Duchess Kate wears Jenny Packham to ‘Spectre’ premiere: stunning or flawed?

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My first thought when I looked through these photos of the Duchess of Cambridge? “She’s channeling Angelina Jolie.” That was my gut reaction and the Jolie vibe has dissipated a bit since I looked at all of the photos, but this isn’t even the first time that some people have wondered if Kate is taking her style cues from La Jolie. The gut-level similarities might simply be because Kate’s gown in these photos is Jenny Packham, one of her go-to designers… the same Jenny Packham whose gowns Angelina has worn several times as well.

Anyway, these are photos of the Cambridges at last night’s big royal premiere of Spectre, the new James Bond film. I’ll be covering the actors in another post. Unfortunately, there aren’t many photos of Prince Harry, who was also there. He walked behind William and Kate on the red carpet, and the photographers were mostly concerned with getting glamour shots of Kate.

As for her look beyond the Jolie vibes, I’m okay with it. I’m not in love with it, but it’s not terrible. I’m grateful it’s not a mullet dress, a minidress or a gown with a biscuit-grazing slit. I enjoy a good sleeve and this gown has great sleeves. The color – a pale blue, with sort of a grey-lilac tint in some photos – is good but not great on Kate. She loves pale colors when really she should wear brighter colors more often. I’m thankful it’s not lace and I like the sheer back revealing the fact that she’s going braless. Scandalous!

For me, the worst parts of this look are the cheap-looking sparkly belt and the hair. I know, I know, I’m a broken record with my bitching and moaning about her hair. She deserves praise (like, positive reinforcement for a child) for wearing her hair back, but I feel like her hair person f—ked up what could have been a really elegant up-do. I don’t get the “bump” above the bun.

What else? Great earrings! Truly. Oh, and if you look closely, you’ll see why she chose this dress in particular: BUTTONS. The buttons on the cuff/sleeve. All hail the Duchess of Buttons!

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Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

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315 Responses to “Duchess Kate wears Jenny Packham to ‘Spectre’ premiere: stunning or flawed?”

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  1. Goats on the Roof says:

    Tacky and cheap-looking.

    • Anne tommy says:

      Yuck, totally overshadowed by the other gorgeous frocks, and women.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Agreed. Tacky, ill fitted, backless screams starlet not royal. Was this odd color another one of her theme dressing things? Pale gray like a ghost or spectre?

      But hey, she showed up to work. Looking happy to be there, as she never is when doing everyday engagements.

      • Sass says:

        Looks like a robe (dressing gown) she slapped on while getting dressed for the event.

      • aurelia says:

        Screams WAG trying to be klassy. Defo not Duchess. Please get a clue. I’m embarrassed for her. Braless, yes she just can’t quit with the titilation factor. And you know the saying: “you can never be too rich or too thin” well its wrong. Emaciated just doesn’t suit kate’s body type somehow.

      • Jib says:

        I was just thinking about that. I think that because she didn’t grow up in the upper class or “royal,” she is very impressed with meeting the rich and famous. Contrast how excited she is and how forward walking she looks in these pictures compared to her dragging her butt to her charities. She looks like she can’t wait to get in here, as opposed to her other visits being a drag.

        I do wonder if her excitement at meeting the rich and famous embarrasses Will. I bet it embarrasses Harry. She is a fan-girl, and seems to act like many other fan-girls when meeting these people who make their livings by making believe. It’s just embarrassing.

      • Vava says:

        Not a big fan of this gown, but you’re right – she did show up and was seemingly enthused to be there.

        The upper half of the dress really doesn’t look that good on her. She looks frail and stooped to me. Does her bust need some support? I think so. I could see Gwyneth Paltrow trying to wear this and she’d have the same issues. This just looks like Kate’s attempt at sexy starlet, and she doesn’t pull it off very well.

        I really don’t see why she seems to favor this color so much, I don’t find it flattering on her at all.

    • Arock says:

      A little too golden girl-ish on her.

      • WinnieCoopersMom says:

        Agree. My first thought was ‘Matronly.’ Like I could certainly see Helen Mirren rocking this.

      • iSO says:

        I think she just needed a support bra. Plus those bangs needed hiding. Otherwise it’s demure and pretty.

    • Christin says:

      Designers charge way too much for dresses like this. It looks like a sheer nightgown set or a bridesmaids dress from the 80s.

    • mandy says:

      YES ! the back is OK the front is very ill fitting and the sleeves are odd. Its a mess! And I agree about the updo – its not a good one – a smooth chignon would have been better .

    • hmmm says:

      For some reason, it reminds me of the Carol Burnett skit, where as Scarlett O’Hara, she walks down the stairs wearing her curtains. She’s swamped by her sheers.

      I think she wants to get away with looking sexy and it’s not working. That requires maturity in a woman.

      I must be the only one who doesn’t care for the earrings. Perhaps because everything she touches seems to turn to dross. It’s all overwhelming her, too.

    • herewego says:

      She is seriously THIN. Even some of those present tweeted she looked scary thin.

      • noway says:

        It makes me sad that these “newer” to public life women seem to think they need to look that thin, i.e. Amal Clooney. It just looks unhealthy. This dress is a perfect example about what is wrong with too thin. From the back it looks good, but turn around and it is ill fitting because she has nothing to fill it out. Now it would still look kind of blah, but better.

        I also think that both her and Amal Clooney must have wonderful hairdressers who give them extensions and fuller hair. If you are that thin your hair doesn’t look that full and shiny. Not so much in this hairdo, can you tell, but I like the fullness and shine of her hair. Princess Kate’s styling and cut bother me because they are just a bit off.

      • amilue says:

        That was the first thing I noticed when I looked at the photos. Yikes, she is very, very, skinny.

      • FLORC says:

        noway
        Who’s “Princess Kate”.

        We got a Princess William and Duchess Catherine. My small part to undo the heavy damage caused by People Mag. Ignorance can be insidious with repetition.

        And agree all. She’s very thin again. She looks amazingly better when pregnant simply for that healthy weight.

    • Original T.C. says:

      The dress is fine IMO. I have the same dress standards for her and the Khardians: don’t flash me. Only thing negative is I can see the full boney detail of her scapula because there is almost no fat to cushion the bone naturally.

      Wish they would address her eating disorder. But no let is fester just like Diana’s and we read the tell all book later

    • Lillylizard says:

      Stunningly boring.

  2. savu says:

    I love it. I’d wear the f*ck out of that dress. The back! And the way the chiffon lays in the front is so flattering and light.

    • MrsBPitt says:

      I love it, too…I think Kate looks great!!!

    • SheilaKitten says:

      I love it too. Totally love. I would wear that and be proud

    • Mellie says:

      Love it…the color is really unique and pretty. I must be ‘tacky’ because I even like the belt…

    • MrsB says:

      It is gorgeous. She wears it well, and I even like the belt and her hair! I think this is one of my favorite looks on her.

      • MizFabulous says:

        Agreed. I think her hair looks fantastic…FINALLY, the bangs are styled in an aesthetically pleasing way. I love the dress and think she looks gorgeous in it, except I think she would have looked better in a brighter jewel tone. I also agree, this is one of my favorite looks on her, for sure.

      • Fishfishbirdcats says:

        I also love the dress, but I agree about the color. She looks great in navy blue, and the pink coat she wore in USA was very pretty with her coloring, too. I kinda don’t like the platform sandals. I’ve noticed she seems to wear platforms often. Those fug espadrille platform wedges she wore once come to mind…

      • Jenny says:

        Yes, I agree, one of my very favorite looks for Kate. The dress is gorgeous and her hair too.

    • OhDear says:

      And it seems comfortable! Though the inner lining portion seems to be badly fitted.

    • Sarah (another one) says:

      Me too! It does look a little wrinkly, but maybe that is just the fabric moving as she walks. Looks super comfortable and chic. I also love her hair, but then again, I always love it when her hair is up. It seems to weigh her down otherwise.

    • Samtha says:

      I love it too. It’s gorgeous–glamorous without being too revealing or too prudish.

    • Hazel says:

      Yeah, I love it, too. It’s an ethereal, floaty gown that Carole Lombard might have worn in the 1930s.

      • Nikki says:

        Hazel, I like it better now that you made me think Carole Lombard might have worn this style!

      • Anonamonapia says:

        Exactly! I think Kate sometimes leans very retro or vintage, which some read as matronly. I think this gown is gorgeous, and especially love the buttons on the sleeves.

    • balticstar says:

      I am not a Kate-fan, but I love the dress on her. She is not an actress or a model and represents the Royal Family. The hair is great and elegant, the dress understated and beautiful.

    • Rory Gilmore says:

      I love it. I love all that volume – it’s somehow dramatic while also being perfectly understated. I think it would be really fun to wear as well.

    • Chloe says:

      I love it too; she looks very elegant and pretty here. 🙂

    • Emelu says:

      I love it, personally. *Ducks head*

  3. UESider says:

    I like this dress less and less the more I look at it. The top portion just seems ill-fitting in some shots, and it’s exaggerating her already intense thinness for me.

