author Tina Brown talks about the “long and hard” work Kate Middleton apparently did to become a “style icon” and how bothered she was when the media began to criticize her wardrobe as soon as her now sister-in-law Meghan Markle‘s fashion got its own spotlight. Brown says the epic outfits the 40-year-old Duchess of Cambridge, who married Prince William in 2011, became known for were “tastefully inexpensive” and signaled “solidarity with working women,” but when outlets, including The Sun, suddenly said she went “from fab to drab,” it was hard for her to not feel “demoralized.”
“Tell me any woman who wouldn’t feel demoralized opening a newspaper—even if it’s The Sun—to read a headline such as ‘Kate Middleton Has Gone from Fab to Drab in the Royal Style Stakes.’ The phone lines from Anmer to Coach Carole at Bucklebury must have been burning up,” Brown wrote in a section of her book.
“Kate had worked long and hard for her status as style icon, despite the inhibitions imposed by Palace killjoys,” Brown continued to write. “She had ascended alongside the millennial rejection of elitist haute couture and spent the best part of a decade wearing a tastefully inexpensive wardrobe, subsuming her personal views and signaling solidarity with working women. It took her five years after her marriage to pose for an unusually sedate cover of British Vogue wearing the kind of conservative brown suede Burberry coat and large vintage hat seen in the crowds of the Cheltenham Horse Show. She put on pantyhose both literally and figuratively, smiling gamely and uncomplainingly for the press.”
Brown then compared Kate’s carefully crafted fashion with that of Meghan’s, who as an actress, came from a background of all kinds of various wardrobe styles, including sexy and laid back looks. She mentioned her 2017 Vanity Fair cover shoot specifically, when the soon-to-be Duchess of Sussex at the time, was being spotlighted for her private relationship with Prince Harry, just two months before they announced their engagement.
“Inside pages of Meghan’s Vanity Fair cover story showed her not only without pantyhose, but barefoot in a strapless tulle Carolina Herrera bustier gown,” Brown wrote. “It was the same story for the daytime engagement shot.”
I actually remember soon after Meghan moved to the UK, there were photos of Carole racing over to Kensington Palace for a big planning session with Kate. I believe that was about a lot more than style, actually. As for Tina Brown’s summary of Kate’s pre-Meghan style… not so much. I mean, Kate did wear a lot of High Street stuff, but she also wore tons of ridiculous McQueen coatdresses and Victorian-style Catherine Walker stuff, most of which was “bespoke” at exorbitant cost. Even Kate’s High Street stuff was pretty bad – those were the Button Years, the Doily Years, the Marilyn Moment Years, the Dressing Like Her Mother Years. And so after all that careful planning, Kate just decided to f–king cosplay Meghan constantly.
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Status as style icon? Since when? Now I want Meghan to show up during jubilee to keep keen on her toes.
Exactly. I’ve been waiting for Kate to get the proportions of her clothes right for a decade now. She’s never had any style and at this rate she never will. Meghan being at the jubilee would be great but I’m not sure we’re going to get it.
And Kate worked hard at that? TB writes that as though that’s a good thing. It’s not. AND Kate failed miserably.
If Kate stop wearing coatdresses all the time and dress her age and stop listening to her stage mom, and learn how to actually talk to people and stop being such a mean girl, she’ll be ok. Oh, and stand up to William bitch ass!
I would like to ask Tina how Kate “worked long and hard” to be a style icon? What exactly was so hard about it? She has an unlimited budget, time, and access to ANY designers/brands in the world. All she has to do is try clothes on and send Chuck the bill. Poor sausage must be EXHAUSTED.
And now all she has to show for it are closets full of fusty old-lady coat dresses.
I thought Kate didn’t want to be known as a fashion icon?
And she continues. Meghan wore white, off white, beige and brown at Invictus. Guess what colors KopyKatKeen has been wearing of late…yes of course. Not one single cell in her body is original.
WTH is figuratively putting on panty hose?
RIGHT?! I was about to say the same thing.
I think she’s saying Kate confined and constrained herself in general, the way pantyhose do. Maybe. I never paid any attention to her during her years of Bad Will Hunting, so I don’t know if she was a different, more open, personality than she is now.
Kate pre-wedding seemed to have more personality, she seemed more outgoing, and definitely dressed closer to her own age. Once she married in, that was pretty much it. I moreso think it’s a shame bc she’s rather athletic and has had to reign that in quite a bit.
