Here are more photos of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Royal Ascot on Tuesday, which was Day 1. Kate decided to change up her usual “white doily” look for a periwinkle look by Elie Saab. As several of you pointed out (thank you!), the original Elie Saab look was short-sleeved and full-length. Kate had them add those dreadful long sleeves and she asked them to raise the skirt to this tea-length. It did change the whole vibe of the dress – a somewhat fancy-boho style was made to look fussy and like there were too many details competing with each other. So ends another bespoke adventure.
There were also several photos from Ascot where it looked like Kate was “cradling” or “touching” her abdomen, which of course led to speculation that Kate is pregnant. First of all, I do believe she’ll have a fourth child, but she’ll keep to the pregnancy schedule she usually has, which is getting pregnant in early autumn so she can have a late-spring baby/early summer baby. Second of all, if she was really early-preg, she would be sick as a dog, because that always happens in Kate’s first trimesters. She wouldn’t be smiley and happy at Ascot. She would be at home with her head in the toilet. Third of all, the “bump” is nothing more than the fabric of the skirt – Kate is super-thin these days and she does not have a “bump.” And she always touched her abdomen, for what it’s worth.
Also: her silver heels! I’ve always defended Kate for her lack of interest in shoes, and it feels like she’s been trying to mix up her footwear recently, to some strange results. Silver pumps probably weren’t the best choice here. But again, she’s not a Shoe Person. She’s a Button Person and a Lace Person.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Yeah that’s how she always holds her hands/clutch at public events. As DigitalUnicorn pointed out on another post – she has had some botox done recently, and she wouldn’t do that if she were pregnant.
The more I keep looking at the dress the more I keep scratching my head. And I’m cracking up at “so ends another bespoke adventure.” I really like the skirt. It’s fun and pretty and a great length on her. (I really like when she wears that length.) I don’t feel like the skirt goes with the top though, even though its a dress, even without the pussybow.
BUT, if she just took off the pussybow, it would make such a difference. the dress would have been another adventure in doily-wear for Kate, and not so much “omg what is she wearing.”
Also, I know its Ascot and its all about the hats, but this hat looks so similar to the one she wore for Trooping. I wish she had gone with something REALLLY out there, and had fun with it.
Well I do not like the dress but I must give credit where credit is due: the dress is custom tailored to perfection and fits her perfectly. I do not always like Cathy’s style (most times I do not like her style) but she always looks nice and very Royal because her clothes fit properly.
I can’t un-see the bow.
Yes, it’s the pussybow that puts it over-the-top for me.
The bodice is a total rip-off of the Gunne Sax dresses of the 70’s. I don’t hate it, but I do think it’s a little too twee for an almost 40 yr old.
The dress fits her well, she looks good in it, I just think she needs to move to more sophisticated styles.
@ KidV Gunne Sax dresses were the s**t for the 70s!
I like the dress but I agree that the bow is too much
First of all, I love the dress and shiny shoes but I hate all hats.
I wouldnt be surprised if she was pregnant we all know how much she loved children, and baby Archie had probably given her baby fever.
But it’s also like, I’ve been asked if I’m pregnant when I’m gassy or just ate and have that lil food or bloat baby.
I always felt really bad for first trimester Kate, poor girl with her head in the toilet, my sister was super sick like that during her second pregnancy we were constantly pulling over so she could dry heave.
I haven’t ever been asked if I was pregnant (thank goodness, because what business is it of anyone’s) but I get bigger bumps than what Kate supposedly has here after I’ve eaten a big meal, haha. Heck, I have one now but it’s just PMS bloat combined with my breakfast.
same! I’m a very slim person, and when I eat a meal I look like I’m well into my first trimester, maybe even the start of a second haha. I’ve luckily never been asked if I was pregnant, because that would make me feel really terribly about myself. I think it’sjust because of the design of the dress, I have dresses that do the same thing.
I feel so understood. Yesm. Exactly.
I literally look 4 months pregnant purely thanks to bloating, because I’m smol.
I have several food intolerances so if I accidentally digest one of these foods I bloat out like I’m 7 months pregnant and it embarrasses me – one of the many reasons I refuse to bump-watch women.
+1. There is very little worse than someone asking when you’re due, when all you want is to get into the loo!
I’ve been asked a couple times in the past few years if I were pregnant. Well, not even asked, just had someone say to me “oh congratulations!!!!!” and I’m like….yeah that’s my chicken salad. And whenever I gain weight it goes straight to my belly. Sigh.
This keeps happening to me aswell. I find it mostly funny. Strangely those congratulations only ever came to me from middle aged asian women, all of which very very polite and cute, so I laughed it off.
My 5-year old told me last night that I looked like I was growing a baby, lol. It was gas.
