Here are more photos of the Duchess of Cambridge during her visit to Family Action today in South London. I wanted to devote another post to her appearance because we got better photos of her trip later in the morning, and hey, Kate’s always worth a few posts. Now that I’m seeing more of the details on the dress, I kind of hate it? I was on Team It’s Okay, but now I might be veering into Team I’m Not Keen At All. Kate’s obsession with the puffy shoulder needs to end – it’s not modern, it’s not fashion forward, it’s not cute. It ALWAYS looks bad and she now has at least two dozen dresses with that same puffy shoulder. Admittedly, the rest of the Beulah London dress is okay – I’m still okay with the muted green (or “bottle green”) and I still have an appreciation for Kate’s incessant buttoning.
We have the IDs on the rest of Kate’s outfit too – the clutch was from LK Bennett, one of her favorite labels. The shoes were Gianvito Rossi, a label favored by Meghan. I truly believe that Kate is trying to shake it up with her shoewear because Meghan is such a shoe girl. Kate also wore “green amethyst drop earrings” from Kiki McDonough, her favorite jewelry designer. I honestly didn’t know amethysts came in green. All told, the entire outfit costs about $3000. Will the penny-pinchers come for Kate’s head?
While at Family Action, Kate viewed the charity’s new “campaign film” for their Family Monsters program – as in, it’s a short film designed to help kids talk about the “monsters” within their family, monsters like addiction, debt, etc. According to Kensington Palace, Kate is currently “driving a research project to establish what more can be done in across the UK to give children their best possible start in life.” Is that the “children of Broken Britain” initiative we keep hearing about? Is she ever going to launch the damn thing – which is supposed to be her signature solo project, something she’s been working on for months – or is this going to be 10 months of hearing about how she’s “keen” to “drive a research project” for her new initiative?
The Duchess’ visit to @family_action furthers her work in supporting children from their earliest years – HRH is currently driving a research project to establish what more can be done in across the UK to give children their best possible start in life. pic.twitter.com/tvyUAdT1rO
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) January 22, 2019
Photos courtesy of WENN.
So much keen, so little actual work.
PS: Whats the temp in London today? it’s currently -20 (Celsius) in Ottawa right now. I wore ear muffs, a wool tuque and a wool blanket scarf on my head this morning while waiting for the bus. No way anyone could hack being outside without a coat and boots today!
it’s raining and cold atm. i can never understand how they just wear dresses no coats etc. but i’m always cold so bless them
Yay! Fellow-Ottawaian!! Holy heck…my fingers froze to the key when I tried to lock my front door this morning! My kids’ school bus was cancelled bc kids will be too cold waiting for them!! Madness!!
I just keep thinking about that meme that says “it’s so cold my face hurts, why do I live in a place where the cold hurts my face?” 🙁
Right??!!!
The summer…I stick around for the gorgeous summers.
On the bright side: Gonna warm up to -2 C tomorrow with some freezing rain/snow!!
…57 days left until spring ❤️ ❄️
We’ve got this, girl!! Keep warm!!
All I have is that I love the dress – sorry, Kaiser! Anything green (especially in some shade of olive), and it gives me a vintage feel, which is what I would wear every day if I had the money.
It is a great dress!
Love this dress as well beautiful colour very flattering
The puffy shoulder is in right now, unfortunately. I was shopping for work clothes the other week and they’re everywhere.
It sounds like the charity has a project underway? They created a campaign film, so unless you’re running a Fyre Festival, I assume that’s for the rollout of an actual initiative.
I have tiny shoulders so i support the trend. The dress is ok, not good or great. It is all very ok, but i wonder where is her coat?
I have broad shoulders so I hate the trend lol!
Even if my fashion goddesses Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss personally tell me to wear puffy shoulders, I am not doing it. I’m just not doing it.
Or bell sleeves! So impractical.
HaHa! I just watched the documentary on Netflix about the F.F. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I just don’t understand why Kate is always “learning”. Is she really going to back a new initiative to learn more about an issue that so so so many other people have already researched?
i guess I should watch the charity’s film.