Yes, I took it to mean that she bought in to allllll of the “protocol” and tried to do everything exactly right because she was so scared of making a mistake. (And as a result ended up doing nothing, but that’s another conversation.)
What is figuratively putting on pantyhose? Bad writing is what it is.
THIS woman diminishes us all. How can she be so ridiculously shallow and petty? What is wrong with women like her?
Of course Meghan is a threat to her fragile ego….
Yes, she is an embarrassment to womankind. : (
This is what bugs me the most about Kate. The royals and their racist supporters are also misogynists. They hold up a lazy, shallow, doormat as the epitome of what a woman should be. It’s insulting to women everywhere. And then when an actual intelligent, hard-working and successful women does join the family, she is run out of town because she unintentionally made Kate look inferior in comparison (and mostly because of Kate’s shallowness and jealousy over superficial things like Meghan being more beautiful and stylish). As a woman, this makes me sick.
I imagine Kate does feel a bit of she followed the rules and did as she was told, so why does Meghan get to shine? The problem is that Kate had an easy solution. She was already patron to numerous charities and could have responded by amping up her efforts and meaningful public appearances. Basking in the FFQ media praise. But nope. She chose a PR war instead.
For Kate, I don’t think doing meaningful work is the easy solution, she’s just not capable or interested. It was easier for her to be a Mean Girl.
It’s because she doesn’t know how to do meaningful work. Her little research center that was apparently 10 years in the making is a beautiful example of that. Early childhood doesn’t need another research center. It needs funding.
Yeah the “10 years in the making” claim they make is a massive retcon and complete bull. Once Meghan came in and wanted to start working, Kate’s years of not working were a bad contrast. I think we have Catherine Quinn to thank for the remarketing. She didn’t take 10 years to come up with a little center and 5 questions. They just had to make it seem as though she hadn’t been sitting on her ass for years and chose to play it that way.
The first mention of broken Britain and Kate’s interest in early childhood was in a DM article by Becky English, the Friday before the cookbook was launched by Meghan, which was not know to the general public.
She doesn’t need to do meaningful work. All she has to do is cut ribbons and kiss babies. She has the easiest job in the world. I have no idea why she wants to complicate it.
That “I followed the ‘rules’ and did as I was told, so why should this b over there get xyz” mindset is something a lot of women develop. It can get very ugly.
@BettyRose, I don’t know if her brain would even go there? I really think she thinks appearances are what matter. The only reason there was that “Broken Britain” push right before M’s cookbook was released was because Catherine Quinn was still there. We’ve never heard about it again.
And by “appearance” I mean not only clothes/hair/makeup— although that’s certainly a large part of it for Kate—but the fact that most of her work consists of getting photos at events where other people did all the work, and occasionally pulling stunts for photo ops (the Sarah Everard memorial, being seen at a bookstore in blue right after M wore the blue dress, etc.) for pap photos. To her, I really believe this entire thing, all of it, is about the photos that will be in history books or whatever. “Doing more for her patronages” probably never entered her mind.
(Oh, and she for sure upped the number of photos she takes with children of color since Meghan’s arrival, and especially since Sussexit. Because to her, the photos *are her work* so they’re sending the message that she is very much not racist.)
Kate simply always needs to be the center of attention, the one to stand out. Hence things like inappropriate clothing choices, as at the 9/11 memorial, the concentration camp, what she did at Philip’s funeral, and so many examples behavior wise. Before Meghan, she had all of the attention, as the young, attractive woman married to one of Diana’s sons. As soon as Meghan showed up, attention automatically shifted to her. As it natually would, if only because W&K had been married a while by then and were old news. Chances are interest in Meghan would have moderated in time, but Kate immediately felt threatened and wasn’t going to take no longer being the center of attention lying down.
IMO, she and William have the same issue – both were allowed to skate through school (and with Will, everything else) with minimal effort and involvement, so neither of them learned there was any value, importance or reward in working. I really believe they are mystified about why projects Harry and Meghan do attract so much attention and respect, while things Will and Kate do that sound similar universally fall flat. They have no concept of “work” in the sense most of us (even some people in the RF) understand it. Kate in particular seems convinced that the appearance of doing something, is equivalent to the action of doing it. It’s truly pathetic, really.