    Also her earrings are supposedly a loan from her mom, who wore them at her wedding reception. (Or… I guess she could have borrowed them from Kate?)

    • LadyMTL says:

      Same here, I’m liking it less the more I see it. I don’t mind the color (even though I do think she looks better in jewel tones) but to me this is more of a summer event dress. I’m also not loving her hair, though I think that’s because of the bangs…they bring the whole ‘do down.

    • Thinker says:

      Where Diana wore the Spencer tiara on loan from her family, Kate wears these ridiculous party pieces. She has a pair of her own diamond wedding earrings she could wear, they wouldn’t pull her earlobes as much as these party pieces do.

    • SydneySnider says:

      I’d only seen a couple of photos of this dress. The ones on here are much better, as NOW I understand the bra-less thing. In the other photos I’d seen I couldn’t tell and wondered what the fuss was about. Eh, what do I know? I live in black jeans and don’t do “formal”. Those earrings are horrid. They remind me of the tat sold in Diva and Lovisa here in Oz. that’s a nice colour in her hair (wiglet?) and I like that her mane is off her face and neck, but don’t understand the bump above the bun, either, unless it’s to make her hair look fuller? But, as I said, what do I, a complete dag, know about style? I’ll show myself out.

      • Azurea says:

        I think the bump is to balance the volume of the bun.

      • antipodean says:

        SydneySnider, don’t worry about being a dag, the world can always use more dags to be rattled. I can’t say that I know much about fashion either, but everyone has an opinion, it is what makes life interesting. What I want to know is why Billy boy is not wearing his poppy?

    • zinjojo says:

      ITA about the fit. I rather like the dress (have a thing for diaphanous gowns), but I don’t think it’s the dress for her — it swallows her and emphasizes how extremely thin she has become.

      From the multitude of Daily Fail photos last night, she’s back to the maniacal grinning. Seriously, if I was DK’s PR advisor, her facial expressions when she’s being photographed would be an area of focus so she doesn’t look so frenetic and this would be part of overall media training (which I think she still desperately needs). Perhaps Poor Jason has tried…

      • Olenna says:

        I’ve noticed that she really doesn’t smile much in the traditional sense, with her lips closed. She either grins or laughs (showing a lot of teeth) or looks somber. I would think that as a public figure or royalty, a pleasant smile is the most appropriate and versatile response when greeting and conversing during official engagements. By smiling more often, she might be able to manage her OTT facial expressions.

    • HH says:

      Agreed. I liked to at first glance last night, but now….eeeeeh, not so much. I don’t think the design of the dress is matronly, but rather the color and styling. Something extra was needed to make the look fresh. A pop of color somewhere, a high bun, a better choice of earrings. Kate doesn’t look awful, but I’m just not a fan of her overall style in general. It’s so funny that she can be matronly one minute, but inappropriately young the next minute. Her jeggings, the wedges, short skirts, etc.

    • herewego says:

      It doesn’t fit her well. I get the idea of it. It has potential but it looks to big on her.\
      I think Angelina did a similar look better.

    • Jib says:

      This dress looks like a chiffon gown my mother somehow found for me to wear when I was 12 to my Grandparents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary. Minus the open back and V-cut front. The chiffon and way it moves reminds me of the gown, though.

  4. astrid says:

    The dress looks like a 1970’s “sexy” bathrobe

  5. Thinker says:

    Awkward. Altogether uncomfortable and all sorts of wrong. That baggy, billowy, hanging fit on the top half of the dress is so unflattering on her upper body, I’m shocked she selected this. I don’t know how to politely word this comment, but it needs to be said: her breasts look cold and unsupported.

  6. InvaderTak says:

    An up do! Stop the presses!

  7. GlimmerBunny says:

    Beautiful hair, makeup, jewellery and dress color – TERRIBLE dress (and I would’ve hated it on Angelina too, even though she’s the most beautiful woman in the world).

  8. Kate says:

    Boring, tacky and incredibly dated. Her make-up is terrible too, I’ll never understand why she doesn’t let a good make-up artist give her a fresh look. It would take 10 years off.

    I don’t know why she insists on wearing things that make her look so top heavy. She has relatively broad shoulders and very narrow hips, big floaty sleeves are not her friend. She has a great figure for clothes, she’s tall…I don’t know how she always manages to look frumpy.

    BTW, none of this would bother me if we weren’t regularly being told that she’s passionate about fashion and beauty, if she wasn’t always shopping for those things, and if she wasn’t constantly shoved down our throats as a ‘style icon’. It’s just so annoying to see someone who clearly cares about these things and who has every resource available to her, look so consistently blah.

  9. Natalie says:

    It’s a bathrobe. Maybe if it were more of a fitted look with some light silver embroidery, it would have looked better, but as it is, it’s a very expensive sheer bathrobe. The whole look is so unflattering -she just looks brittle and tired.

    If she’s going to do an updo, her hair would look so much better if the hairstylist first took out some of the extensions. The style just looks like wads of hair tied up.

    • wolfie says:

      It is a bathrobe, and has the sleeping gown with its spaghetti straps underneath. It looks like the sleeping gowns of stars from 70’s “Dallas” TV show, albeit a tad higher end. I bet one could still get this type of gown set in lingerie stores – they are so common. I think this is a very strange concept for an evening gown.

  10. BearcatLawyer says:

    So. Much. Hair!

    The dress is…ok. But the close ups reveal that it is poorly draped and fitted, which is crucial when wearing sheer fabrics like chiffon. It looks like a wrinkled mess in some pics!

    • Christin says:

      I saw the wrinkle photos, too. Personally, I think it is cheap looking.

    • PennyLane says:

      It’s odd to see such a sheer, delicate fabric paired with such heavy metallic buttons, belt, and earrings. The accessories look awkward and drag the entire look down.

      • MinnFinn says:

        +1 PennyLane The worst mistakes to me are either the terrible fit or the egregiously wrong earrings. That diaphanous dress requires earrings that are very delicate.

      • BearcatLawyer says:

        ITA, PennyLane. If the dress had a better fit, proper draping, sturdier lining/underskirts (to keep the chiffon overlay from shifting about and wrinkling unnecessarily), and NONE of those ridiculous sleeve buttons, the bedazzled belt would have provided a sparkly anchor to the floatiness of the chiffon and served as a focal point to deemphasize her lack of a bra/sewn in cups. Instead of looking like an awkward bathrobe, the dress could have been elegant, simple, and sexy without being cheap or trashy. At a minimum though she should have worn smaller, daintier earrings with such a busy and big updo.

        All of the photos scream “Too much going on here!” to me. I get that this is a big red carpet premiere and she wanted to convey some Hollywood glamour of her own, but this outfit is precisely why actors and actresses hire stylists to coordinate everything – dress, shoes, jewelry, makeup, hair – for them.

  11. Loopy says:

    Kate continues to age herself, she really needs to look at Diana’s dress archives, it was always age appropriate.

    • Amber says:

      To quote Michael K. from Dlisted, “That dress looks like something a dowdy mother would wear to her daughter’s wedding in 1978. It looks like something that even St. Angie Jolie would look at and say, ‘Naw, too matronly.'” I didn’t hate it when I saw it last night. I don’t care enough to hate it now. But I don’t know why you’d put buttons on a flowing chiffon dress like that and there. (WTH Jenny?) In general, the dress looks cheap to me. Particularly in photos like the top one where you can see how poorly fitted it is, (or perhaps she’s just too thin to fill it out and present the lines of the dress the way it was intended). In close-ups of the bust area the draping just looks messy too. There’s no “voom” to this look. The kind of washed out, dishwater, pale blue color it takes on doesn’t help either.

    • LizzyFizzy says:

      I think it looks very 1970s, especially with the big updo. Her eggplant lace dress was little retro like that, too. It reminds me more of Princess Margaret’s big hair, flouncy sleeves period in the 60s/70s, really. Margaret liked big hair and a tan, too.

      https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/1b/90/be/1b90be3a2cd4c3b854f05b94de965deb.jpg

      https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/5f/9d/b5/5f9db56ee1474da17e7b7c10b4772e82.jpg

      I wonder why Kate doesn’t wear brighter, more saturated colors? I sort of thought that was the thing in the royal family–no black, except for funerals, and you wore lots of brights. The Queen wears a lot of really strong colors–fuschias, purples–even if she’s wearing suits. Kate would look so much younger in brighter colors and with shorter hair.

      I find her hair really blah, but I’m not a long hair fan. I think she’s young, so she should have hair that moves. I know she won’t part with her long hair–she seems attached to it–but a bob would look great. Something like Keira Knightley’s bob or maybe a longer bob? That would be my TV makeover for Kate: swingy haircut, bright dresses and suits, and maybe eat some potatoes!

      http://www.gouldylox.com/2011/08/deconstructing-hair-keira-knightly.html

      • MinnFinn says:

        LFizzy – “eat some potatoes” HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! ROFLMAO This is why I come to Celebitchy.

