Happy 30th birthday, Duchess Kate! To celebrate her birthday eve, Kate walked the red carpet with her husband last night in London for the UK premiere of Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. War Horse is based on an acclaimed and beloved English play, and they probably shot a great deal of the film in the UK too – Spielberg and the British Film Council go waaaaaay back. Plus, it’s a movie about a horse, so of course the British royalty came out. Fun fact: did you know that Duchess Kate is allergic to horses? True story. Here’s another fun fact: one of the stunt horses used in the film, “Joey”, walked the red carpet as well.
Kate wore this black and white lace Alice Temperley gown for the premiere… thoughts on the dress? You know how I feel about lace and/or crochet dresses. A little goes a long way, and a lot will make you look like a doily. Somehow, Kate managed to avoid the “doily effect” even though this is much, much too much lace for one dress. I think it comes close to working because the black lace isn’t too heavy or intricate, and you can see the white slip/sheath part very clearly. Plus, the dress is cut very well. Basically, it’s not my favorite (far from it), but I don’t think Kate looks bad at all.
Should we even talk about her hair and makeup? Her hair is always down. It gets boring, especially for formal events and evening events, which traditionally demand more of a “style” rather than just big sausage-roll curls hanging down in her face. As for the makeup – well, the only time Kate’s too-heavy raccoon eye makeup ever looks appropriate is when she’s at a formal occasion. On this red carpet, her makeup looks fine. It’s when she does it for daywear and low-key events that it looks terrible.
Oh, and it seems like William is dominating the umbrella, right? Poor Kate! It probably took her hair stylist hours to do those perfect sausage rolls, and all for naught!
PS… I’m including a photo of Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere, just in case we get some Cumberbitch/Waity-defender crossover fans.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Like the dress.
she’s pretty ,she’s thin but her clothes are so quaint usually
One of her better dresses; looks good. Like the fit and flare skirt. Still a useless robot, though.
I’m not going to criticize Kate for once, I’m just here to comment on War Horse…
I’ve read the book and I think it’s great, and the play was just amazing! I haven’t seen the film, but part of me feels that it is overhyped because the name ‘Spielberg’ was attached to it. For now I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that I wouldn’t be disappointed.
Yea I don’t want to burst your bubble but Disney + Spielberg + Horse =family film that is good, but not quite as good as the book or the play.
The play is amazingly powerful. I really recommend seeing it. It’s both enthralling at an almost childlike level, and very sophisticated in its treatment of the horrors of WWI.
I’ve had it up to here with Spielberg’s boy/war movies. Simplistic sentiment or wallowing in graphic violence; in this case, it will be both.
Check out the play instead if you can!
doily is in this season according to vogue.com
Overall I think she looks good, not crazy about the dress.
Love that the horse was on the red carpet (hope he behaved)!
Doily plus.
I want to see a picture of the horse!
me too
He’s beautiful. Daily Mail had shots. He looks like my Auggie, so of course I think it’s beautiful!
Of course William monopolized the umbrella, he has to protect what little hair he has left…
Personally, I think that William looks good. The man wears a suit well.
My own hubby’s hairs are deserting him and it doesn’t bother me at all! I will say that the close military style cut usually looks better when the hair starts to go.
agreed….rather that than the “sweep over”
i reckon she had a pro do her makeup for this one – see how the hard black line isn’t ringing her entire eye? I think the panda eye thing is when she’s done it herself for day events.
I too want to see the horse.
I was thinking the same thing. The black liner is there, but it’s smudged, and much more subtle than her daytime, think line look. A pro was involved
I agree – bring on the horse.
I hate lace dresses BUT this one is pretty and it looks good on her. For some reason, she can work lace. And for a change, I really like the subtle and enhancing eye makeup, too.
Why hello thar, Mr. Cumberbatch! Hope you get to return to your ginger goodness soon.
I’m off to see this tomorrow, looking forward to it.
I’m just here for the Cumberbatch.
And the ponies. Love me some ponies.
she looks absolutely stunning!
can’t wait til they have some babies
meh, the dress works. It’s a nice fit on her. But I’ve seen her wear dresses that I like better.