Actually, I think she’s the compliant child that Mom picked to live her dreams through. She just did whatever Mummy told her. “Hang around, don’t let him forget you , even if he acts like he doesn’t want you.” “No one else wants to marry him if you wait him out….you get him by default and you can have the fabulous life I want/ need you to have.” “Oh Kate, don’t wear that, I wouldn’t wear that, let me help you.” “Do and wear whatever you’re told to fit in, don’t make him mad or disappoint him”. Yeah, her Mom is living her life through her and she’s weak and acts out against those who make her weakness sting.”
The black pantsuit is still the creepiest example of her copy-keening imo.
Do you mean the tuxedo style one? Because yeah, that was shamelessly obvious.
yes! just sooo creepy. she pushed meghan out and then it was like slipped right into her “skin” in a way. probably being dramatic but it was very weird and creepy to me. then it was followed up with changing their zoom background/setting to copy meghan’s…..
You’re not being dramatic! It legit really was like that. Slipped right into her “skin” is a good way of putting the creepiness of it and the offensive appropriation of it.
The sleek hair with big earrings on the Commonwealth tour is the creepiest for me. It’s like she did everything short of cut out Meghan’s picture and paste it on her body.
It felt like she was trying to erase Meghan by copying her. As if people would simply forget Meghan wore that style first, hoping that Kate would get the credit for the look.
It’s creepy and disturbing and weird. There is 0% chance the copied outfits were by accident.
So before they even met her they were plotting against her and the relationship between The Sussex’s.. ya we figured that out by the media stalking, lies printed and racist harassment sanctioned by KP and the firm.
I can’t imagine CarolE and Kate are too happy with the way this ended up being portrayed in the book. It’s not flattering to Kate at ALL. I would be mortified if this was published about my mother and me.
Kate clearly has a different standard For shame. I wouldn’t follow a guy around who cheated on me, hoping to marry him, and my mother for sure wouldn’t encourage it. I feel like we passed a normal threshold for embarrassment a long time ago.
Please, how pray-tell did her clothes signal solidarity with working women? I’d love to hear the answer to this. And how were her clothes inexpensive before Meghan? I never got that impression.
That statement was a big “no” for me as well.
Thank you! That’s some straight BS! Just because Kate wears Zara, Jigsaw& Boden occasionally doesn’t mean that Kate’s wardrobe isn’t stuffed with McQueen, Jenny Packman, Erden, Emilia Wickstead, Catherine Walker with some Prada, Chanel, Oscar de la renta etc thrown in.
This is so blatantly from the Middletons. It’s kind of like that Tatler article which claimed Kate wanted the bridesmaids to wear tights in line with protocol. I don’t believe the royal ladies have super strict fashion rules like they can’t wear trouser suits or black given that we’ve seen royals wear these before Meghan. I just think Kate didn’t always know her own royal style & modelled herself on older royal women. When Meghan came along she had a professional style role model her own age so she emulated that. Kate definitely hasn’t followed these made up rules like wearing tights as we’ve seen during the flashing incidents.
I can also tell idea of being a style icon is very important to the middletons & i think part of emulating Meghan’s style is so trends like wide legged trousers can be attributed to Kate & the Kate effect rather than to Meghan.
I feel like the media did stir a sense of Kate/Meghan rivalry because when Meghan came on the scene the Fail had articles about whether Kate could handle Meghan being greeted like a rock star etc. that’s why to me playing the fab 4 angle initially seemed to be smart to offset how the press would obviously make things a bitchy rivalry as they do with women. But it’s a shame KP felt threatened & leaned into white supremacy to drive out the ‘competition’
“Part of emulating meghan’s style is so trends like wide legged trousers can be attributed to Kate and the Kate effect rather than to Meghan”
Agree so much with this. There’s a level of insidiousness to the copy keening that’s hard to stomach and the Midds know that over time the pics will represent a certain time period but won’t necessarily be specifically dated to see who wore it first.
And yes, Kate could have befriended Meghan and pics of them together could have combated the sexist rivalry the tabloids wanted to paint. Unfortunately, Kate went all in on the rivalry herself.
Kate’s wardrobe was not “tastefully inexpensive.”
In June 2012, the Daily Mail had an article estimating Kate’s wardrobe had cost £105,000 over the past year (she married William in April 2011). And that’s just her wardrobe for *official* events. She wore dresses and coat dresses that were mostly at least £1,500 apiece. To whom is £105,000 just for clothes in just one year “inexpensive”?