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        @minnfinn–I am only half-kidding. There was an article about dieting in Slate awhile ago that said diets actually require so much mental energy that you are less able to concentrate on other things. They compared it to having a slow computer because you have background programs running all the time. Apparently, getting enough calories and having some of them be carbs is essential if you want to be able to do anything beyond think about/yearn for food all day.

      • MinnFinn says:

        @LF – Sounds like a good article. Kate’s dieting is one of the reasons I have posted previously that I do not believe for one second that she is lazy. It takes tremendous ongoing discipline to maintain a diet that keeps a person unnaturally skinny.

      • teacakes says:

        yeah, she looks much better in bright colours. The Queen specifically favours them because it means she’s easily visible in a crowd – which is a good rationale, imo.

        The dress is…. I get that it’s going for a floaty 1930s effect, but it washes her out and is totally unflattering on top. I do like the hair though, extensions and all. That’s a well done updo. And while she has been criticised for having long hair, I don’t actually think she would look any better with a bob. They don’t suit some people’s facial features at all, and can actually be quite aging on younger women.

        The only kind that don’t seem to, are either super angular/sleek a la Leigh Lezark of the Misshapes, or scrunchy and a bit messy like Kirsten Dunst c. 2007. Those are great looks, but the first (no curls, no waves) would not suit Kate’s face at all, and the second I imagine would be a royal no-no.

        And if she fiddles with her hair now, imagine how much MORE fiddling there might be when it’s too short to tie back and forever blowing in her face with the slightest gust of wind?

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        @ teacakes, I think she could pull off a bob of some sort, but again, I prefer shorter hair on most people (and myself!). This website photoshopped her face onto Shailene Woodley (I think?) as an April Fool’s joke and I don’t think she looks bad. And that is not a particularly flattering pixie cut because the top layers are long and relatively flat to the head. Something like Katie Holmes’ bob with sideswept bangs at the Mad Money LA premiere would be even softer.

        http://dailymakeover.com/kate-middleton-pixie/

      • ArtHistorian says:

        LizzyFizzy,

        Maybe that’s why she often looks so unfocused and indifferent on engagements. The dieting must be the main focus in her life, which is quite sad if that is indeed the case.

      • Fishfishbirdcats says:

        That photoshopped picture with the pixie makes her look so young!
        Edit: OMG I’m so embarrassed. That was Katie!

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        @fishfishbirdcats, that IS actually Kate Middleton’s face photoshopped with Shailene Woodley’s hair. She does look young! You were right! 🙂

        I was just suggesting that she’d look even better with Katie Holmes’ bob from back in the day than she does with Shailene’s pixie, which is not my favorite pixie.

    • Kori says:

      Diana sometimes dressed too matronly but that was back when she was in her 20s. As she entered her 30s, she was much more fashion-forward. If you look at what she wore (and was still appropriate for the occasion) and what Kate wears at the same age, it’s night and day. Diana was breaking out the Versace and Armani back then–as well as British designers–and mixing it up with fit, length and color. The Queen is more daring in her fashion choices now than Kate. (Though I do love Kate’s coats) Kate could also take a look at Sophie Wessex.

  12. Priya says:

    Kate always looks gorgeous.

  13. tracking says:

    Guess I’m in the minority, but I think she looks gorgeous (and I normally think she’s a fashion bore).

  14. Sara says:

    Love the hair, huge improvement, but she looks like a person wearing a discarded Victorian nightgown haunting the Premiere. Fitting for a movie called Spectre I guess.

  15. Franca says:

    I like the dress, but I am not getting any Jolie vibes at all. The hair could be better.

  16. Deedee says:

    Siren underneath, Golden Girls on top. This dress does nothing for Kate’s figure and it ages her badly. To start, she needs a more structured top. The fabric just hangs on her. Whoever is her stylist–friend/mother/assistant–needs to find another hobby and let someone who knows what they’re doing style Kate.

  17. FLORC says:

    So pretty! Really lovely dress and the styling is fine. I’d wear that. I’d wear the hell out of it.
    Some nip guards would have helped though.

    That said she’s capable of going to events. So go visit a charity. Ask them how you can help and then follow through. Put the energy it took to assemble yourself for this movie premiere and direct it to your charities.
    As she is now a lady who lunches who attached her name to charities to help herself.

  18. lower-case deb says:

    speaking of Angelina Jolie dress,
    this looks similar to Jolie’s Cannes 2009 salmon/dusky rose dress. only that Jolie had better fit and more risque cut up to the waist.

    also it reminds me of the dress that Kate wore to the Mosque in Malaysia.
    (color same and billowy see through sleeves), which was also better fit to her body than this one.

    this is a good dress in theory but the size/proportion is all wrong.

  19. Beatrice says:

    That first picture tells it all–her upper body looks positively aged and skeletal. If you didn’t see her face, I’d swear that was an old woman in that dress. On a positive note, I do like her hair. Thank goodness she wore that mop off her shoulders.

    • mel says:

      I wonder what happened to all of the other comments I saw that noted the same thing – how frail and skeletal she is.

    • Olenna says:

      Yes, she looks skeletal and the dress color did her complexion (or heavy makeup) no favors. She looks washed out, and unfortunately she doesn’t have the innate glamour to wear this type of billowy gown the way it should have been worn.

      • MinnFinn says:

        Olenna, Your point about Kate’s inner glamour is a good one. Beautiful posture and poise like CP Mary, Letizia or Maxima would have improved this look.

      • Olenna says:

        Agree, MinnFinn. These ladies know how to turn on the glam. Someone mentioned up-thread that this gown has some odd elements like the sleeve buttons. But, CP Mary, in particular, would have knocked this one out of the park.

    • Prolly says:

      I see a very fit and lean person, hardly skeletal.

      • Prolly says:

        I wasn’t trolling, I think in western nations we are so used to being surrounded by overweight folk that slim people are often criticised and labelled anorexic. She is thin yes, but to me she doesn’t look unhealthy.

  20. Bucketbot13 says:

    I actually liked the dress when I first saw it. Upon a closer look, it seems very ill fitted. I guess she didn’t have time to sit for a custom fitting session now that she’s working so hard (sarcasm).The top front half actually looks bad, almost, like her chest is sagging but maybe it’s because Duchess can’t bother to stop hunching.

  21. Sarah says:

    I think it’s safe to say she’s not breastfeeding Charlotte!

    • FLORC says:

      You can be small and still lactate. This isn’t a secret.
      Also, reasons for not BFing can be many.ayne no production. Maybe Charlotte has an allergy to it which happens.

    • notasugarhere says:

      I think the full day at Wimbledon proved that months ago.

    • SnackAttack says:

      Oh, I wish we could refrain from this kind of conjecture. It’s so unkind — to mothers everywhere.

    • notasugarhere says:

      I don’t care if she breastfeeds or not. I care if it is used as another excuse to dodge work. There are those on the extreme fandom side who keep using breastfeeding as an excuse as to why she isn’t working more. Many breastfeeding mothers still have to work full-time, so her beast feeding (or not) doesn’t get to be a get out of work free card.

      • Sarah says:

        I wasn’t saying that because of size of breast, but rather that she wasn’t wearing a bra, therefore not wearing anything to prevent milk leakage. And agree with notasugarhere, I don’t care if she breastfeeds or not, only pointing out for those who insist she can’t do more work and have extended periods away from kids due to breastfeeding.

      • FLORC says:

        Sarah
        That’s fair. When mentioned before it’s been in the context we went to. Sorry about that! Your observation is balanced now that it’s been clarified and we’ve not assumed

        And agree with you both. It’s ignorance to assume she can’t work because she needs to feed or pump. Or that she cannot balance life with BFing. An insult to how capable women and mothers are.
        This is what stands out with those extreme defenders. That to praise or defend her they must belittle the strength of women. That we cannot walk and chew gum or to spend an hour from our children means we’re bad.

  22. jennifer says:

    Beautiful! I love it all.

  23. The Original Mia says:

    Tacky dress. Joan Crawford wants her dressing gown back. Too much hair. She could have had a gorgeous up do without all those extensions.

    Harry looked good. As usual. The beard is growing on me. I’ll be glad, though, when he isn’t attached to the Cambridges.

  24. ncboudicca says:

    I’m getting major Downton Abbey vibes from both the dress and the hair (minus the bangs).

  25. lala says:

    Two things I´d like to mention. First, we get excited when Kate wears a proper piece of clothing, so not a mini dress or when she manages not to flash. The bar is set just sooo low…I think it can be set no lower.
    Second. These earrings. They are expensive, like 15.ooo $ or so. And she manages to make them look extremely cheap, what happens not the first time. By the way, her mother wore these earrings to Kate and Will`s wedding reception. Does it mean Kate has no access to a proper bling or not enough budget to have her own pieces?

    • MinnFinn says:

      I think she loves monochrome outfits which necessitated blue earrings to wear with the blue dress and she thought those particular earrings were a good match.

      She’s borrowed bling enough times from Liz (a tiara and 2 bracelets 3 days ago) to make me conclude there are no access problems. And I am certain she has a lot of her own fab jewelry she received as wedding gifts that we have never seen. I have to believe that between the royal vault and her own collection she has lots of good choices for the 5 or 6 major bling events she attends per year.