Kate’s dress reminds me of something I’d see on eshakti, like, but then customize. Change the sleeves, change the neckline, maybe ditch the belt, but keep the buttons. It would definitely make it to my cart but maybe not home.
I wish she wouldn’t slouch🙄
She needs to do the Alexander technique or something , wear lower heels, anything!! It does look bad.
That’s my never ending complaint.
It’s really hard to manage thought. I am a sloucher.
I wish I wouldn’t but I do even though I practiced danse as a child and my mom would always tell me to stand straight. . Sometimes I think about it and stand up but most of the time I just slouch.
And most of my friends slouch too. I feel like this is “le mal du siècle”
I will check out this Alexander technique because I have terrible back pains.
Slouching can be caused by tight muscles pulling you forward. If you are in pain I would reccomend a massage and a visit to the chiropractor.
@MISSM I have an Osteopath. But I’m just one of those person with back pains I guess. I really try to do light stretching exrcices daily. It helps.
I really think that it is not that easy to change one’s posture.
Honestly, her poor posture is almost all I can see in these pictures …
This is off topic a bit, but I got a sweater from Stitch Fix with giant one inch buttons down the side and thanks to this site the first words out of my mouth were “Now I can be a Dutchess if Buttons too!” My husband looked at me like I was insane. Alas, the sweater did not work for me so my glory days are no more.
I really like this dress. Don’t even have the puffed sleeves, since the rest is so sleep. Love the length.
And I usually dislike Kate’s clothes. But I really like this.
There won’t be much outrage with regards to spending on this outing because apart from the dress everything else is a repeat. And the dress is moderately priced by royal standards.
Also Kate has been wearing Gianvito Rossi shoes long before Meghan came on the scene!
I thought we had seen the clutch and shoes before, I couldn’t see them well in the first post.
Agree – I saw on other sites that all accessories are long time repeats.
Yeah, Kate wears Gianvito Rossi shoes all the time and has for years. In fact, everyone was extremely bored with her wearing them in the Praline color over and over. The most interesting thing about her shoes recently is that Kate seems to be favoring slightly lower heels (85mm vs 105mm). If anything, the shoe brands that Meghan regularly wears that Kate doesn’t are Aquazzura and Sarah Flint.
And the shoes, clutch, belt, and earrings are all repeats. Meghan’s new item total is hovering just under $20k for the month and Kate is under $3k. Meghan has had about six or seven public engagements (including the multiple engagements in Birkenhead) to Kate’s three.
The belt is also a repeat. It’s the one she wore with those great, wide-legged trousers and the Smythe (?) blazer.
Yep, she was wearing the shoes, belt and clutch for her visit to Cyprus. Actually she has repeated the shoes and clutch several times in the last weeks.
I guess someone advised her to wear more outfits in green…which suit her really well, BTW.
With which she wore those shoes & that clutch.
I don’t think we ought to mention driving and the royal family at the moment.
I laughed and then felt awful about myself, then laughed again at this comment.
In one pic she’s touching the top of her belly….is she signalling???? (sarcasm)
Her posture is atrocious.
Is this part of her Broken Britain initiative? I asked this last week and it’s still unclear. I don’t understand this “rollout”. If it is a rollout. This is Kate’s big solo initiative and we’re almost to February and nada.
I know, has she not seen Princess Diaries?! Kate must have skipped posture day at Princess training.
I would not be surprised if the rollout of Broken Britain was quietly postponed because of the Brexit situation. If it really is an initiative that warrants a big PR strategy the name alone would be problematic in the current climate.
I will withold judgement for until we see what it is really about.
I dunno I think the dress and shoes are cute!
Not keen on the belt with it and I don’t like the color of those shoes, but overall I like it.
It might be that she’s working behind the scenes on her big initiative. We have a lot of small charities in the UK working in isolation maybe they are doing something to connect up the ones that could help young children. If it is something worthwhile it might take years to get it up and running. On the other hand it could be a lot of nothing. I’m going to wait for more info before I start mocking.