Why the obvious lie, Tina?
Also: Kate has so many of those hideous coatdresses (and regular dresses too) either custom made for her or “customized,” so we will never know the true amount spent. There’s no way for the public to know for it to be added to the annual tally and that’s exactly how Kate likes it.
Emma: TB could have used someone like you to do her research. If she’d been interested in facts, that is.
Kate’s wardrobe is packed with designer outfits. Tons of McQueen, Wickstead and Erdem even before Harry met Meghan.
There was a short High Street phase early in the marriage but she stopped that by the time she was pregnant with George. And her wardrobe was mostly coatdresses and weird stuff that women with jobs would never wear.
She only wore jeggings for “ sporty “ events and had never worn a real trouser until Meghan arrived. And of course Meghan was accused of breaking protocol until kate finally started wearing them. This despite Anne and Sophie wearing pantsuits throughout the years because even they had a better sense of what working women wore than Kate ever did.
Yeah, that blatant lie had me choking on my tea. Us working women always buy identical designer coat dresses & handbags & shoes in the same or similar colors.
I shrieked at that. First of all, it’s not true. Second of all, what does it even mean?! And again, it’s not true. Delusional.
She really needs to reevaluate her life if something as small as someone else’s style being liked demoralizes you. Had she actually done anything meaningful with the endless access and privilege she has she might have felt comfortable asking Meg for some pointers instead of smearing her in the media.
This. LOL.
Plus if Kate thinks *she* felt demoralized by what the press was saying about her style, what does she imagine she’d feel like if the her child were likened to a chimpanzee? Or if she was painted half as badly as Meghan was.
Someone call Kate a wahmbulance.
“Style icon”? For whom? Middle-aged* ladies with more money than sense? Casting directors for a remake of Single White Female?
*To be clear, I’m not saying that Kate is old. She just dresses like it.
She dresses more outdated than old though. This is until Meghan came round and showed how one can wear a pantsuit.
I’m around Kate’s age and have never in my entire life seen anyone wear a coatdress in a professional setting (or anywhere) in NYC, so I’m not sure how she thinks she’s “showing solidarity” with modern working women or whatever that insane quote was.
I can buy that Kate felt a certain way. Here comes your biracial American sister-in-law who’s married to the spare so you’d think she’d be pushed to the background but no, she outdoes you in every way in terms of fashion and projects.
@Sophia, ITA, and I’m sure I would have felt the same way that Kate did. I absolutely understand the jealousy. It’s the vicious way she decided to handle it that is so awful. I don’t know what I would have done in her place, but participating in a racist smear campaign is not it. And that probably goes for most of us here.
Well, that’s what happens when you rely on the BM to define you.
Just reading this piece confirms that in the Oprah interview, Meghan and Harry didn’t tell us half of what was done and said to them by the Royal Family. But the press and the Palace wants them to sweep all that under the carpet and attend the Jubbly like they’re one big happy family. I really hope that Harry and Meghan don’t go to the UK because they will be just used by the Palace to either humiliate them or for good PR. It’s not worth it for them to go.
For anyone who still has doubts, these pictures that Kaiser has posted shows just how blatant Kate has been cosplaying Meghan.
So we’re supposed to pity Kate for feeling neglected? Not when her “solution” entails smearing her pregnant sister in law at every possible opportunity.
Kate showed what she is made of, and it isn’t pretty. Dress her up all you like, she’s still a soulless paper doll.
From her earliest days as a wife, Chuck bought many of Kate’s clothes & they were expensive. With all the chatter now about Kate as a style icon who’s “never put a foot wrong,” don’t they remember all the ruckus about all the times her skirts blew upward in the wind & we all saw pics of her knickers? Lots of pics of those, including their first Canadian visit. How about the French tabloid pics of topless Kate at some castle during a mini-vacay w/Willie? So now she’s the epitome of style, grace, & royal charm? Pffw.
I do think her button fetish is copying Queenie, who also does lots of buttons.
They were on their honeymoon in a private castle, being stalked by a sleazy reporter with a telescope who was almost a mile away. They get a pass on that one.
