Certain publications are frequently covered by the Katie Price celebrity type, all collagen lips and Juicy tracksuits, then you have the more upmarket weeklies who idolise the Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Aniston type, then there are tabloids all bright and boisterous with "MY SIDE" emblazoned all over. Today was different though. Rather than the usual array of different faces and different stories, todays covergirl was a unanimous decision- Kate Middleton.
"Kate's Wedding Strain", "Kate's Secret Past", "Kate's Three Wedding Dresses"... As Royal Wedding fever mounts as the 29th April draws ever closer, Kate is getting some serious column inches. Her bouncy chocolate locks, her friendly smile, her elegance and poise: Kate has us all under her spell and she's done a brilliant job.
Just today, a survey showed that 86% of two thousand women thought that Kate had made the slightly stuffy royal family stylish again. She is reportedly lovely, she is classically beautiful and undoubtedly intelligent. She has all the makings of a princess, and is the perfect ambassador for modern day Britain. Miss Middleton certainly made me take notice of the royals for a change! No disrespect to Elizabeth and her lovely lemon skirt-suits.
The royal wedding really has the media all in a frenzy, and the excitement is starting to hit me too. Vogue churned out their first ever issue with three cover options all as a tribute to Kate and Wills. The mountains of quirky memorabilia are soon to hit shelves and we are spoilt for choice and I have been loving all the articles around, particularly a great Gemma Soames one in the Sunday Times Style entitled "It Should of Been Me!" which is certainly worth a read. Everyone has royal wedding fever and Kate is right at the centre of it all.
But is she the definitely right lady for the job? I would say yes. My commiserations go out to all the ravishing ladies who were born and bred to woo Wills- I can only imagine how hard it must have been to see Kate and her annoyingly shiny hair take what has been rightfully yours since 'Mama' sent you to St. Andrews. There's always Prince Harry-hunting to be done, but as far as William is concerned, the best sloane won.
Whether or not Kate can fill Princess Di's shoes as the "people's princess" really does not matter, Kate has got a whole new appeal that is perfect for now. And as far as fashion is concerned, she is ticking all the boxes. The buzz around her wedding dress- this will be THE most famous dress of modern times- has never died down, and I am even more excited to see who she wears than I am to scoff Mum's buffet of coronation chicken and trifle! The final choice appears to be Sarah Burton at McQueen, reportedly suggested by Alexandra Shulman at British Vogue, which would be a fantastic decision for something timeless that would still please the fashion obsessed British public... I'm getting off topic here: the dress is a whole different topic that I could go on about for pages and pages, i'll stop before I start gushing.
Kate Middleton's style is not exactly ground-breaking. Dame Vivienne Westwood rebelled from many of her peers who praised Kate's look (like Lagerfeld and Armani) by stating Kate needs to "catch up" with style. Her look is safe and simple, but it works for her and works for the market. It's all well and good to lampoon Kate for wearing boring black boots, but if she stepped out in this season's acid-bright Miu Miu sandals, would that really be appropriate? I am sure that Kate would love to dress with more of a fashion edge, but she'd be far more criticised for wearing YSL than she would for wearing M&S. She champions Brit designers, in a similar way to Samantha Cameron (rumoured to wear Erdem on the 29th- good move in my book), as well as promoting our great high street in Whistles and Reiss. So even if she's not dip-dying her hair or wearing Mary Kantrantzou, she has an accessible, wearable style that appeals to the masses, and it certainly works for her look.
So here are a few of Kate's style hits that are helping her on her rise to becoming the first royal style icon for a long time!
(click on the images to enlarge!)