To me, dressed made of a lot of black lace always look cheap and sleazy, no matter who’s wearing them. It’s just a matter of personal taste.
Love the whole look. Her hair seems pretty thick. I have really thick hair and can’t wear it up because I get headaches. Just throwing that out there
I want to know how she gets her hair so shiny! Mine on its shiniest is not that shiny. :/
Use cold water for your final rinse.
Get a shine spray. I’ve got very curly very prematurely grey hair which does not shine, and this stuff actually gives it a little gloss.
(And prematurely means I started going grey right after high school!)
I think this is partly due to the amount of flashing bulbs on them at these public events…all hair has reflective qualities. My hair is very dull, but when I’m on stage (for music concerts), the bright lights make it look really shiny (people often comment on my hair, that’s how I know). But yeah, you could get a shining spray…does anyone know of good ones? I find many make your hair look greasy.
To be fair, they were there because the event was supporting Harry and William’s charity. “The event benefited the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry, which has just announced plans to support a trust set up to help military servicemen and women transition back into civilian life.” from the palace.
I like the dress and Kate, but it’s time for a really pretty loose chignon for her hair or something.
This dress is truly awful.
Agreed, in my opinion that’s the ugliest dress I’ve ever seen. She can do so much better. And her hair and makeup are getting supee boring.
Love the dress. she is pretty. Love how the umbrella matches their outfits.
I could not care less about her. I want to talk about Sherlock! I have to admit, I was skeptical about his appeal. Then I watched the BBC Sherlock miniseries. It’s official. I’m a Cumberbatch Convert. I’ll probably watch this movie JUST for him, and try to imagine him with dark curls instead of that awful blond.
I feel the same. I wasn’t sure about him – then I watched Sherlock. The guy has got it going on. Can’t put my finger on what IT is, but I like it. Needs to go back to his natural hair colour.
I like lace but dislike this dress.
Diana made better job wearing beaded/lace dresses.
lovely
Cumberbatch was amazing in the new Sherlock series on BBC, on the other hand I went to see the movie Sherlock Holmes and it sucked! Big time!
Oh no! I hope not. I hope Cumberbatch hasn’t ruined me for RDJ’s Sherlock. Hubby and I are going to see it in 2 weeks after schedule rearranging and pawning the child off on Grandma. I’m hoping I can love both of them.
I would like the dress better if it were a little shorter… the first time I saw it it made me think of the Adams family!
Its very Victorian Gothic with all the black lace draped everywhere, tied with a black velvet ribbon.
Not my taste.
The dress is nice, though I’m not enthusiastic about that seam of lace that starts at about crotch level…what’s going on there?
But as a recently-converted Cumberbunny (a la Sherlock), I am thrilled to see our Benedict here! If he were with the horse, I would just scream. As it is, I’ll just sit here and mumble to myself about how fabulous he is.
I’m also usually wary of too much lace on a dress, but in this case I think the style and cut of the dress, as well as the colors, make it work. However, the dress is quite formal, so why the hell won’t she put her hair up every once in awhile?! I’m so tired of that style!
not crazy about this one, agree her makeup looks better.
She does have a beautiful face, much less harsh than her sisters. She and her brother seem to have similar features…sort of jovial almost. Anyway, she looks elegant overall.
Kinda like the dress, don’t like her make up, the hair is boring ..
Now to the real news.. Benedict CUMBERBATCH!! He looks lovely as always <3
Very pretty, and classy as usual….
She has a tiny cateye going on, making me believe she either had new makeup lessons, or someone else did it for her.
I also don’t like the weird long torso part of the dress. I wish that wasn’t there.
But I still love her, and think she’s great (to look at)
Like the dress but she can’t pull it off. Sophia Veragara (sp?) could.. for example.
Love Kate but she needs to wear her up sometimes with dresses or other styles instead of her every day hair.
I dont like the dress but she looks good otherwise.
She is very elegant and very pretty .
Doily.
The dress isn’t bad, but meh…all that lace & that line across the crotch is wrong.