They were not on a honeymoon and they were not in a private castle. They were on a mini vacation at an estate owned by then Vicount Linley, now Duke of Snowden (Princess Margaret’s son) at least a year after their wedding between the Olympics and the Asia tour. They skipped the Paraolympics for it. A pass for the nudity sure, a pass for the no-show at the Para-Olympics and need for rest before a tour that was another vacation, no.
Yeah, to clarify, the pass is for the topless pics not the fly away skirts. They were on a private vacation in a private residence. Taking and then publishing those topless pics was a gross violation of privacy.
The pics weren’t warranted, but them skipping out on the Paralympics for this holiday when they claimed they were preparing for an upcoming tour should have been criticized.
The topless pics were an invasion of privacy but there is a picture if her walking with Will and when her skirt blows up, she is not wearing underwear. The public was treated to bare buns. I forwarded the pic on Twitter and was banned for 12 hrs.
All clothes become expensive when you buy 100s of them. She has at least 25 midi dresses. That is thousands of dollars of midi dresses. When she doesn’t expect to be papped, she’s seen in McQueen (someone’s birthday at Pippa’s residence) and a multi-thousand dollar black suede leather shearling coat. That’s how she dresses when she is “off duty” and how she wants to dress all the time.
Signalling solidarity with working women? That is one thing Kate’s wardrobe has never, ever signalled.
You know what the women I’ve worked with have always worn? The type of clothes that Meghan wears. I have never seen a woman in any workplace wearing tradwife florals or bespoke McQueen or coatdresses.
If she wanted to signal solidarity with working women, she could have embraced her sister-in-law. But I don’t think this was ever Kate’s intent. This sounds like image-crafting from the palace PR team – Solidarity with Working Women, Early Childhood Whatsits, Concert Pianist, Artist Photographer, Savior of the Monarchy – they keep trying.
Lol, what does Waity know about the lives of working women, beyond that she will never be one?
“[D]espite the inhibitions imposed by Palace killjoys.” I take this to mean Kate was annoyed when someone finally put their foot down about her flashing.
I don’t think anyone ever really did that. There were probably repeated lectures everytime something ‘came up’, sure, but every time that happened the tabs would have a mini panic attack over it and insist that Queenie or Charles or anyone was ‘putting their foot down’about it and forcing her to change the wardrobe to avoid such problems, and then nothing about her clothes would change and it would happen again a few months to a year later.
I think, considering the fact that that issue continued right up until Meghan showed up, that Kate only fixed the problem in response to the threat of actual female competition (in her eyes)…and also the tabs have probably put a blanket ban on reporting any fly-away skirts that DO happen to Kate in order to make her look more perfect.
Hahahha these photos next to each other really drive the point home. Omg Kate is such a loser
Demoralized? I thought she was gonna be FFQC, so why would anything Meghan does demoralize Kate?
Seriously, why is she jealous of Meg when she got big blue and the FFK? I mean, I know the ostensible reasons, but it’s silly- Kate is literally gonna get the crown jewels and see her child become king. She shouldn’t be so insecure. But I suppose that’s always been her biggest problem. She really comes off as vapid, vain, and jealous. And lacking in self confidence. Tina B has not made her look good, imo.
Exactly that. She’s going to be queen consort (most likely), she’ll have unfettered access to the crown jewels, she’s the mother of a future king…she should have all the attention. And then here comes Meghan, married to No. 6 in the succession line, who pulls attention effortlessly, just by breathing. When all that attention should be Kate’s! How dare someone be recognized as more accomplished, more charm, more effort and work ethic? Especially if they’re American. And divorced. And an actress. Oh did I mention biracial? That shouldn’t be allowed in Kate’s world but she was upstaged by her own sister at her own wedding so she should have expected this.
“subsuming her personal views and signaling solidarity with working women.” There’s the irreconcilable contradiction. How can you signal solitary with working women when you have no personal views?
The stalking is real people – Kate is a first class stalker, enabled by her super first class stalker mother. I just fail to understand why the RF allowed the Middletons to stalk the heir to the throne the way the did – reap what you sow.
Also what style?!?! Kate has never had any style of her own, she copied others just in the same way she copies the RF accent (or tries to at least).
