Royal Commentator Says Kate Middleton’s State Dinner Gown Signaled a Major Shift
TL;DR:
- Kate Middleton wore a white caped Jenny Packham gown to a Nov. 22 state dinner.
- A commentator called Kate Middleton’s state dinner outfit an exercise in “power dressing.”
- It shows, per the commentator, Kate Middleton is “stepping up” in the royal family.
Kate Middleton is taking it to the next level. According to a commentator, her state dinner gown proved she’s “stepping up” in the royal family. How the Princess of Wales ditched previous “play it safe” state dinner ensembles and embraced her “future queen” look, ahead.
Kate Middleton made a change from past state dinner looks, commentator says
The Nov. 22 state dinner ushered in something of a new era for Kate, according to royal commentator Daniela Elser (via New Zealand Herald). She stepped out in a white caped gown from one of her favorite designers, Jenny Packham (via Vogue). A major change from her previous state dinner gowns, Elser noted.
Reflecting on Kate’s earlier state dinner looks, she opined the now-40-year-old’s gowns “wouldn’t have looked out of place on Queen Elizabeth’s 1954 tour of Australia.”
The “biggest takeaway” was “a certain timidity, a certain sense of her fretting about putting a foot wrong. Better to play it safe.”
It was almost as if Kate had a checklist where state dinner looks had to be “relatively demure,” “uncontroversial” and lacking in “fashionability.” However, that wasn’t the case with Kate’s Nov. 22 state dinner outfit.
The gown Kate Middleton wore was ‘designed to make a very clear statement’
Kate wore a look from one of her go-to designers at the state dinner for President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. She sported a white caped Jenny Packham gown (via Vogue).
Kate completed the look with the Lover’s Knot Tiara, not just a favorite of hers but also Princess Diana. She also wore a pearl bracelet that belonged to Queen Elizabeth II.
Saying it should go down in the history of “power dressing,” Elser highlighted the difference between Kate’s state dinner gown and her past looks.
“If previous outfits from Banquet Kate have been pretty much mute, telling us nothing about the woman inside the thousands of dollars worth of tulle, then this new Kate was a universe away,” she said.
Rather, she continued, Kate went from a fairytale-esque ball gown to sleek and modern. “Gone was some get-up that made her look like an extra in a big-budget Cinderella remake and in her place was a woman who looked distinctly like a 21st-century future queen.”
Furthermore, it demonstrated a clear understanding of “the power of image.”
“The Kate who stepped into the Buckingham Palace ballroom was reeking, in the best possible way, of not only power but of a woman clearly very comfortable with owning her power completely,” she said.
“This was an outfit designed to make a very clear statement,” Elser later added. “This was a look about making an impression and being seen, not melting into the scenery.”
State dinner gown showed Kate Middleton is ‘stepping up’ as Princess of Wales, commentator explains
Kate’s “stepping up” and not just with her clothing choices. She’s now the Princess of Wales with the state dinner being her first in this new role.
“No longer is she two steps removed from the throne but is beginning her lengthy apprenticeship that will ultimately see her being crowned inside Westminster Abbey,” Elser said.
Kate’s outfit earlier in the day when she and William greeted the South African president held significance too. She had on, as Elsner noted, the Three Feathers Brooch. A first for Kate.
“The royal family is an outfit built on symbolism and that these two firsts took place on the same day is interesting indeed,” she continued.
“The bottom line here is Kate is, right now, stepping up. Stepping up to being the Princess of Wales and maybe just maybe like women around the world, stepping up and making herself heard,” the commentator concluded.