My 4 year old told me last week my tummy is nice and squishy. SMH
Wouldn’t the PR be bad if she had a fourth child?
The PR was going to be bad about having a third child but they chose to get pregnant anyway.
The original dress was WAY BETTER than this bespoke rubbish – she has again ruined a perfectly lovely outfit with her terrible alternations. Why can’t these labels tell her where to shove her ‘ideas’ – she and her ‘stylist’ really have no fashion sense at all.
I genuinely love the skirt of the dress. I think it’s so pretty. If she lost the bow and made the sleeves short sleeved like in the original, it’d have been so much better.
For the labels there is no such thing as bad publicity…
I’ve decided I really like the dress. It grows in me the more I see it. And I don’t hate the silver pumps with it either. Any other color would have been either too heavy (black) or boring (nude or blue)
I’m actually shocked she did not wear nude heels with this dress. While I am not a fan of silver pumps, at least the girl is trying.
I don’t love the silver pumps – like, at all, lol – but I give her points for something different and not her normal nude heels.
May I sit with you ? I really like it as well and find it perfect for this event with all it’s archaic dress codes. It cries for an open toe shoe but I wonder if it’s allowed? Not that I can recall Kate in an open toe even if it were.
Same. I didn’t like it at first, but the more I look at it the more I like it.
Glad I am not the only one. At first glance I loved the color and hated the bow. Then I preferred the short-sleeves over the long but now she just looks beautiful — perfect color, gorgeous smile.
That being said, I still think I would have liked it better with the bow removed — my favorite photo is one where she is in motion and the bow is less obvious. Regardless, gorgeous choice and a fun departure for her while still in her wheelhouse (girl loves feminine styles and I am with her on that).
This is so odd..but yes it looks better to me than it did yesterday. I still think she should have left the design alone and dumped the pussy bow.
Sorry, the outfit is hideous and matronly. The hat is just so ugly. Epic fail.
Agree. It’s awful. Wtf is the bow? The bow Is terrible.
The dress is ugly and I blame the designer. Are the dots sequins on tulle, sheer top with lace and a pussy bow?! Wtf. There’s too much going on with that dress and none of it compliments the other.
Why would anyone crop out Queen Maxima from these photos! The most divine ray of sunshine that any royal watcher could hope for!? It’s looked like Maxima is beloved by the BRF and they all look like they have such a good time together. I stan.
I stan Maxima too! She wore diamond earrings the size of dinner plates, from the historic Stuart tiara, to Ascot!
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a28082990/queen-maxima-royal-ascot-2019/
Maxima for the win!
Wowzers! Those are magnificent!
I think Princess Eugenie is the one who is actually pregnant, not Kate. She just has that pregnancy glow happening.
I quite like the original. Why on earth would she alter it?
I like the original too. I think the belt makes it. Kate’s alterations are lame and she looks so prissy in this mess. I don’t mind the silver pumps but if I was going to be walking around on grass I wouldn’t wear spike heels. HER POSTURE IS HORRIBLE.
The pictures next to Letizia yesterday reminded me just how awful her posture is.
I don’t understand this horrible posture thingy thing you guys are always banging about. She is tall, has a long torso and “wide” shoulders, when her hands are at her front it gives the impression of slouching when she’s not?
I just want to know how much it cost to alter a high end designer like Ellie Saab into a bespoke dress. If the tabs are doing totals for Megan on dresses keep it consistent.
All the royal ladies spend so much on clothes. Put it out there.
Given the price of the original dress (£1,275), I’d put the figure for this ‘bespoke’ outfit at around £6k (which is conservative). You have to take into consideration time with the designer as well as the efforts of the tailors etc.. She would have had at least 2 fittings in the design studio (or maybe the went to her). I guess it explains why she’s not around to have supper with William when he’s at Amner.
I worked in fashion years ago and the designer studios charge a fortune for bespoke, even when its altering off the shelf items.
I’ve read in the past that Kate does not attend fitting instead designers are sent her measurements for their dress dummies.
@harla. That would explain the poor fitting and terrible way outfits hang on her. Sending measurements without an in person tailoring is a big fashion no no. The designers need to see how it hangs etc.. God her laziness knows no bounds, she asks for alterations to outfits and then can’t be bothered to attend fittings.
The price of the original two pieces wasn’t $1625 (£1275), that was just the cost of the TOP. The skirt was an additional $3100!! (£2450) but the DM deceptively under-reported it like they usually do with Kate. So who knows what the bespoke cost was, but it was likely exorbitant.
Sure,let’s blame everything on Kate’s “laziness”.. Because someone “heard” (where?) she doesn’t attend fittings. It’s a fact. Does Meghan attend fittings? No,because her couture clothes fit even worse.. Always.