This is the part that gets me, as well as the copy-cat-cos-play:
“I will give Brown some begrudging credit, in that she makes it perfectly clear that “landing William” was a joint project between mother and daughter, it was what they both wanted”
I’m sure Will knew, on a lot of levels, just what CarolE and co were up to to snag him. I’m sure things have come up over the years, too. But I’m wondering just how much is the Incandescent Bulb going to like seeing it in print, for ALL the world (and his aristo friends) to see? Just how well he’s been “played” by a “Doors-to-Manual” Mom and her milquetoast daughter, who’s never had an original thought in her head?
@Jan, MTE. I’m sure Kate and CarolE thought cooperating with Tina was brilliant, but…they do not come across well at all. Why on earth would they want to make it clear to a journalist that snagging William was a two-person job!? We all know it, but what made them think it was a good idea to confirm it?
It makes Bill look like an idiot who “fell for” their scheme, and he is not going to like that one bit. SMH
If Kate were a male and engaged in this behavior over a long period of time and directed at an English princess, the Royal family would have been far more concerned.
If one of the aristos William pursued had reciprocated, he would have moved on. And Kate would have to look for a wealthy man like the one Pippa married.
Does she delve into the many thousands of “demoralizing” headlines that Meghan had to deal with? Things much more devastating and personal than fashion news.
When did Kate ever express solidarity with working women?
When did Kate ever work?
Kate has serious issues if she feels the need to copy, compare and feel ‘demoralised’ by another human being. Pure projection and it’s tragic that Meghan is yet again being dragged up to cover for Kate’s failings in life.
No, Kate was never a style icon, not even in her earliest days. I will say that some of her early looks sold well(I remember the excitement over the blue engagement interview dress) and I personally loved her wedding look but her day to day style was always frumpy, Victorian, and full of ruffles and buttons. As to the price point, a fuss was made when she wore high street pieces.
Of course Meghan had better style than her, she was an entertainment professional who knew how to work with stylist but more than that, Meghan had an identity and knew herself. Of course she would fare better than the Duchess of Clay. But the way Cathy copied everything Meghan wore was so creepy and disturbing.(to say nothing of the different media coverage those styles received) And frankly it was and is bizarre. And before Meghan she copied Diana for years. This is just yet another reminder that there is nothing to Cathy Keen. She is the very picture of a lightweight.
I haven’t spent enough time focusing on how CREEPY it is that Kate has copykeened her mother-in-law’s outfits. Outfits that she wore with her son, Kate’s husband! Like does she want Will to be turned on by that? Or to praise her like, “It’s lovely that you remind me of my mother?” Kate is so disturbed. I known Prince Harry would admonish me for writing that but Kate has serious issues.
I will never forget how much of the pre-engagement negative stories about Meghan had Carole’s fingerprints all over them. Carole was in early seeing Meghan as a threat well before the Palaces got involved in a series way of treating Meghan as a threat.
Those photo choices are fire!
Remember when they came up with excuses to explain why Kate’s cover of UK Vogue, on an anniversary edition, wasn’t the best seller for that year?
Yeah that was well before Meghan was around.
The last think middle-class Kate ever wanted to do was link herself to working women and remind everyone of her commoner background.
I definitely think Meghan knows Kate copies her style. It’s so obvious she does at this point. I think Meghan wearing high end European/US brands like Valentino, Celine, Herrera with signature accessories, is because Kate can’t copy those, without being obvious and spending Duchy dime. She spends it anyway but gives the veneer of high street choices and the press downplays it. She gets a pass on her McQueens and Jenny Packhams and fussy evening gowns because those are “ bespoke”, but she can’t wear head to toe Valentino. She can copy it, but that’s all it will be. She can keep her fugly shiny gowns with big borrowed jewels and tiaras if she wants to flex.
@L4FRIMAIRE Good observation! You’re right, Kate can generally get away with custom high-end UK designers like McQueen and Jenny Packham without criticism re ££, because it’s accepted by RR as promoting British interests/talent. But US/EU haute couture doesn’t get the same pass, and it must annoy her.
I recall an official visit to Paris which was taken as carte blanche for her to do head to toe Chanel to honor the host country; which she must have loved. Pity she didn’t extend the same courtesy/respect to local designers on the Caribbean tour (beyond token accessories).
Although, do we think that Meghan has the inclination or time to factor in strategies re: Kate’s blatant infringement of her wardrobe/personal style?
If M’s focus on high end intl designers is an intentional strategy to offset Kate’s style stalking, it’s clever and deserves props. But I honestly don’t know if our Madam Duchess would even care enough to consciously factor this counter-move into her styling? Her restraint re: Kate is the epitome of grace. Probably M’s stylist is savvy and does consider measures to counter copy-Kate, but he/she does it off their own professional steam.