I’m starting to kind of feel sorry for Kate. These pictures from this event scared me:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ey0BDWAVMuc/Twn_A5t6ULI/AAAAAAAAm3M/1kkBNE6K1as/s1600/x610%2B%252810%2529.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ziRSuH6saOg/Twn_BQobvJI/AAAAAAAAm3c/DS_oBvGbf5M/s1600/x610%2B%252811%2529.jpg
That is frightening.
She’s starting to disappear from the side view. The only things keeping her from looking totally skeletal are her muscle mass and big bones. She’s tall, so it gives the illusion that she’s slender and toned, but IMO she’s seriously underweight. Her posture is also getting worse. It’s like she’s thrusting her torso forward to counter the heaviness of her lollipop head and big hair.
The size of her huge head compared to her teeny-tiny waist is alarming. Her upper arm is almost the same width as her waist and her hips are practically non-existent.
Lace and the type of dress Kate was wearing is more suitable for women who have curves to show off, not for very, very thin women like her who is shaped like an isosceles triangle.
I don’t know if I should feel sorry for her. She clearly looks happy with the way she looks right now, with those big smiles and constant showing off of her skinniness. She wants to be this thin, possibly even thinner, because she’s going the celebrity route that “Thin is in”. She was a normal, healthy-looking girl 2 years ago. Her weight around the engagement announcement was fine. She lost more for the wedding – understandable. But since then she’s been steadily losing more weight. I don’t think it’s the stress. She seems to be very coddled by William, and so far she’s done nothing in terms of heavy responsibilities but to attend high-profile events and hobnob with the rich and famous, aside from shopping for a dress and getting her hair done.
I think she might be a bit overwhelmed and didn’t expect Palace life to be so stiff…but this is what she signed up for and waited for a decade. Most Princesses with commoner background didn’t have an idea what it’s like to live in front of the press until 1 year before their own wedding. They seem to be managing well, and for some of them, the press isn’t even as sugary and kind as the press Kate is getting right now. For some of them, the press has been negative from the day their engagement was announced and they’re criticized for everything.
What I’m sorry for is how William doesn’t seem to say anything to his wife about her weight, when his own mother was very vocal about her eating disorder.
I think Charlene is a commoner, now a princess. She is pretty and nobody hates her. But her PR team doesn’t feed us crap by spoon, therefore everyone agrees she has married a rich man, she is lovely and tries her best ti adjust to her new position. People might not think highly of Albert, but I get the feeling that nobody truly hates her how they hate the fake image that Kate’s PR is trying to sell out.
To be fair, we have no idea what William thinks or says about his wife’s weight. For all we know, he could be begging her to eat and setting up appointments with a therapist…all we see is the veneer.
You are right, she is very underweight. Behind closed doors William might be very worried about her, and may be begging her to get help. She looked fab when she got engaged, but things are clearly going out of control now.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE! She looks FABULOUS always!
That lace is absolutely heinous. Very old lady. Ugh, ugh and ugh.
Forget the button problem. She has a lace addiction. I hate lace as well, even just a little bit of it. Naturally I cannot stand this dress. I also hate William’s constant double breasted tuxedos.
Hate lace dresses but she manages to make it look nice and classy. I totally agree about the loose hair style. Why is she so against pulling it up or back? Does she have ear issues???
The dress neither enhances her, nor she the dress.
She looks fine. It’s nice to see some classy simplicity in the day and age of plastic people in over hyped designer rags.
I say “neigh”. Bring on the horse!
Mmmmmmm…..Cumberbatch.
Love the dress, but not sure it suits her personality. I’d love to see Helena B-C in it!
Movie premiere? Since when did they start doing that?
Hey Jo 🙂 Can’t be specific but I know that members of the royal family do often attend the film premiere events. Not sure what the parameters are for having them do that but, I believe, it is always charity-related. I remember William and Harry attended the London premiere of one the Daniel Craig James Bond films. There was a story related that Harry told Craig that Connery was the best Bond ever or something to that affect.
Just saw season two of Sherlock online and I loved it!
Kate can work the shit out of a black dress. She looks magnificent 😀 I think she would have looked beautiful with her hair worn up in a loose style though. And def. an improvement on the makeup.
She looks soo beautiful!