      • FLORC says:

        Kate’s personal taste appears to be simplistic. Eternity bands/gold diamond.
        When she dresses up she goes chunky.
        Recently we’re talking more and more about her wedding earrings. They have the nice balance of chuny and simplicity in size. Like with the outfits of basic to elaborate Kate needs to find that balance. She’s still appearing like she’s playing dress up going for the biggest items she can find.

  26. PHD Gossip says:

    The bump above the bun is the wiglet.

  27. Regina Phelange says:

    Awful from head to toe. That hairdresser should be fired.

    • MinnFinn says:

      +1000 about her hairdresser. For a few years now there have been glaring quality control issues with her hair. The uneven hair color of late is especially bad. And last night’s hair does not look like any intentional messy updo I’ve ever seen. It looks poorly constructed and unstable like it is ready to fall down.

  28. Ava says:

    I actually love the dress and accessories, especially since Kate attends very few work related engagements (charity events, state affairs…), so when she goes to a movie premiere or something of the sort she needs to look like she isn’t trying too hard. Otherwise everybody would say that all she cares about is being around celebrities. I do think she should wear bras, as her boobs are kind of low which makes her look even more fragile and old. Good posture wouldn’t hurt either!

    • Maia says:

      I agree with the majority of your comment. Firstly I think she looks stunning. Absolutely stunning. Oh to be so beautiful… sigh.. lol. The hair off her face and pulled up shows off the neck and shoulders and those are definitely some of her strong suites. Her face and makeup looked so radiant as well. I think that the earrings were definitely the right choice with the hair. That said, I do think she should always wear bras. She does not have a built chest – as in not a muscular chest and that makes her boobs droop more. If I were her I would do a whole bunch of benchpresses – definitely helped me with the droopage … ha ha..
      But I do agree that there is whiff of the fragile about her whole look.. like a porcelain doll that will fall over if you give it a push.

    • anne_000 says:

      If this is true, then instead of her focusing solely on her attire and her looks, then maybe the real solution would be to work more? Otherwise, she seems very shallow and always looking for some excuse not to fix the actual problem with her.

      Nobody would be bothered if she upped her attire to something more bold and appropriate even now with her lack of work, imo. She’s dressing this way because that’s the way she is. But if she worked more, then there’d be less criticism about how she spends her days focusing on the trivial.

    • hmmm says:

      Of course she is trying hard when meeting celebrities. I think it’s her raison d’etre. I also think that the celebrity meet is her fantasy fulfilled. Fits with the Hollywood visit and the Jolie-Pitt tea. She worships celebrities; it’s who she is.

  29. Seraphina says:

    This looked frumpy and so confusing in the front. i agree with once daily mail commenter that this looks like a bathrobe. Very disheartening that she has the best of the best at her disposal and she continues to disappoint. Meanwhile the queen of Spain keeps hitting them out of the ball park with her choices and her subtle nods in her fashion choices.

    On a side note, Prince Harry looked wonderful.

    • SnackAttack says:

      Yes! Queen Letizia is such fun to royal-watch. She looked amazeballs at the Princess of Asturias awards this week. So chic and cheeky at the same time. Love her.

      The DoCam is nowhere near her level, but I thought she looked nice at this event. The gown had an Old Hollywood vibe for me, sort of like this:

      https://www.pinterest.com/pin/293085888219890097/

      Appropriate for the occasion.

  30. Betti says:

    I like the dress and hair (at least it was up) – its just i dunno she lets clothes and the hair wear/overpower her.

    On another note – i loved Rachel Weiss’s dress.

  31. Merritt says:

    I like that she wore an updo. But the dress is a mixed bag. I think if the top had been less blouse-like and more fitted I would have liked it more. The color is not my favorite either, a deeper blue would have been better.

  32. EN says:

    I liked that look a lot.

  33. Saywhatwhen says:

    She looks rested and happy to be there. Nice change in demeanour too.

  34. RuddyZooKeeper says:

    Why no poppy for William? Seemed everyone else was wearing one.

    • Murphy says:

      Its because they’re a little early. Traditionally they’re worn 2 weeks leading up to Remembrance day–so they were on the cusp of that

    • Mary-Alice says:

      The royal family does not wear poppies earlier than a week prior to Remembrance day. Same with all their representatives in other countries of the commonwealth.

  35. What's inside says:

    My first thought was “what dress?” It took me a few minutes to sort it out and then I thought she’d left the house in a negligee or even worse one of those curtain sheers. She does jewel colors very well, but this light blue is just all wrong on her. The bangs are growing out, but the hair-do is messy and the earrings looked cheap. I vote for a new stylist to help her figure her style issues out.

  36. realitycheck says:

    Very dull looking. She does look quite a bit older here too. There is no sparkle with her. She reminds me of “sara plain and tall”.

  37. Tiffany says:

    Horrible. She is engulfed in that thing and just looks horrible. That belt does her not favors. Kate, people are looking at your waist in horror, not envy.

    When Jolie does the sack, she does it with confidence, something Kate does not have.

  38. wow says:

    Gorgeous! It’s a different style for her, hair included. I’m not fond of this color for her though, but on a whole she looked beautiful. Dresses like this look fabulous on tall, slim women. She rocked it well and as usual that smile of hers tops it off.

  39. Crumpet says:

    I see she is hitting the diet hard again. I actually think her look is very nice, except she is clearly much too thin (suddenly).

  40. Murphy says:

    Her hair was lovely–I wish she wore it up more often. The dress-I liked it from the back, even though I think the risqué-ness of it violates protocol–she was representing the Queen at this event.
    From the front it just looked awful because she can’t fill it out.

  41. My two cents says:

    I think she looks gorgeous and together they make a very handsome looking couple. If I were family, I would be very concerned about her weight. People speak so negatively and judge her so harshly, it could be making her focus on the only thing she herself can control and that is her weight. Public needs to lighten up about her appearance. She is actually a very attractive woman.

    • EN says:

      Hear , hear. Every article about her is fully of people criticizing her. She can’t do anything right.

      To me she almost always looks presentable, there are a few mishaps here and there.
      What else do people want from her? It is not like she doesn’t have a team picking her outfits. What, are they all incompetent? Then criticize them.

      I know people will come in say – she should’ve known what she signed up for. Yes, she should have but it is no excuse to tear her to shreds.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Dozen+ flashes in four years is a few mishaps?

        She does her own shopping. Constantly. These “fashion” selections are her own.

        Her job is to work for the country, the people, for charity. Her choice has been to be nothing more than a clothes hanger going on five years.

      • SnackAttack says:

        She hasn’t exactly done “nothing more than a clothes hanger going on five years.” She’s had two babies, gone on three tours, and supported her husband, Prince Charles, and the Queen in their duties. By no means a work horse, but I have to disagree with your characterization.

        Also I don’t think she really cares about clothes that much. I mean, it seems she cares to be well-put-together, but I don’t see a real love of fashion in her choices.

      • EN says:

        > Dozen+ flashes in four years is a few mishaps?

        And now people are saying that she looks too dowdy. And others are saying that the sheer back is inappropriate. She can’t win. That is the point.

        When I am in a similar situation I simply give up trying and go through the motions. She should do the same. Stop trying to please everyone, it is impossible. Just do what she wants to do.

      • notasugarhere says:

        If she didn’t care about clothes, she wouldn’t have spent upwards of $300,000 on them in five years. She wouldn’t put things away until past season so no one can purchase what she’s wearing. She wouldn’t do the silly theme dressing and custom designer pieces. She wouldn’t be caught shopping, without kids, frequently.

        She is not the first person to have children AND have a job to do. All the other royal spouses manage it, but somehow exceptions and excuses are always made for Kate Middleton. Infantilizing.

        IMO in comparison to what she should be doing, she’s incredibly lazy and focusing on appearance not substance. The tours have been extremely light, one-third of what other royals accomplish on theirs. Showing up 2-3 times in HM’s or Charles’s presence in five years isn’t being a massive support. She’s cancelled multiple visits, last minute, with no justifiable excuse. 1-2 visits per handful of charities per year isn’t exactly a breakneck pace.

        The Palace has dealt with her with silk gloves. She and her lazy husband continue to take every advantage of it.

        EN, it is possible to dress stylishly (and sexily) without flashing naked to the waist because you didn’t put in proper hem weights. See Sophie as an example.

      • EN says:

        > EN, it is possible to dress stylishly (and sexily) without flashing naked to the waist because you didn’t put in proper hem weights. See Sophie as an example

        Well, I don’t like Sophie. Didn’t like her on first sight, I don’t know why. (I think because I get a Duggards vibe from her). I don’t feel one way or another for Kate, she doesn’t irritate me. I am just tired of endless criticism of her.

        I think Kate is dressed stylishly and elegantly here. There is something elvish about this outfit.

        I don’t think that she, as an official representative, should aim for any kind of sexiness , though. Only elegance.

      • SnackAttack says:

        That’s just my opinion. I do not see her as someone who loves to parse the bleeding edge of fashion. As I said, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy being well-put-together. The $300,000 is for the official wardrobe of one of the most famous royals in the world. And that amount of money is not large when seen in context with what other royals spend.