More often than not Kate’s clothes are well fitted,and I don’t see any glaring issue. If they don’t fit very well,it’s usually due to structural changes that alter the proportions,and what surely happens is that she orders clothes months in advance (she does it all the time) and if her weight changes,even a little bit,clothes don’t fit as perfectly as they should.
To be fair, whatever one thinks about her attitude to dress fittings, Kate’s laziness when it comes to engagements has been in evidence for many years and is not “laziness.”
God that’s one ugly outfit.
The bow, sleeves and shoes are the worst. The skirt is nice.
I’m going to double down and again say I really like that dress. The color is beautiful and it is appropriate for the occasion. The shoes are another story altogether….
Yes.
For someone who has pretty much unlimited access to fashion, Kate really has the worst sense of style.
She does, doesn’t she. But at least she’s consistent about it 🙂
The dress is pretty, dunno about the shoes. In one of those pictures William looks like he has an artificial hand, just like the Secret Service guy at Trump’s innaugural parade. They use them to disguise their real hand holding a weapon in their pocket.
Maybe she just ate something for once?
1 carbohydrate maybe?
Love the color, adore the hat and the way Kate’s hair is done under it, hate the shoes and hate the dress and pussy bow. A mixed review. I thought she looked fantastic at the Garter Ceremony, much more tailored (and another gorgeous hat with beautifully done hair under it), much better than at Ascot. I will say the “blue” theme was nice to see – it’s a color that only rarely doesn’t flatter no matter what skin tone you have. It’s fabulous on the Queen and one of Kate’s best colors.
The real tragedies of Ascot were Beatrice and Eugenie. Like, I just don’t know what to say.
No, it’s the bunched up curtains LOL
Most of the dresses from day one were frightful.
Beatrice was a true fashion nightmare parading a doily adorned bathrobe.
“Fans”?? No it’s just a slow news day for the RRs. Ironically Kate’s extremely thin frame makes this kind of speculation almost inevitable – all she has to do is eat a light snack and her concave belly will bulge until it’s digested
She probably finished a sandwich ffs!
This has me rolling today. You’re probably right!
I saw a little bump a few days ago, but she has had 3 babies…no matter how skinny you are, there will always be a bump right? That’s the way Jennifer Garner described it.
The original dress was really pretty! I don’t understand why she felt the need to make any changes to it. Also Queen Maxima’s look was fantastic, as usual.
Wish she would not have added those sleeves to the top. Looks so cumbersome. I like the skirt, but that’s about it. Kate is a pretty woman but I wish she would dress a bit more modern.
She doesn’t look the least bit preggo to md. If pregnancy made me that sick there is no way I would do it 4 times!
The Great grandmother of the bride looks so lovely in these photos. Oh wait. . .
LOLz!!!!
In other news, the great grandmother of the bride might be pregnant.
Kate is going to have another child or two. She is work shy but loves pregnancy. I think she and Meghan will take turns for the next several years. Kate will have 2 and Meghan 1 more between Kate’s 2. BP balcony will overflow with Cambridge’s leaving very little room for anyone else. The House of Middleton will eventually rule the U.K..
I don’t think she’ll be able to convince William of having a fourth….but if she can then I think we’ll hear the announcement by December.
If the Rose rumors are true….announcement in December is a sure thing.
Yes the patch-up baby a la Andrew.
@Nota – some people have said Louis is the patch-up baby, esp as the Rose affair is alleged to have started/happened after Char was born. We don’t know how long it lasted so ….
Yeah there will definitely be a 4th, most likely announced in the next few months. And mark my words, there will be a slew of articles by Richard Kay and the like gushing about how Kate is modeling herself after the Queen by having a family with 4 children.
Going with the timing of the two other children, we will hear something in early September that Kate has HG again and is pregnant with number 4. I also agree with tourmaline that there will be articles about how she is acting like a future queen by having 4 kids like the current queen.
Well, I don’t know if she needs Wills’ permission to get pregnant, but I will not be the least bit surprised if it is announced that she is before the year is out. And, I doubt any of her stans will utter a word about her aging womb, cost to the taxpayers, attention-seeking ways (belly cupping, gurning, etc.), maternity leave or work ethnic like they have about the DoS.
@Olenna, “work ethnic” is really an excellent typo in these circumstances. Well put.
Yeah, I see no pregnancy vibe here. I imagine if she does go for a fourth, even if the morning sickness miraculously lessens, there’s no way it’s going to go away completely. She doesn’t look remotely barfy/tired/uncomfortable in these pictures, and her public appearances overall recently have had her looking very smiley, relaxed, and energetic. That’s just not consistent with anyone’s first trimester!
I do hope they will stop with three, with all their nattering on about the importance of population control and the fact that any kid of theirs is going to be racking up major carbon emissions from their luxury lifestyle. But Kate definitely gives of the impression that she is most fulfilled with being a mom so a fourth certainly wouldn’t surprise me either.
