Royal wedding: does Kate Middleton ring & style echo that of Diana?

When Kate Middleton gave her first official interview last week, it was almost as surprising as hearing the Mona Lisa speak.

found at telegraph.co.uk Monday 22 November 2010 By Justine Picardie

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But much of what Middleton has worn has been so unremarkable that it resists analysis. Not that it stops us from trying. She has been heralded as an icon of Middle England – her very name an allegorical embodiment of social mobility, yet also of middlebrow stability – while simultaneously mocked for her patience (“waity Katie”) before Prince William finally decided to commit. Dismissed for playing it too safe – “lamb dressed as mutton”, or as “nouveau Sloane”, or as dressing like her mother Carole (famously a former air stewardess) – Middleton has negotiated a near-impossible minefield of criticism of her wardrobe. And really, what else was the poor girl supposed to wear other than standardised fail-safes as she waited to be anointed as the Chosen One?

Nevertheless, I confess, I’ve become as intrigued as the rest of the Kate-spotters this week, poring over the runes. Hence my excitement at sharing with you the scoop that Mrs Middleton has shopped for her daughter at two Home Counties’ boutiques – Jeanne Petitt in Hungerford and Moda Rosa in Alresford – and that the blue outfit worn by Kate at a friend’s wedding last year was designed by Jane Troughton, a former student at Edinburgh University, who has also dressed Laura Bailey and Jodie Kidd. Oh, and Kate is a regular at Austique, a fashionable King’s Road boutique whose best-selling stock includes days-of-the-week knickers and Sexy Mama Anti Shine Translucent Powder. Read what you will into such minutiae.

As for the rest of it: well, at St Andrews she looked like many other nicely brought-up former boarding school girls, in boot-cut jeans, Puffa jackets and neutral cashmeres – but even glossier than most (gorgeous mane of hair, white teeth, long legs, trim figure). Thereafter, she steered a course between daytime primness and nightlife sex kitten. Her brief career as an accessories buyer for Jigsaw was made manifest in her office outfits – floral frocks, cardigans, nipped-in-jackets, courtesy of Jigsaw and its sister label, Kew, along with knee-high boots from LK Bennett, interspersed with a number of unremarkable High Street staples. Nevertheless, a great many consumers appear to admire her choices, given that whenever an item of her clothing has been identified, it instantly sells out. Witness the run on the Issa engagement dress, and previous hits: a £40 Topshop black and white tunic dress, worn on the occasion of her 25th birthday in January 2007; a striped monochrome dress from French Connection, and a £25 print top from the same brand, charmingly titled the “Love Bird”, donned as a spectator at a polo match last year.

At night, Middleton has metamorphosed into a slinkier character, most notably in fluorescent sequinned hotpants at a charity roller disco in 2008, and the occasional sparkly minidress at her favourite nightclubs, Boujis and Mahiki. Added into this potent mix of minx and young matron are Middleton’s choices for the great rituals of upper-class mating display: shooting parties, society weddings, dances and the races.

Some of these events have a faint echo of PG Wodehouse: for example, the June 2006 Boodles Boxing Ball, where Kate wore an aquamarine BCBG jersey gown from Harvey Nichols (an occasion where the comparison was made, yet again, with a similar dress worn by Prince William’s mother a decade previously).

Her appearance at the Cheltenham races in March 2007 was equally scrutinised. Middleton’s form was studied with even more intensity than the horses. Hilary Alexander, fashion director of The Telegraph, was unconvinced by “her somewhat school-marmish first outing” at the opening day in March 2007: “her unflattering ‘Brown Windsor’ tweed suit prompted comparisons with older royals more than twice her age”. But her second appearance, on Gold Cup Day, was deemed more confident, in a sweet egg-shell blue Harris tweed jacket designed by Katherine Hooker and a beret by Philip Treacy, who has supplied Middleton with a stream of big hats and feathered fascinators for passing-out parades and weddings.

Which brings us back to the next episode of the fairytale, already entitled The Dress, whether by Daniella Issa Helayel or Phillipa Lepley, Jenny Packham or Amanda Wakeley, Alice Temperley or Stella McCartney. At this point, I’m more interested in a happy-ever-after; an outcome that does not involve Kate Middleton becoming too thin, too airbrushed, too fashion-conscious, or too grand. In other words, I am hoping for the impossible and the unspoiled; for time to stand still, and that nice girl from Berkshire to keep her sensibly shod feet on the ground.

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