Kate Middleton’s Latest Fashion Experiment Is a Nod to Another Royal Who Mastered It
Because she is one of the most photographed women in the world the Princess of Wales’ (formerly known as Kate Middleton) fashion always makes news. And lately, she’s been sporting a new look during a number of engagements.
Some fashion experts say the princess is “transforming before our eyes” and note that Prince William’s wife is experimenting with a new look as a nod to a royal before her who mastered it.
Kate’s new fashion choice is a nod to another royal woman
Kate has paid homage in what she wears to her mother-in-law, the late Princess Diana, a number of times. Now she’s doing so when working as she’s been sporting power suits to many of her engagements recently.
While the new Princess of Wales has worn pantsuits from time to time in the past, throughout the month of September she traded her dresses for pants and blazers. Some of Kate’s recent looks include an all-white tailored pantsuit to the Rugby World Cup in France, a forest green Burberry pantsuit with wide-legged trousers during a visit to Visiting AW Hainsworth, and a suit in camel by Roland Mouret to a non-profit youth intervention charity event in London.
Bethan Holt, author and fashion director at the Daily Telegraph, told People: “She’s transforming before our eyes. She might not be able to say to us, ‘Look, my life is now completely different, me and my husband are one step closer to the biggest job of his life,’ but she is saying that through her fashion choices.”
Holt added that Kate’s mother-in-law also opted to wear suits at a time in her life when she wanted to be “taken more seriously.”
“Diana had her own trouser suit moment in the late 1980s at a time when she wanted to be taken more seriously,” Holt recalled. “She said to designers, ‘I’m sick of the frothy ball gowns — I want to wear menswear.’ She had these fabulous power suit moments!”
Princess Diana’s former employee agrees that Kate has adopted Diana’s style
Another person who has noticed Kate’s style evolution and taking after Diana with her new fashion selections is the late princess’s former butler Paul Burrell. He began working for the royal family when he was 18 years old and became one of Queen Elizabeth II’s personal footmen. In 1987, he was moved to the household of then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana and remained the princess’s butler until her death.
Speaking on behalf of Slingo, Burrell said: “I see Kate’s similarities with Diana more and more as time goes by. I see her adopting her mother-in-law’s style. I see the clean, simple lines and the professional execution of her outfits which are costumes for a world stage. I see Kate adopting Diana’s clean, elegant, professional classic style that she had towards the end of her life, not the fussiness in the 80s.
“As Kate matures I see that similarity even more. I see the solid colors, and I see the hat away from her face so people can see her. I see her growing into her role as a queen in waiting. That’s what we are watching.”