Khate and CarolE planning and scheming for years to rope W is what screams out at me here. They just unofficially revealed it. W was not protected from this grooming, Adult abuser. This is actually a disgusting situation. He is no saint now, but what he – as still a young person – was up against with those two vipers and his own weird family – smh.
Oh come off it. William was an adult when he met the Middletons. His family was suppose to be responsible for him, and you can see ways in which C have tried to extricate the Middleton powers over the years. However, his deeply wounded relationship with his son made anything he could do to protect W from the MiddleKlan nearly impossible.
Exactly.
Demoralized by reading headlines about her frumpy style? Poor sausage! And yet no thought at all to how demoralized Meghan felt seeing those horrible racist headlines and outright lies about her day in and day out?
I have no sympathy for Kate’s wardrobe angst. It’s just one shade of jealousy she constantly projects at Meghan. along with jealousy of Meghan’s beauty, her confidence, her charisma, and her eloquent communication skills. In my humble opinion, Kate is as petty as her husband, and it was there for all the world to see at the 2020 Commonwealth Day.
See if Kate ever had a real job or solidarity with women.she would have known and understood that she didn’t have to be a b—-ch to Meghan, she could have been a friend, a proper sister in law. She didn’t have to help force her out then to turn around and copy everything she ever wore. She wants Meghan attention but not for doing any actual work. She just wants to steal from Meghan all the while pretending that Meghan didn’t exist or did it first and better.
The only time Kate has shown ‘solidarity’ with women was when she hijacked the virgil of a murdered young woman (Sarah Everard) for good PR, saying that she knows what it’s like to walk the streets alone at night. Does she hell – she got cabs everywhere, had an Audi that she drove herself around in and after the 2007 break up Royal security.
She got the Audi as a discount or something off William’s name. I remember the press writing about that little gem.
When was she a style icon? I remember her wearing a ton of ugly lacy dresses and hats that someone 10-20yrs older than her with no style would wear.
She would copy Jecca’s style. There are photos of a wedding where both attended and both wore the same style down to the “outback” hats.
This blog is so hell-bent on hating on Kate that is even using Star Magazine as a source lol pathetic
The cover of Star is shared to indicate the kinds of headlines Tina Brown is talking about in her book, the very excerpts that are being quoted. Pay attention.
There are many blogs that are hateful toward Meghan, many many blogs. This site evens the playing field just a bit. Answer to @ allany
Kudos to Kaiser for putting on the hazmat suit, thick rubber gloves and goggles to go through this royalist horsesh*t. Since it’s filled with failed takes, the only interest is who supplied what.
@Truthiness +1
Kate and her mom must have felt like the biggest losers , resentful and jealous when Meghan (American, bi racial, divorced, not old money which are seen as sins by many in those circles) by just being herself got engaged to Harry in less that a year. Kate wasted more than 10 of her most precious years training to be a doormat. She’s been an official doormat by another 10 years and her husband resents her. Meghan just by existing won and is still winning.
I will say this for Khate: her evening gowns have for the most part been gorgeous. She looks terrific when she shows up for a black- or white-tie event. But that doesn’t exactly show solidarity with working-class women, who generally don’t show up on the red carpet unless they’re working. And Khate’s casual/business style is either Meghan cosplay or non-existent, unless you think “Granny’s sofa” is a style.
I think Kate wore/wears Catherine Walker because Diana did. If Diana wore it, Kate copied it. There wasn’t a major royal bride from 1999 to 2011. I think Kate felt by doing a CTRL+C on Diana’s style and mimicking her work ( working with kids) would be enough to win people over. But then we soon found there was no “there” there.
I’m old enough to remember Sarah marrying Prince Pedo in 1986. The press loved her and then turned. Once Harry starting seriously dating we all knew this would play out the same way. The media used Chelsy and Cressida as an appetizer before Meghan. Kate was painted as the saint and Meghan the other. They did this with Harry and Chelsy when they painted them as being drunks falling out of clubs when it was actually W/K.
For a time, Sarah was called a “breath of fresh air” and was praised for going horse back riding with the Queen and was a “country girl.” Then the media turned on her quickly. Meghan had it a lot worse and there was some negativity from the time she was first seen with Harry. Chelsy was criticized in comparison to Kate–however, Chelsy got a serious degree in law and was not all about partying.