But the “working quietly behind the scenes” was what we were led to believe (by KP) that she was doing during the final quarter of last year, with the big “Broken Britain’ reveal scheduled for January.
You may recall that there was speculation back then about whether or not the DoS would have to push back her announcement of the charities she would be patronizing and any other announcements (such as TQ handing over patronages to DoS) in Jan so that the Duchesses public announcements wont clash (translation: so that Meghan’s announcements wont upstage Kate’s)
But as youve seen, DoS hasnt been twiddling her thumbs, while we all wait to see exactly what the ‘Broken Britain’ initiative is ll abt.
Was the talk of a push back official from the KP press office or assumption? Not that you can really rely on KP press office, “driving a research project” sounds like a complete misrepresentation. Rather than spend the money on 2 separate press teams one good professional one might be a better idea.
The dress would be perfect if Kate was in fact 83 years old.
Why? What about it is matronly? She’s going to Family Action, not the Met Gala, so she’s not trying to be a runway model. I would 100% wear this to work right now.
Kate has been wearing Gianvito Rossi shoes for a couple of years now. And the belt, the shoes and the bags were worn before, so the only new piece of this outfit is the dress that costs £550.
As for her initiative… There was no way it was gonna be launched in January. It is the slowest month of the year for most charities and organizations!
Commenting on the Broken Britain Initiative: sadly, my son’s father and I divorced when my son was 12. So, I guess my child grew up in a “broken home.” I am really offended by the Broken Britain title because it suggests that children raised in non-traditional homes are less than, or broken.
Is it just me, or is this Broken Britain thing a little judgy?
Nope. It isn’t just you.
Thanks @TheOriginalMia, because I have really been wondering!
Very judgy IMO.
Not just you. If we’re broken, which we well might be, it’s because of Brexit and not because of parents making the entirely rational decision that if a relationship has broken down, they shouldn’t stay together.
“Broken Britain” is actually a political phrase, which is why I’m surprised it’s being used for Kate’s keen forthcoming initiative.
I don’t think it actually is. They seem to be calling it the Early Years Initiative but the press used the political name “Broken Britain.”
OMG. Is that what the “Broken Britain” stands for, children from divorced homes??????? No! That is mega-bullshit. If she is still in the research stage she better come with a different title because that can totally be read as classist and also racist given that the numbers may show that the majority of children from “Broken Homes” are black British kids or kids from the working class whose parents never even married in the first place.
I did not think that was what the title meant. I thought “Broken Britain” referred to all the various issues ailing British society…mental health, malnutrition, bullying, BREXIT, Nigel Farage, the conservative party…..yu know….?
Fredsmum -you’re right it refers to society in general not broken relationships. As a 50 year old I can definitely say Britain is pretty broken. It’s not just the normal problems caused by poverty, it’s each generation becoming more spoilt and self centred. I’ve heard of parents going on holiday leaving their kids home alone to revise for final school exams. This is considered ok because of course they deserve a holiday and a 16 year old can look after themselves 😲.
Super judgy term–I hate it too. I looked up where the term originated and it was one of the conservative British papers. Why am I not surprised…..
After reading the replies, I googled Broken Britain. The results are “widespread social decay”.
I remain confused …
In other words, when they were handing out projects she raised her hand when they called out Broken Britain. She probably said “ohhhh me, me, pick me! I looove kids plus I am a mother and was raised in a loving and stable household with two parents, a sister and a brother. I also went to private school, did married well. I can teach them to be like me!”
@RoyalBlue LOL! That’s exactly what I was afraid of!!
I like the puffy shoulders, she’s been going for a very vintage 40’s vibe lately and I like it. Well, other than those fugly headband hats she’s been wearing. I think it’s a classic look and it works really well for her body type. Also, the longer hemlines are excellent.
If you didn’t know amethyst came in green then you have GOT to Google ‘watermelon amethyst’, it’s seriously cool looking.
