AsKate Middletongets ready to celebrate 10 years as a member of the royal family, one author explains why the Duchess of Cambridge is making style headlines now more than ever before.
“I think she has become a lot more confidant,” Bethan Holt, author ofThe Duchess of Cambridge: A Decade of Modern Royal Style, says in thefirst issue of PEOPLERoyals. “She started off quite tentatively finding her way and very conscious of her place in the family and I think as she has taken on more responsibility, you really see that in her clothing.”
According to Holt, who also writes for the U.K’sDaily Telegraph, Kate’s clothing budget may have increased over the years but her overall style has simply gone up a notch. “She’s always been very ladylike, elegant and put-together, but she has really polished up her appearance over the last three years.”
Kate Middleton.PA
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Kate at the christening of Prince Louis in July, 2018.DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP via Getty
In the coming months, Kate continued to debut a new, more fashion-forward, polished look, wearing trousers (a first!) on numerous occasions, favoring up-and-coming designers and choosing bold pieces from luxe labels. Visiting a children’s center in Lambeth, London, in March 2019, she wore a vibrant lilac pussy-bow Gucci blouse, teamed with black wide-legged trousers and a matching lilac top handle bag from Aspinal London, a professional but glamorous look not seen before.
Kate Middleton in London in March 2019.ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP via Getty
Over the years, Kate has often adopting a high-low approach to royal dressing. On anofficial visit to Ireland with Prince Williamlast year, she wowed in a luxe sequin cocktail dress from The Vampires Wife and the following day wore a white Reiss coat, that she had kept in her closet for over 13 years.
Kate Middleton and Prince William in Dublin in 2020.Samir Hussein/WireImage
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“That was a real stroke of genius,” says Holt, who says the secret to Kate’s sartorial success is to look appropriately regal but never above her position. “The Reiss coat was a reminder of the girl that she once was, before she had all these responsibilities and it was a really good example that clothes aren’t just clothes, they are telling a story.”
source: people.com