But but but.. Smiling gamely and uncomplainingly? Like kate doesn’t like smiling (or guffawing, grinning especially at memorials) for cameras? Like she doesn’t freeze pose open mouthed laughs? Like she’s not heat seeking a camera when meant to be looking at a person (like she did continually with black people in the tour of doom?) Wtf is this revisionism. TB’s lies are blatant.
The line about Kate dressing the way she did in solidarity with working mothers is honest to god one of the funniest things I have ever read. I needed a good chuckle today.
Here’s the thing, Kate’s “style” is boring. She has access to the best clothes, but even when she wears Haute Couture it just doesn’t make the heart race. It’s a pity because you can tell she pays a huge amount of attention to how she looks: her weight, the impeccable tailoring, the stupid hats and her fussy, stodgy hairstyles, the Botox. But, there’s just an inherent lack of excitement and modernity. It’s also incredibly sad that in the 21st century, when women can be anything, that she had no other ambition but to latch her future and identity to a man, but that’s a whole other discussion thread.
Meghan has a modern & sleek taste, but her downfall is that she doesn’t pay attention to fit. Beautiful clothes are always, puckering, riding up or too baggy for her. She’s also very square in the mid-section and all of her belts only emphasize her lack of a waist. The beautiful blue Victoria Beckham dress she wore the last time she was in London was ruined by its ill fit. The putty colored Roland Mouret, asymmetrical swag-whatchamacallit with the boat neck was too tight in the chest, the outline of her strapless bra showed through, the recent white, double breasted Valentino suit she wore to the Invictus games was too big and square. If she had tailored the jacket just a bit to have more of a waist it would have been a winner. The black cocktail dress she wore to The Lion King premier was too tight. The fabric was stressed.
The royal women of Monaco, Caroline, Charlotte and Beatrice have great satorial style. Everything is impeccably fitted and tailored.
I think Meghan looks great. I like her outfits a lot. I like the jackets she wears.
@Twinkle I think you make fair and justified points on their respective style weaknesses. I would not personally wear the majority of either of their wardrobes. I love the Sussexes, however won’t blindly praise every single outfit of Meghan’s.
However, in M’s case, I don’t feel the need to criticise or highlight fashion fails – because HER WORK is occupying the space. There is so much of substance for me to learn, take-in, consider that is highlighted as a result of a public appearance by M, that her clothing is a background feature and only registers in passing.
The calibre of M’s work and service is such that I normally don’t have the bandwidth to also dedicate to an analysis of her outfit. And there-in lies the enormous difference between the two Duchesses.
ALSO again, objectively, I agree you are correct re: room for improvement re: fit/tailoring of M’s wardrobe. But, in fairness to Meghan – let’s be clear about the basically unlimited resources available to Kate in this regard versus Meghan.
The ease with which Kate could access highly skilled tailors/dressmakers/seamstresses with years of experience/knowledge of the tricks of the trade re: royal dressing and royal wardrobe protocol. This is available to Kate at the snap of a finger and a phone call to CH, and yet we have witnessed a decade of easily avoidable and highly inappropriate wardrobe malfunctions.
I don’t profess to know the Sussex’s financial position, but even with Netflix and Spotify deals, their annual personal security costs to ensure their family’s safety against very real threats would be enormous. They have to factor this in for the next 30+ years – also for A+L. I cannot imagine that Meghan’s budget and access to related clothing resources is remotely on par with Kate. I stand by this point even if it is the case that M (in her capacity and right as a private individual) has relationships with some designers that reduce clothing expenditure. There is no evidence to prove that Kate does *not* also benefit from similar arrangements in addition to her already advantaged position.
Finally, it is clear that M’s time is occupied with actual work – clearly with the support of key staff, but nothing resembling the army of nannies+personal staff and institutional resources available to her sister-in-law. M clearly has other priorities and is not dedicating 80% of her day to wardrobe (and 20% to school drop off/pick up). Her output does not consist of outfits. The same cannot be said for DOC, which is why the degree of scrutiny/analysis that we level at Kate’s clothing is more critical than our commentary of Meghan’s.
Oh please all that Valentino and Celine? It’s not cheap and she’s probably getting it for free or her stylist is. She’s not paying for anything.