        Of course she’s not the first to have children and a job. I wasn’t making excuses, just trying to politely put forth a dissenting opinion. Your opinion is that she’s done nothing but be a clothes horse for five years, and I disagree. Nothing personal!

      • notasugarhere says:

        She doesn’t need a $300,000 wardrobe to do this job. Especially when she does fewer than 100 engagements a year in a good year. If 90 percent of the time she bothers to show up for work, she shows up in new clothes, it will be about the clothes. Letizia almost always looks great and she spends much less on clothing.

        KM has a few dozen evening gowns. If she didn’t want it to be about the clothes, why did she wear another new evening gown to this event? As long as she keeps showing up in new clothes instead of wearing her existing (massive) wardrobe, she is the one who keeps making it about the clothes. Fans will be disappointed if she wears the same thing twice? Who cares?

        EN, I don’t think they should be going for sexiness either but that is her default. There are a lot people who defend her sexier choices (short skirts, spike heels, low necklines, high slits) because “she’s young” “stop making her dress dowdy”. A simple stylish wardrobe of basic separates and suits, instead of all these costume-like designer coatdresses, would be a better fit for the role.

      • SnackAttack says:

        I fear we may be speaking past each other. I disagreed only with your characterization that she has done “nothing more than a clothes hanger going on five years.”

        She’s had two babies, gone on three tours, and supported the more senior royals in their duties, as well as starting a modest charity portfolio of her own. As I said, she’s definitely not a work horse, and far from my favorite among the royals of the world. But I can’t say that she’s done nothing, or that what she’s done is without value.

      • notasugarhere says:

        And my opinion remains that she really hasn’t done anything to support HM or Charles, having children isn’t an excuse not to work, and the “modest charity porfolio” is laughable for someone of her age and position. When the charities she’s signed on to have started signing on high-profile celebrities – because she is doing nothing for them – it shows she brings little to no value to the table.

      • Charlotte15 says:

        @Snackattack, I feel you absolutely nailed it and summed up all of the Kate drama/disagreements in this one paragraph:

        “She’s had two babies, gone on three tours, and supported the more senior royals in their duties, as well as starting a modest charity portfolio of her own. As I said, she’s definitely not a work horse, and far from my favorite among the royals of the world. But I can’t say that she’s done nothing, or that what she’s done is without value.”

        It seems that half of us view it one way, and the other half the opposite, and that’s where 99% of the arguments stem from. I happen to agree with you and see what she’s done in four short years as having a great deal of value, but I do understand how others could contrast it with HM or Sophie and find her royal work to date “laughable” as opposed to “modest.” I’m with you, every word of it, but I absolutely see why others view it differently and don’t blame them for having a more negative opinion of her. Especially long-time royal watchers who have watched how hard others have worked for literally decades.

        The differing (yet civil!) opinions are what makes this site so interesting IMO.

      • SnackAttack says:

        Thank you, Charlotte15. I don’t have a terribly positive opinion of the DoCam myself. But I don’t understand the need to blast her with a flamethrower. She’s done some good things, too!

      • MinnFinn says:

        EN 10:10 – She clearly has not been trying to please anyone except Willy and she’s been doing what she wants to do starting with her wedding day.

      • nic919 says:

        I think it would have helped her if the press hadn’t tried to sell her as a style icon like Diana was. She clearly is not, even with access to the best out there.

    • SnackAttack says:

      I don’t think you can say she hasn’t done “anything” to support QEII and Prince Charles. If you said she hasn’t done very much royal work in the last five years I would agree with you, and that’s a verifiable fact. But she has done SOME royal work, and that includes three tours, and a fair number of domestic engagements.

      As I said her portfolio is “modest.” You prefer “laughable,” but we seem to be in the same neighborhood?

      Having two children in under four years is not an excuse not to work, but I’d say it also counteracts the notion that she’s done, as you say, “nothing.” It’s a life-, mind- and body-altering experience. A total game-changer across the board.

      And I realize it’s hard to read tone on the internet, but you’re coming across as very aggressive here, and upthread you make sure to point out that we should be polite with another. I don’t think your argument that she has done “nothing more than be a clothes hanger going on five years” is a defensible position. That’s all and, again, nothing personal.

      • bluhare says:

        I think I agree with you. She has done more than nothing, although I don’t think she’s embraced her role. I keep waiting for her to do something other than observe and learn, though.

        But I really don’t like this outfit. 🙂

      • hmmm says:

        @SnackAttack

        As I understand it (correct me if I’m wrong), having children is not ‘work’. Nor is it about ‘doing’ is it, or am I missing something? She had offspring. Guppies have them, too.

      • bluhare says:

        I think it’s expected they will continue the line. Looks like they’ve done that; therefore, she’s done her duty to the monarchy, archaic as it sounds.

    • anne_000 says:

      She also has control over her own schedule. If she’s reacting to criticism of her, then how come she doesn’t react by working more? Why is the only thing she wants to ‘fix’ is her looks? Is she that shallow?

      • hmmm says:

        She seems to live on the planet of Defiance. The only behavioural criticism that I think she reacts to is from the top- those pesky rules, ya know. She stays in step with the man who would not want to be king. I bet she has his seal of approval in putting one over on their ‘oppressors’.

        As for fixing her looks- I think it fits with her desire for celebrity and from the looks of it, she doesn’t even need outside reaction. I imagine that she has some internal ideal physical image that she wants to emulate while keeping Willy placated.

    • hmmm says:

      “But I don’t understand the need to blast her with a flamethrower. She’s done some good things, too! ”

      @SnackAttack

      Care to enumerate her good things? I am curious.

      • bluhare says:

        No one is all good or all bad. Kate has not set my royal watching world on fire, but she has gone out and done engagements, tours, and all that and has mostly put on a happy face doing it. I agree she could be doing much more than she is, but to say she’s not done anything good isn’t fair either.

        I’m working really hard at revising my expectations downward. She’s not going to be a go-getter, ever.

      • notasugarhere says:

        She is go-getter when it comes to spending Duchy money and getting what she wants. The work that she’s supposed to do in exchange for that lifestyle – we’re supposed to excuse her lack of drive there because she’s used it all shopping and designing her new tennis court?

        At this point the bar against which she is measured is subterranean.

  42. HoustonGrl says:

    It’s like she has a stylist who’s conspiring to bring back the 70s.

  43. MonicaQ says:

    She’d elegantly haunt the hell out of some one. Very Fall of the House of Usher.

  44. vauvert says:

    Points for having her hair up, and for wearing a dress that is not too short, or slit up, or something… I like the belt actually, I think it enlivens the dead colour. On an older woman this would be a great colour but not on her.
    Points taken for the wish washy colour (she looks so much better in vibrant colours), for the lack of bra (I don’t care how young you are and how perky your breasts. No dress looks good worn without one. Sorry.) and for the horrid earrings and hooker shoes. Again, don’t care how expensive the items are, they look dreadful. And lose the poufy hair bit above the bun. If you want your hair high, just get the damn updo high to begin with, not that hard. And she definitely needs to try some new makeup looks.
    Overall not terrible, for her, but could easily be so much better.

    • Charlotte15 says:

      @Vauvert there actually was a significant slit; see my link below to the DM article which has a pic. That said, I think overall she looks pretty, but agree with you & everyone else who commented about her chest in the dress. I don’t know what the answer is (padding of some sort to smooth it out & let the fabric drape a bit better?) but the front was definitely off last night. She needed more than nip guards IMO!

      I really liked the sparkly belt as well, and didn’t think it looked cheap at all. Loved her hair, and thought the earrings were beautiful – and for her, pretty daring. I just can’t believe someone didn’t do something about the chest area before she stepped out in front of all those flashbulbs 😦

  45. benchwarmer says:

    I like the hair, very regal. I like the color of the dress and the material. I think instead of a v-neck/wrap style front, a cowl neck would have flattered her more and added needed drape and volume. She looks a little too thin and wispy in this and I don’t think she’s too thin, she has a gorgeous body. I also think the sleeves are too loose by the wrist where those buttons are.

    • hmmm says:

      Most of the women in the world don’t look like her so I’m not seeing how her body is gorgeous. She’s skinny and flat all the way around. Is this an ideal or something?

      • kathleen says:

        Is this an ideal or something?
        ————————————————————————————————–
        Yeah, if you frequent the pro-ana sites. Sad.

  46. Idon'tCare says:

    I’m not a fan of her bangs, and this probably isn’t the best dress she’s ever worn, but she looks lovely.

  47. Jan says:

    Isn’t she cold? Oh well, at least it isn’t black as many predicted.

  48. JudyK says:

    Flawed…uh, no, she is FLAWLESS, stunning, and classy. Perfection.

    • FLORC says:

      Rarely is this style classy as classy is more how to carry yourself. You’re entitled to your opinion though.

      • SnackAttack says:

        Yes, it’s so nice to have different opinions, otherwise we would all get bored!