She looks great, and I can’t believe you’re dissing her eye makeup. She’s dropped the black ring around her eyes; it’s much more subtle.
When there’s photos of other celebrities with eye makeup so dark I’m surprised they need sunglasses, it amazes me how you still go on about Kate’s.
Wish it was a maternity dress!!!
The dress looks very Victorian. It even gives the illusion of a little peplum. She looks great in anything she wears, and her hair and makeup look nice, as always. When she puts on a dress made of meat, then I’ll criticize.
I think she looks amazing! Also “doily” lace is IN for Spring 2012! 😉
Happy 30th! She looks beautiful. I, too, would like to see her wear her hair up more. She has great hair.
Allergic to horses? I would die! And that Cumberbach fellow reminds of “The Hills Have Eyes” lol!
I *heart* that dress, and I actually think it’s body-types like hers that *can* pull that off. It would look ridiculous, imo, on someone short and especially on someone very curvy like Sofia Vergara. I also love the seam around the hips that a few seem to be loathing – it breaks up the line a little and, to me, modernizes things. I want it, actually, even tho I can’t think of a single time in my life when I would have reason to wear a dress like that. Dog walking in the posh nabe? Ha.
Does anyone have a link to a photo of Kate with her hair up? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one. Maybe she has tiny little sticky-out Shrek ears or something?
I agree that she has a lace problem as well as a button problem.
However I think this is one of her better looks. She comes close to pulling that dress off. The cut is very pretty in my opinion, and although the lace makes it a bit crowded, overall it looks good.
Also it’s worth pointing out that as Kaiser says this is when she should be wearing the heavier makeup – and it’s more tastefully done than usual. So kudos for that.
As for the hair, and her weight… *sigh* no comment. Everything has already been said time and time again.
Allergic to horses… hard luck, I’d hate that.
I love lace but I agree that a little goes a long way. I like the letter L too. 😉
The girl needs a burger. Or two. Or ten. That being said I love the dress. I think her hair and makeup go with it quite well. I also think Kate would rather have her hair like that to hide her awful posture. Her upper back is so curved and with her being this thin it would look horrific. http://www.osoblog.tv/2011/07/kate_middleton_meets_reese_wit.html
What is going on with Will? Is he blind to how thin she’s got?
If she’s allergic to horses she’s married into the wrong family, on many levels.
Moving onto The Cumberbatch: Yum yum. So glad the blond seems to be growing out.
LOL!
I think her make-up is the best I’ve seen it in a long time. If I tried on that dress, I think it would look ghastly, but she seems to pull it off nicely. It is very subdued. With clothes, I like to ask myself: Could my grandmother wear this? If the answer is yes, I tend to back away.
I’d love to see her in a vibrant color, with a new hair style, just to shake things up a bit.
Here ya go…
http://www.redcarpet-fashionawards.com/2011/07/03/catherine-duchess-of-cambridge-in-issa-evening-national-canada-day-celebrations/
I thought this was one of her best looks ever…plum colors look really good on brunettes.
same hair (she always has the same hair), but vibrant color:
http://whatkatewore.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kate-middleton-1.jpg
Wow, thanks! Hahaha. I’ll just add these ensembles to my KM paper doll collection…
@ Liv, Damn she has lost A LOT of weight.
Wow!….seeing these pictures and the one above….where did her behind and boobs go? She looked young, pretty and healthy in these ones. The ones above she is….sick. Darn!
Looks like Kate went super light on the bottom eyeliner!!! LOOKS GREAT.
This dress looks like a mother of the bride dress…Mother of the Bride of Frankenstein.
Sorry but that much black lace makes me think of a horror flick.
Kate looks elegant as usual but this isn’t a favorite look for me. Like Kate I have an allergy but mine is to lace and that’s an awful lot of lace!
I don’t love or hate the dress…but it would have shown off the dress better if she broke her own i-have-to-wear-my-hair-down rule and threw it up in a low bun or something.
She DID make a good call on having someone ELSE do her makeup though…as it should be for a big event like that, she should do it more often, it would help vary her look a bit.
Also, lots of people with eating disorders over-compensate with large accessories (jewelry, handbags, etc), so the large hair could be a compensatory thing. just a thought….