“Driving a research project”???!!! Gmafb who comes up with these phrases and what an insult to those who actually carry out the work she is supposedly involved with. Seriously it’s borderline offensive when she gets all this credit for being keen, “learning”, and shaking a few hands. And let’s not forget the clothes…..
Actual researchers are shaking their heads and having a hunt around the university to see if there’s free food left over anywhere, before going back to the work for which they are paid a pittance.
I laughed out loud! Guess the comms people are desperate to give her some gravitas–hey folks, she’s almost a graduate student!!!!! So ridiculous…..
This is a setup for her getting credit for creating an umbrella organisation that brings organisations and other professionals together to share ideas – (start sarcasm) not that a forum like that already exists. (end sarcasm). It’s Heads Together all over again.
I don’t know what ‘kind of research’ she’s driving as this type of initiative (giving children a good start in life) has been around for quite some time now and there has been a LOT of research done on it over the past 20 or so years. What can she bring to the table other than ‘how interesting!’.
^This. There is never any work involved from Kate (or William). It is their staff organizing things, others doing the research and work, and them taking the credit. Even her “editing” stint for HuffPost was a 20 minute photo op, then she was papped out shopping.
This is exactly so. She is still passively watching and listening and never doing. 8 years later and nothing has changed. Speaking of a Heads Together what has been going on with that? There has been no mention of it since Louis was born if not earlier.
You gotta give the press team credit. They’re trying really really hard to throw Kate a bone and give the impression that she does anything for her patronages other than show up for photo-ops. She’s had 7 years to make some sort of impact and only now pretends to care since Meghan is running circles around her.
That’s my read too. In her 7th year, Cambridge would not have even lifted a finger and pretended to launch -ish if Sussex did not apear on the scene and actually started working from Day 1—even before ring was on finger. Team Cambridge is clearing posturing and my guess is she is still clueless and some poor secretary and PR guy behind the scences are trying to figure out what Cambridge wants to do, is able to do…This is quite bad. Researching…? At the 7th year. Lady,,,,,we see you. All bull—isht.
kate has shown no great passion or interest in things beyond her family and is not a self starter. Other people will being doing the work here.
Agree, I also delight in the wordsmithing her press team engages in to make her seem so deeply learned and engaged and dynamic.
Ahhh….many people salty over the fact that she is the Future Queen and she can do whatever she wants =)
C’mon Kate, show us more of your clenched teeth, won’t you? Posture is indeed atrocious. She seems like a real phony when it comes to anything that could be construed as “work”.
It’s odd. I always used this site as my only source and was shocked by the photos I see elsewhere. The worst Kate photos are always here. Hence the “manic smile” comments on so many posts.
They don’t have to come up with a big initiative. They (W&K ) just need to do hundreds of public engagements, that’s their job. The Queen doesn’t get overly involved in anything (apart from horse breeding) . If Heads together is helping raise awareness of mental health issues that’s fantastic but it doesn’t excuse any of them from taking their share of public duties. If Kate can get different charities working together that’s good but really most of the problems are down to lack of public money. That’s not just down to the Tories because New Labour had problems funding their initiatives and didn’t do enough to stop the rot. In the UK we have very low tax rates and we just don’t pay enough to allow any government to fund all the things we need. Unless Kate can get people to want to pay more tax I don’t see what she can do to fix us.
Our income tax rates are not huge, they’re nowhere near Scandinavian levels, but with a 45% top rate of tax they’re higher than in Canada, Australia and NZ and much higher than in the USA. We’re not exactly the Cayman Islands or Hong Kong. In my opinion, we need much higher capital gains tax and much higher inheritance tax. And we need to tax multinationals such as Amazon and do what we can to close the loopholes that let them HQ in Ireland for pretty much no money.
These big initiatives were supposed to make up for the lower engagement numbers but they haven’t. It’s more puffery from KP.
MONEY! Cold hard cash. Not vouchers, not programs, not initiatives. You’re welcome Catherine! I solved the crisis of the children of broken Britain. Now where is the money gonna come from? I’m sure Kate is keen to find out!