      • FLORC says:

        SnackAttack.
        So true. Still, we should understand what things mean.
        I’m walking a balance in these threads lately. I think there’s several podiums.
        Love her and all she does.
        Dislike her and all she does.
        Find her lack of action to charities and her readiness to mingle with celebs or sporting events polar opposites.

        Hair, clothes, etc… Is what she is. What work she has done with her charities is non existent.And sometimes to say so here means it’s unfair criticism. This is my only real issue here lately. And while there’s a difference of opinion there I don’t like it.
        Women are strong. To praise Kate it feels like we must belittle women and mothers to basic creatures that shrivel up when not able to shop or hair dress.

  49. SnackAttack says:

    It’s funny, I noticed a few years ago that Angelina was starting to dress like the princess community! So maybe they are both dressing to the same template, ie somewhat modest, refined clothing with clean line, rather than the DoCam trying to dress like Angelina.

    • WinnieCoopersMom says:

      As much as I think Angelina (and others) consider herself to be royalty, maybe they just both happen to like the same designer?

  50. Neah23 says:

    I don’t hate it, but I don’t love be it ether. For me she doesn’t have that extra something to pull off a simple dress.

    Negative:

    1. Her bag, jewelry, belt and dress are all in the same soft tone so nothing pops.

    2. The fit is not great.

    Positives:

    1. I like her hair away on her face .

    2. I like the back of the dress.

  51. bread says:

    I get that she couldn’t wear a bra because of the sheer back of the dress (and I don’t need breasts to be hoiked up under the chin to be acceptable) but when you couple unsupported breasts with a draped, low v-neck it comes across a bit… droopy. And It would help if she stood up a bit straighter with her shoulders back.

  52. Ellie says:

    I’m surprised there’s no comment about how she never does any events, and now she’s finally done one and it’s a dumb movie premiere. That shouldn’t count!

  53. shewolf says:

    She’s supposed to be a fashion bore. If she became noted for her style or taking risks she’d get even more flack for being useless than she already does. I really do think they try to remove themselves from a “celebrity” identity and are doing well at upholding their position as something beyond that (but just as useless).

    I like the outfit… her hair colour and skin tone dont really work with the colour. I think it would be better on cool toned fair skin and dark hair. But overall I like it.

    • hmmm says:

      I’m curious as to how they’ve successfully removed themselves from the ‘celebrity identity’ and yet are still useless. It seems to me, a pap stroll is to celebrate their image and is,therefore, totally useless. What exactly, then, are they upholding?

    • ArtHistorian says:

      Queen Maxima takes risks style-wise and no one can accuse her of being simply a ‘clothes-horse/celebrity’. Why? Because she is serious when it comes to her causes and her work, which includes a collaboration with the UN within her field of finance.

  54. Jaded says:

    It’s a pretty, graceful dress and thank God she’s wearing her hair up. But she really is such a bone rack that the dress, with an extra 10 lbs on her, would have flowed much more beautifully. It just looks like it’s draped on a wire hangar on her. Without a bra, her slouch is much more pronounced and because I’m sure she wears padded bras, it also accentuates her thinness. Please girl, eat a sammich.

    • Jib says:

      Her back has bones sticking through the fabric. Now, I freely admit I need to lose 30 pounds, but she is so skinny, it’s scary. Does no one notice or care???

      • wendi says:

        people seem to care more about the hair style, choice of jewels, style of dress etc. than the fact that she is wasting away before our eyes. i realize this is a gossip site, but…

      • notasugarhere says:

        The waist fits exactly. So whatever size she is, she has been this size for an extended period.

  55. perplexed says:

    This dress looks like a bag to me.

  56. Kate says:

    She has serious Mother of the Bride hair in these photos. It’s too bad because it really ruins the look.

  57. DaSH says:

    I was just about to say, this is something that Jolie would wear and then I read your post about Jolie vibes. Lol. I actually really like the dress – vintage and classy. She looks great. I don’t think she’s channeling Jolie. It’s just the dress, as if Jenny Packham always has Jolie in mind everytime she’s designing / making a dress.

  58. khaveman says:

    Love it — finally something that’s not completely conservative and stiff. It flows on her nicely and I love the earrings. The fit is a little off, but not much.

  59. Citresse says:

    I find it interesting she wore such a blah colour yet wore the hot pink outfit at the 9/11 memorial NYC.
    Wouldn’t a big movie premiere be the time to wear bright colours?
    From the waist up, the dress kind of reminded me of her bridal veil in that it had no body- the fabric just clings to her- it looked cheap along with the “vamp” shoes.
    I think the hair would’ve looked better styled higher though I guess it matched her droopy shoulders and chest. It’s like she just rolled out of bed on a lazy sunday.

  60. LizzyFizzy says:

    You know, the thing that always gets me is that—-even though I know Diana had issues with self-confidence and struggled with an ED, so she must’ve felt self-conscious at times—she really carried herself like a confident woman at events. She had great posture, she was relaxed, she usually looked like she was having a great time.* And her dresses and hair were similarly confident-looking. She didn’t go for a “hair blanket” or whatever; she had short hair and wore that HUGE Lover’s Knot tiara sometimes, so I don’t feel like she shied away from drawing attention to her face. With Kate, I often find myself looking at her dress more than her face. Is it just that Diana had more charisma? I can’t figure it out.

    For reference, here are some of Diana’s premiere outfits:
    https://princessdianabookboutique.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/23-january-1991-princess-diana-attends-the-premiere-of-postcards-from-the-edge-in-london/

    http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/51846052-princess-diana-arrives-at-the-premiere-of-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=OCUJ5gVf7YdJQI2Xhkc2QARUYAhCr%2BKMsH3xiLLCfJuoonL4aFamd1%2FvbmjLZKDWdas7031bp0xyV0IS9aIXtQ%3D%3D

    And that massive tiara and beaded dress with collar:
    http://royalista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/10.606026y.jpg

    *Harry seems to have inherited her great attitude and liveliness in public, although I hope for his sake that it doesn’t hide unhappiness like Diana’s did.

    • notasugarhere says:

      I think a lot is down to the years of ballet training. Letizia went through ballet training for years too. It comes across as an unconscious way of carrying themselves well (ie. having great posture as easily as breathing).

    • perplexed says:

      I wonder if Kate doesn’t like what she’s wearing? I think you carry yourself better if you like the clothes you’ve put on. Cate Blanchett has worn some weird frocks, but she seems to genuinely like what she’s picked out, and as such she showcases herself well. Actually, I think we all carry ourselves better when we like the clothes we’re in, and can become more self-conscious when we hat what we’re wearing.

      There were some outfits Diana wore that were kind of funny in retrospect, but she probably had confidence in what she wore, and thus carried herself well no matter what the outfit.

      And oh yeah Diana definitely had more charisma.

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        I could see that, perplexed. Or is she very critical of her body? She’s like the incredible shrinking woman and, to me, that points to a lack of confidence or heaps of self-criticism behind the scenes. We’ve watched her get thinner and thinner and I can’t imagine that happening without her looking in a mirror and (delusionally) believing that she is too big, despite her tiny, tiny figure. Maybe she is suffering from some kind of dysmorphia? I dunno. Sad.

    • WinnieCoopersMom says:

      To Kate’s defense, I think if she were to wear strapless or spaghetti strapped gown like one of these, Kate would get SOOOOOO much more backlash than she already does. That being said, Diana definitely was confident in whatever she wore and it made her radiant. LOVING that pic of her in the white beaded ensemble with the tiara. SO REGAL.

    • Charlotte15 says:

      I miss Diana so much. I realize this has nothing to do with the current conversation, but those photos…she was just stunning. Even when she got it ‘wrong’ it was still interesting IMO. Adored her.

      ETA: @LizzyFizzy, that gif just MADE MY DAY 🙂

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        Me, too. She was so gorgeous and cheeky!

      • The Original Mia says:

        Me too!

      • Beatrice says:

        So do I. Diana showed confidence, real style, and never failed to wow us with her gowns and jewelry. I went to the traveling exhibit of her clothing and everything was gorgeous. And Diana needed lots of clothes because she did so many engagements–she was a royal workhorse and clotheshorse (and I mean that in the most positive way).

      • herewego says:

        I MISS Diana too, As Newsweek called Diana in their new cover ,Diana was PRINCESS of The World!

    • EN says:

      > Is it just that Diana had more charisma? I can’t figure it out.

      I think Kate is aware that everyone is comparing her and that she is no Diana.

      Diana had so much charisma and love pouring out of her, she was like a sun.
      This is very rare. None of the royals have this kind of charisma, not even her own sons.

      • Jib says:

        I agree with most of what you say, except the last bit. I think Harry has tons of charisma and a great way with people. He is always engaging with them, leans in, not back when meeting people, and seems to genuinely enjoy the “peasants.” William and Kate, OTOH, always lean away from the “peasants,” and only seem to really engage when the people are friends, famous or the 1%.

        But Harry has that special something that Diana had.

    • belle de jour says:

      I think it turns into memorable fashion when both the clothes and the wearer bring something extra to the table. When each is contributing to the look and feel, it makes the sum impression greater than its parts.