Those pictures of Kate from the side are startling. In the DM article they described her figure as “sylph-like”. It’s called malnourished, DM.
I really don’t think she has kicked the eating issues. I hope someone figures out a way to help her.
Saw “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” this weekend, and I now understand the Cumbersnatch…I mean Cumberbithces.. point of view. 🙂
the movie is great! I hope Gary Oldman gets an Oscar for his role 🙂
Who goes to a bloody movie premiere in a long laced dress?! More I see of this woman more I can’t stand her.
She’s way overexposed.
If the press doesn’t ease up, she could become a Kardashian…famous for being famous…and don’t tell me that cutting ribbons and shaking hands is real work.
Penelope Cruz and Julia Roberts both recently wore long lace dresses to premieres of their movies.
To be honest, I just checked in to see if the tone had improved here, and congrats posters, it has! One can civilly express one’s opinions, still be b!tchy, creative and funny, all without being ugly, mean-spirited or evil. A real delight to read today (although I will still keep away from Leann and AJ/JA/BP posts!)
It is for the first time when I hear someone concerned about how nice people are on a bitching site! I mean concerned enough to make a comment like this and congratulate people on playing nice! Too funny!!
I don’t know about you christinne, but I feel incredibly glad that my fellow posters and I have received badrockandroll’s stamp of approval.
Penelope and Julia are MOVIE STARS! They can wear lace any time they want.
Kate is just an ordinary girl with pushy parents and a lot of patience who married REALLY well. This in any way will ever make her royal. Besides she needs to hire a really good stylist or ask the one that dresses Princess Mary of Denmark.
The Telegraph’s royal reporter said she is NOT allergic to horses on his Twitter today. Phew, now you can get on with your life, I know you were terribly concerned! 😉
https://twitter.com/royalreporter
She looks elegant. I love Sherlock but forget Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston was there too and he’s gorgeous!
Love the dress. Love Kate’s look. Love that she went to see War Horse for her birthday. LOVE WAR HORSE!
Love, Love Love the dress!
her eyebrows aren’t even! this bugs me so much for some reason! i just want to go over there and fix them
I love this dress and i agree makeup looks better than usual-ike the cat eye flick..
She is the most overrated woman average-looking woman on the scene right now. Kate looks like any girl behind any makeup counter working in any half decent mall in america, but not even as pretty. She has peasant skin, look at those big pores and orange peel skin on her cheeks. It looks like she spends all her time working out and dieting. Pr.William has probably already stopped any action in the bedroom. I doubt he gets excited by that broomstick of a woman, unless he’s desperate and can’t have someone on the side yet, for image purposes.
Kate looks like she’s got some head isues.
I wonder if she’s age 10 years with her hair up. I think her hair is the only thing that’s youthful about Kate. Without it she might look 40. She’s thin and pretty but nothing about her figure or face is youthful.
Honestly, I think having her hair down like it is here is somewhat ageing also. I know long hair typically = youthful, but hers (even with the curls and all) is just kind of hanging there. It really drags her face down and adds to her looking kind of tired. Add the long hair to the long black dress with long sleeves and it’s like “hi, I just came out of in my fancy dressing gown and I still need that coffee, zzzz”. Anytime I’ve seen photos of her with her hair half-up I think she looks so much more *alive*. If I were her I’d probably lose a little length and also go for some layers around the face (because some hair around the face does help to soften it), then wear it half up/half down as my default style more often.
I completely disagree.
Her hair is in a very classic style. There is nothing better than those waves/ curls and it works well on 99.9% of women for any occasion.
It gives most women a complete upgrade, and I dare you to imgine how she would look like with any other style.
This hair style just makes the face look so much prettier.
I would mix it up occasionally, though.
I would add mush more curls at times or add more waves at the top now and then.
Her sense of style is impeccable and I thought so ever since I saw her in her beautiful wedding gown.
I loved her classic dresses and she knows what makes her look pretty when it comes to makeup and hair.
Much smarter choice rather than thinking about “trendy” makeup and hair styles, is to look the best.
Cumbercrushing as usual. Love the suit.
Kate is just tall and tiny.
anorexic is not attractive