I’m flicking back between the Elie Saab original and the customised version that Kate is wearing and I don’t understand how she managed to completely RUIN the dress.
I mean, is it just the wacky hat and the terrible posture that did it? Dear me…
Oh dear another one flicking through a look book – they would never come across in real life or buy from the designer in question because they cannot afford the pieces – thinking they know more about fashion than the designer themselves.
Just because I would never spend a ridiculous amount of money on pieces doesn’t mean I don’t know about fashion. Au contraire! Fashion is about taste. Not about money.
Looks like a granny nightgown from the fifties.
Or bad Jessica McClintock from the 80s or 90s
Just googled the name and LMAO! Yeah…..that’s spot on.
Yeah, that’s just what a woman in her late 30s who’s had three kids in five years looks like when you get a million photos from a million angles.
(My personal theory for the stomach touching is EUGENIE is pregnant, and Kate’s doing some subconscious touching of her own stomach as they talk about it.)
That’s a lot of money spent on a lot of ugly. The only positive I have is the color, love it. Everything else is hideous and unlike others the more photos I see, the worse it looks.
I bet she will have a fourth but she is not pregnant now.
The skirt is see through!
I was going to send this to you and say everyone should be shrieking at Kate for having her hand on her belly LOL
Never gonna happen with her stans; that criticism is reserved for the DoS.
Camilla’s face says it all in the first two pics – it’s like gah – she’s wearing the lace curtains.
anyone else spotted the black g string in pic 4? At least she’s wearing pants I spose …
Bloody hell! You can see right through to it. 😱
Wow
Ugh. That’s just another level of bad.
OMG. You can see the G string through the dress.😱
Meghan would be crucified. The RRs and Daily Fail would be blasting that out non stop.
Erm, where are you seeing a g string? It’s an underskirt. Clutch those pearls harder. I remember people going off on Meghan with the beautiful see through blue Givenchy skirt she wore down under. You could only see her bodysuit underneath, but it was such a big deal. Prudes everywhere.
I couldn’t see it at first but once I saw it I couldn’t unsee. Holy hell. That dress is surprisingly see-through.
I wonder if that’s why she held her clutch there the whole time?
I dunno, it looks like how the underskirt material has ‘folded’ as she’s walked.
Agree with Digital Unicorn, it’s not her underwear, it’s the way the skirt bunched up and the shadow it created.
I love the lacy blue dresses Catherine and Beatrice wore. But I’d never dare wear them! Ascot has always been a ‘fancy dress’ occasion. The colours were such unusual delectable blues. As for posture, Catherine is showing signs of thinning bones caused by excessive dieting. The slouch forwards is a dead giveaway. Surely she has had medical advice to eat properly? She risks an early death.
Even if she had just let the short sleeves go…it would have been a success, methinks. Alas, not.
I was on some site and a pop up appeared showing “rarely seen” pics of Kate–these were nothing new, but I was struck by how cute her pre-engagement wardrobe was. She WAS stylish! There was nary a button in sight, and lots of very conservative but still really darling outfit: skirts and sweaters, topshop dresses, jackets. I get that her style had to change to be The Duchess Who Never Puts a Foot Wrong (in silver heels), but it’s like she stuck a dagger in her sense of style.
Little Nightgown On the Prairie lol.🤔
I like everything about this look (except for the bow) because it absolutely works for THAT occasion,in that setting. It photographs very well and the look in general is very well put together. She’s also really upping her hair game.
It’s strange it’s so disliked here (thinking about it,not really lol). I gave a look at T&L and the FugGirls and I see a lot of people loving it. But it’s also a look that I appreciate more taking into account the context.
Actually,it’s true for many of her formal outfits. Kate is always accused of dressing “matronly”,but what I wouldn’t personally never wear,fits the occasion when she wears it (her headband for Louis’ Christening,for example).
Talking about Louis,can we please stop to refer to him as “patch-up baby”? It’s just awful. Not that I’m surprised to see this type of comments here.
Harry was the spare for a long time, questioned on his paternity all his life. Irrelevant Louis better get used to the nicknames. he’s not even the spare.. he’s just there.
I can understand the context and STILL think its an awful dress lol. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Only one left now as per the link lol. Prairie dresses for everyone!
Of course she’s pregnant. They will keep popping them out as long as it keeps them from doing any actual work.
There is no bump. Most women, however thin, who have three children, do not go back to a perfectly flat stomach, without surgical help.
That pic of both of them made me think -“Community Theatre! My Fair Lady!”
Shadow or bunched material, whatever, it still looks like a black thong shining through her dress. Is this why she was so overexcited the whole time?