      Diana understood that, and mostly pulled it off. By contrast, Kate is almost a kind of clothes anti-mojo vortex of dullness. As I noted in another Kate antithesis-of-fashion post, it’s very telling when an outfit could look like it had much more possibility on a hanger than on your person.

      • Citresse says:

        The color (not the style) was reminding me of Diana somehow and then I remembered. The gown Diana wore at Cannes in ’87. Though Kate’s gown is much duller blue.

      • hmmm says:

        “…it’s very telling when an outfit could look like it had much more possibility on a hanger than on your person”.

        You’ve nailed it.
        That is one dead dress on her.

    • What's inside says:

      Diana, herself, had said that both she and her mother had a gift in that they could look amazingly happy when inside they were miserable. Kate when she smiles has that same gift and I think she is quite lovely despite her fashion faux pas. I wonder out of all of Diana’s fashion choices which one Kate thought was the best? I am sure Carole probably has an opinion about it.

    • Jib says:

      Diana was shy at first, but she ended up having a ton of charisma, and she really engaged with people. If you look at pictures of her meeting people, she is like Maxima and Harry – she leans into the people to shake their hands. Wills and Kate both hold their bodies back when meeting people, it isn’t comfortable to either of them. They can put on the show from a distance, but do NOT ask them to engage.

      And the happiest Kate has looked is when at Wimbledom, rugby and movie star events like this. She looks bored and miserable at her charity events. When she smiles much of the time, I think she is just smiling to look pretty, compared to Diana, whose smile lit up her whole face.

      I miss Diana. As a woman her exact age, I wish she were here. I don’t think her son would ever have gotten involved with the social climbing Middletons.

  61. I want to like the dress. I like it when she is standing still, but I don’t like how it moves and gives her bat wings. The dress has potential. I like the back, the buttons on the sleeves and the skirt. But I don’t like the front. And the colour washes her out. It would look better in a darker blue.

    Jenny Packham makes some beautiful gowns. This seems more like Kate’s design than Jenny’s.

    • Charlotte15 says:

      Oh, see, I didn’t like it when she was standing still but then when I saw how wonderfully it moved with her, it made me dislike it a bit less. It’s fascinating that we can all look at the same dress yet all see completely different things!

  62. iseepinkelefants says:

    She looks old and frail. Her shoulders scare me. And lately what’s with her channeling a 70’s Flowers in the Attic vibe? Sadly all of her choices age her. I guess the buttons is an homage to the 20’s and she portably thought it was very “Downtown Abbey”. This dress would look better on someone older? I don’t know but it doesn’t look right on her.bthe belt gives it pop. It’s just her horrible posture? Bony shoulders? I don’t know but o have feeling this dress is probably beautiful on a different body.

  63. Caroline says:

    Think I read somewhere that Kate’s ear-rings cost £14,000 and were sourced from a jewellers (as opposed to being borrowed/inherited). I liked the dress if only because it was a different type from that worn by the female stars of the film and Daniel Craig’s wife who had a dress (from Alexander MacQueen) to die for. Harry asked Daniel Craig for his autograph.

    About Diana’s dresses, I actually saw some of them in an exhibition on the Queen Mary in Long Beach last year and we have all seen the photographs. Whilst some were gorgeous and age appropriate, others were very dated and over-designed and more suited to a much older woman. I absolutely loathe the dress with the Elvis Presley colour.

    • morgfunk says:

      Whoa @Caroline! Elvis is right…..which got me thinking, what if the dress were not a dress but a jumpsuit? THAT’S how she should be rolling if she wants to be a fashion icon IMO. which of course she says she doesn’t, but man oh man would a jumpsuit have been cooler. Here’s to hoping!

    • wolfie says:

      Kate’s earrings belong to her mother, who was papped wearing them with the matching necklace. Apparently Kate’s mother approves of Kate’s look with her borrowed earrings. Personally, I believe she could do with a more sophisticated stylist.

  64. Charlotte15 says:

    I don’t really have a strong opinion on this dress one way or the other, but I’m surprised that nobody (unless I missed it) noticed the very high slit visible in the sixth photo in this DM article. I’m surprised there aren’t more shots from that side, blown up, to create another “Marilyn moment”-type story, but I guess the DM went with the braless headline instead.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3290524/Daring-Duchess-Cambridge-goes-braless-pale-blue-floor-length-Jenny-Packham-gown-diamond-accessories-world-premiere-Spectre.html

    • MinnFinn says:

      For the record, yesterday morning I predicted she’d have a new dress with a high slit.

      I saw the the slit in the DM with their one photo taken from her left side. The tabs don’t cover all the details on day 1 because they have to milk this as many days as they can. I bet the slit absoutely will get its due coverage before the end of the week.

    • Charlie says:

      There is no slit, people. Look closely — that’s not Waity’s leg; it’s the shadow of Bill’s leg. FWIW, I loved the dress at first glance, but I quickly got over that. It looks terrible on Waity — she’s far too flat and skeletal to pull off this look. What happened to her C-cups of earlier in the morning at her charity visit? Oh, right, hugely padded bra in the earlier visit. The front of this dress is a confusing mess on her — she’s just too flat, and there are too many wrinkles and folds. She need a bra — even one of those stick-on silicon cup things would have helped.

      The main problem with a dress like this on Waity is her very broad, skeletal shoulders that are way out of proportion to her invisible waist and nonexistent hips. This type of dress on her sloped, broad shoulders coupled with her poor posture make the dress literally look as if it’s hanging from a clothes hanger. Waity’s living up to her name!

  65. ickythump says:

    I couldn’t put my finger on who DK was reminding me of this past little while but now I remember – Jaclyn Smith in Charlies Angels….

    • MinnFinn says:

      Kate’s dress reminded me of watching TV circa 1978 at my grandparents house. The Lennon Sisters and Norma Zimmer on Lawrence Welk and Kitty Carlisle on a game show wore floaty chiffon dresses too.

      • What's inside says:

        I miss The Lawrence Welk show, Norma and the Lennon Sisters. But you are spot on about the floaty chiffon dresses.

  66. S says:

    She looks wonderful and I am in love the dress. I would wear it in a heartbeat. It’s unusual, soft, and sexy while being tasteful and appropriate given her requirements. I can’t imagine having to select dresses anticipating snarky headlines like she gets.

  67. Deedee says:

    After all the new bespoke and expensive, she repeated an Orla Kiely today. Oh, the frugal duchess!

  68. coconut says:

    I agree with the earlier commenter that the hair bump is probably to balance the large bun below. That kind of hair bump is pretty common in up-dos.

    Generally I think skinny/slim women can do dresses with lots of fabric bulk, however, somehow she looks so skinny in this dress, bordering on emaciated to me. If photos add 10 pounds to you, how much skinnier does she look in person? I’m not a bra fascist but in this case, maybe having her girls supported would’ve improved the proportions.

    • Pondering thoughts says:

      @ coconut

      Exactly. Curves need to be draped. Just on Kate there are hardly any curves but only nice broad shoulders and puerile hips.
      And yes, she needs a bra although there isn’t much. It would have improved proportions. Only young not-to-big girls can afford to go without.

  69. Jib says:

    Guess she’s over her PPD or
    it only shows up when she
    Has to be somewhere where there are no movie stars or rich people.

  70. Jade says:

    At first I liked it but the more I look at that dress it appears ill-fitting above the waist. I prefer the back than the front. Hair is an improvement. Make-up a tad improved.

    I don’t want to touch on her face or weight, she looks nice overall. No glamour but nice.

  71. MinnFinn says:

    William’s velvet smoking slippers surprised me. He needs a new tux. The pants are too short and the lapels are droopy which is likely caused by repeated dry cleaning. Over time the fluid breaks down the interfacing.

    • Pondering thoughts says:

      Well, Kate sucks up the whole clothing budget so there is no money to buy anything for Willy.

  72. Candice says:

    Poor choice of dress if she’s aiming to hide how frail she’s become. You can see how bony her back is and without her customary uber padded bra she looks quite skeletal up top… I thought the film stars were the ones striving to be the thinnest but next to Kate they seem big!

  73. Jasper says:

    It has so much potential but the color and belt are throwing me off

    • Pondering thoughts says:

      My thoughts, too.
      It needs to be presented with hips-forward and shoulders backward and legs elegantly thrown forward. Just imagine how a good catwalk model would wear the nines out of such a dress.
      The skin needs to form a contrast to the greyish pale colour else the colour will wear you out.

  74. I Choose Me says:

    I’d like it another colour. If she had some personal flair it would come off a lot better. Dress wearing her instead of the other way around and all that. I’m also not feeling the hair but her makeup looks good and her smile is pretty enough to be its own accessory.

    • HK9 says:

      I know!! I think a deeper jewel tone…she looks great in those. Otherwise I don’t think the dress is that bad.

  75. Pondering thoughts says:

    Will and Kate and her eyeliner went to a movie premiere: lots of fun. no work. no speaking duties. A greyish-pale dress made Kate look old and washed-out unlike Jolie who can wear such colours because she knows how to give her skin an ever so slight tan-golden colour for wearing such a dress.

    The most exciting things about Kate were her lack of a bra and her hunchback-hairdo.

    Apart from that it was just probably expensive but cheap-looking bling.

    Seriously. Even the Kardashians have more substance than these two. An no, James Bond movies don’t need no royal promotion. Other events are more in need of a royal attending.

  76. anne_000 says:

    I think there’s a strong possibility that Mama Rose Carole is her stylist. She’s wearing mama’s earrings. She shares her clothes with mama. And mama would understand what the fashion of this dress is.

    Maybe I’m old, but so is Carole. This ‘dress’ is like one of those fancy negligees that Lucy Arnaz would have tried on in that episode in which she tried to get Ricky to buy her expensive negligees (with a covering robe) from a wholesale salesman she was trying to set her girlfriend up with.

    Also, it’s very typical of what glamorous negligee ensembles one would see on actresses from black-and-white movies from the 1920s-1950s. Think Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, etc. The glamorous actresses who would wear something like this as they’re waiting for William Powell to come visit them.

    So, this is from Mama Rose Carole’s era of what is thought to be glamorous, imo, and she would wear something like this if it were in bright red.

    It’s too bad that it doesn’t suit Kate’s body though. The top hangs like it would if it were on a hanger. Like the others upthread have said, it’s not fitted properly on her.

    As for her hair, if she’s going to wear something like this, then she should have gone whole hog and gone with a fancier hairstyle and with something sparkly in it if she’s going to wear those big earrings.

    • Pondering thoughts says:

      You are right: on Kate this looks more like a neglige than an evening gown.

      A woman who can wear the nines out of this style is Elizabeth Debicki as in Great Gatsby:
      http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4456120/?ref_=tt_cl_t11
      http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1656202752/nm4456120?ref_=nmmd_md_pv

      Or here:
      http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2504386560/nm4456120?ref_=nmmi_mi_all_sf_14

      • anne_000 says:

        Yup. I agree it would look good on Debicki in that movie if her character was trying to entice Gatsby some lonely evening.

    • aurelia says:

      Its definately mamma clairol’s way of being there. Remember she lives vicariously through waity.

    • LizzyFizzy says:

      In the 1970s, it was very, very fashionable to copy 1930s looks. I’ve read that’s why super-skinny eyebrows and slinky bias-cut dresses came back during that period–it was Jean Harlow channeled through disco! Wouldn’t that have been when Carole was young?

      • anne_000 says:

        LizzyFizzy, I think you’ve got it right about that.

      • Christin says:

        I think you all are on to something here. The first thing I thought when seeing the hazy grey-blue gown was — negligee / nightgown set. And those were featured in old movies, as well as being around in the 1960s-70s. It’s Mama!

      • LizzyFizzy says:

        Lots of her looks lately–the eggplant lace with the long sleeves and high neck, this flouncy sleeve dress, the Women in Hedge Fund Gala dinner dress–seem very 70s to me. As does the big hair, tan, and tiny body. In fact, the huge hair and thin limbs seems very 1970s to me.

        When Kate dresses more casually, she looks much more typical of someone her own age–skinny jeans and striped shirts.

      • Hazel says:

        Fay Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde in 1969 begat the 70s era fondness for 30s era fashion.

    • hmmm says:

      If this is due to Mama Rose Carole’s influence then it has nothing to do with the generation and a lot to do with her fantasies; she must have watched a lot of old movies. Yet she chose a really bad actress to fulfill them. Between the two of them, they’ve set back taste and fashion to…..well….they just haven’t ever been in the game. To think that they have this world stage now to exercise their dull, vacant dreams……oy vey. It’s going to be a loooooong few years.

  77. Penelope says:

    Doesn’t do a thing for her.

  78. Betti says:

    Oh dear – have you all seen what she wore to the Women in Hedge Fund gala dinner this evening? As another poster said – i think her mother is her stylist. Its just a horrible Erdem dress and that hair makes it look worse. The grey one she wore this morning was nice – i really liked that one with her hair in a pony tail.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3292327/Duchess-Cambridge-Kate-Middleton-wears-Erdem-dress-100-Women-Hedge-Funds-dinner.html

    • anne_000 says:

      Oh dear… Marcia Marcia Marcia!

      This is the kind of dress one (who has very little skill) would make from an old McCall’s pattern sheets. Geezus.

      I couldn’t even bother to find out who the designer is. Somebody from the wardrobe department of the Brady Bunch or The Bob Newhart Show? This is the kind of thing Emily or Carole would have worn and it would have considered very modern way back when.

    • Citresse says:

      No, this look is south of the border. Tijuana couch.

    • maggie says:

      She looks gorgeous!

    • Charlie says:

      Re: the Hedge Fund dress: I can’t even begin with that dust ruffle on the bottom of an otherwise nice dress. But can we speak about anything besides Waity’s misguided fashion choices for a moment? (I know, there’s not much else to talk about.) Did anyone watch the Hedge Fund video? Every year, Waity’s presence at this event is the very definition of irony. What absolutely makes me want to retch is these many women of accomplishment, achievement, vast intelligence, and amazing work ethics curtseying to Waity, who has not accomplished or achieved anything at all of note in her 34 years. (No, I don’t count giving birth.) This is utterly cringe-worthy. Waity should be curtseying to these women instead for not only all they have accomplished but for paying their taxes and supporting Waity’s lavish waste of a life.

    • I saw your comments and thought it couldn’t be THAT bad. But oh my, it’s that bad. Wow!

    • What's inside says:

      That should have been a daytime short dress. The ruffle at the bottom was too much.

    • HK9 says:

      That’s one ugly frock.

  79. linda hoad says:

    duchess looked very thin and frail in the blue dress – colour makes her look washed out and tired. does not fit properly and the top hangs on her
    – going bra less after having two children is no a good idea.

    • kathleen says:

      What I don’t get is how/why her team and family can’t tell her this – I mean how they let her out the door like that is beyond me – all those protruding bones – smh. Longterm, I hope someone intervenes. This goes beyond the style and colour of a dress and is a serious matter.

  80. serena says:

    Her boobs seems saggy and that’s not a pretty look, especially with that kind of dress. that’s why she should have worn a bra.

    • hmmm says:

      I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her breasts. Unless being offered up on a shelf is the thing.

      I think what’s wrong is that the woman (yes, *woman*) lack a sense of occasion. She has no idea of what it means to be royal and she doesn’t care. She has no respect and doesn’t respect herself and it shows.

      • wolfie says:

        I totally agree with you hmmm. And It’s just like her to try to be the center of attention in her Hedge Fund dress that looks Hawaiian in theme and boldness. I don’t believe that this choice makes her very likable to the other women dressed to the nine’s, who are also posing for photo’s. Don’t you know it, it’s all about Kate.

  81. maggie says:

    I think she looks so classy and elegant. Not too crazy about the hairstyle but she’s stunning!

  82. Kate Bush says:

    Like the dress overall. Agree though that she looks better in Jewel tones. Really like the back but I do think she has got too skinny.. It seems that there’s almost too much fabric here so it looks too big on her.
    I like her hair up.
    Also love the pony tail and the grey dress she wore yesterday.
    I’ve never worried about her mass of hair before (I love big hair) but in the latest photos with the Ederm dress it is looking too much, I think it’s her extreme thinness which accentuates the volume of hair.. Maybe time to lop off a few inches and/or gain some much needed weight.

  83. Elizabeth R says:

    Am I the only one seeing some definite Diana-channeling with the fringe at the Hedge Funds dinner? That side-swept 80s feathered look…it’s giving me major Diana vibes, despite the masses of extensions going under underneath that fringe. I wonder if that’s the point.

    • perplexed says:

      Probably, although I think by now Diana would have retired the fringe. Well, she retired that look by the ’90s. I certainly don’t think she would have gone back to it — it’s no longer the 80s! (a somewhat horrible decade for fashion if old photos of most celebrities are anything to go by.)

  84. Carrie says:

    And make no mistake this woman is fiercely ill. Makes sense though all the ingredients are there- lack of control over certain things in her life, reinforcement from the public and possibly her mother, desire for attention from her husband . ….toxic .

    • cd3 says:

      Could she just have thinned out rapidly from breastfeeding? No idea if she is or not, but could be a possibility.

      • kathleen says:

        The drastic dieting (outside of pregnancy) to achieve a scary skinny physique began before she was pregnant. When she came to Canada in particular, she was downright skeletal.

    • Elizabeth R says:

      @ Carrie – I am glad not to be the only one who holds this opinion, although it makes me sad for Kate. But yes, don’t doubt she is “fiercely ill” – I would love to be wrong. But it is starkly apparent to me and has been since the wedding – this is a woman battling an eating disorder.

      Aside from everything else, it makes me sad. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

  85. Carrie says:

    By ill I mean eating disorder .

  86. candice says:

    According to Amanda Platell’s sympathy piece in the Daily Mail, Kate has the hardest job in the world. So take that, all you (insert name of real job here)!!!!

  87. cd3 says:

    Love the dress. The accessories and hair – meh.