One of the funniest, grossest and saddest fake-criticisms about the Duchess of Sussex was that she was “too glamorous/Hollywood.” The British papers were obsessed with that criticism for months/years. Often in the same breath, they would praise the Duchess of Cambridge for A) wearing jewelry, B) wearing some expensive bespoke ensemble, and C) bringing “much-needed glamour and modernity” to the institution. It always seemed like glamour was just fine when the glamour belonged to a white woman.
All of which to say… Kate has a glamour problem. Her problem is the lack of glamour. Kate and William stepped out last night at the Noel Coward Theatre for a performance of the Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. The performance benefitted The Royal Foundation, which is now for the Cambridges alone. They have to fund their projects somehow now that the Sussexes are out.
Kate wore this dark, thick boucle/tweed Eponine dress with silver sparkle Jimmy Choos, and a matchy silver clutch. Is she styling herself again or something? Who puts dark, bulky tweed – and white buttons, Jesus Christ – with silver glitter heels? Between her posture, the kindergarten-teacher-at-a-funeral gear and the fresh blowout, this look is a mess. I haven’t checked the British outlets, but I’m sure they’re all falling all over themselves to praise “glamour girl” Kate and her terrific, perfect, keen look.
This evening The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a special performance of @DearEvanHansen, in aid of The Royal Foundation.@DEHWestEnd | #DearEvanHansen pic.twitter.com/3rbDQYjK9k
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) February 25, 2020
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN, Backgrid.
Hope Hicks cosplay
Yep.. needs more makeup though.Hope uses a trowel. I wonder how much the dress costs? Same like a boring Ann Taylor dress for work
OMG, you’re right!!
I tried writing basically the *same thing* in the Fail yesterday, y’know, “fair and BALANCED”, right?? (sarcasm!)
Who pairs bulky tweed (casual dress), with glittery heels and CHANDELIER DIAMOND DROPS, which they made a HUGE deal out of reminding us they were “on loan” from Queen Betty of Petty’s vault. I also said Katie Keen needs to fire her PA and hire a proper stylist, stat!
Naturally, I got a love note from the editor saying “there have been complaints about your post and we decided to take it down” lolol. E.V.E.R.Y. T.I.M.E! It seems that we
Kan’t Kriticize Katie Keen!
😯 Yep, you nailed it
The Kate adoration society always say (their oft repeated phrase) she would look good in a paper bag. She is perfect. Some then proceed to bash Meghan. So fake.
There’s just too much going on, here. The buttons don’t bother me, as I’m a button fan, myself (please don’t shame me).
But the bulky dress looks like it must itch like crazy, and the shoes!!!???
Maybe she had a different outfit on earlier, then little Louis threw up on it, so she quickly switched into this thing, but forgot to change her shoes. That is the only legitimate excuse I can give for it.
I’m in the same boat you are. It made me feel itchy. If the fabric photographed lighter (weight wise) maybe I’d like it more. I like the shoes, but they don’t at all fit with the vibe of the dress.
Way too much heavy fabric. I really don’t like this dress on her. Nothing is really working with that outfit.
Taller black booties would have looked cuter. Definitely not silver sparkly point toe pumps.
And if I’m not mistaken, she has – gasp! – bare legs!! Not a nylon in sight! Oh, how dare she break protocol like that?!?! 😏
This is not a dress for after Five PM.
This is a day dress one would wear with warm cotton tights and boots.
I like boucle…I like all of the elements here, just not together.
She looks really good here. Well rested and refreshed. Good lighting, good sleep, or some fillers?
She looks not nearly as thin and frail as usual. Maybe it’s the thick fabric, but her arms and chest look thicker than usual to me. Even her face looks wider. Could she be pregnant?
ETA: she looks healthier and better, I’m not trying to say she looks fat or anything. Maybe she was just really sick for awhile? But with her HG, I guess the super sick look could also have been pregnancy.
I think its the fabric that makes her look less frail. We saw her, what, 10 days ago? And she looked strikingly frail. Even if she were pregnant we wouldn’t see that change that fast. My guess is she got some botox/fillers/whatever while they were on vacation and she’s wearing a bulkier dress.
Okay I just saw the pictures from today. It was definitely the fabric last night.
Yeah the pictures of her at her sporting event definitely show she is still super tiny. I guess it was the thick fabric and the cut of the dress. Her face still looks wider to me, though. Maybe some fillers while they had their week off with the kids.
@Becks1 I totally agree – the fabric has made her look like she’s put on weight. She does loom more healthy and generally better in herself but I hate that dress.
I think she looks really pretty and elegant here. I don’t mind thick bucle dress during winter, why not?
I sat this piece in NY & the buttons are crystal encrusted. I’m guessing the lighting is making them look white. She looks good here & I love boucle. I Treated myself to the blue boucle coat the Duchess of Sussex wore & it is divine.
I also think it’s quite nice and elegant and it’s been so bloody cold at night here, the dress seems suitable. And anyone should be able to wear a bit of sparkle if they want (I’m possibly swayed in this by the fact I have those Choos, in the cobalt sparkly version, and I don’t wear them nearly as often as I want to for fear of someone saying they’re too little-girl-ish).
Ohh Snappyfish! That coat must be amazing!!!
@kohlr I also have a pair of gold glittery Choos and I love them 😉 wear them as often as you want, fabulous shoes are fabulous shoes. Age has nothing to do with it!
I think she must do her own makeup for low profile and/or day events. This looks professional and I think it is making all the difference, especially to her skin texture and eyes. She looks good, whatever she has done. I like the outfit too; it is a bit “school marm hits the town” but that is her look. Shrug!
Tweed is an odd choice for an “evening out” dress. I have sensitivities to texture, and maybe I’m just projecting my dislike for tweed onto the dress. The silhouette is nice, but again, why tweed? I associate that fabric with an old man’s coat with leather patches at the elbows.
You can find gorgeous evening wear in tweed by Chanel.
maybe Kate was trying understated chic with glitter accessories, but as usual failed. She really need a stylist, her being haute couture thin seems so useless and a waste.
you can only dream what queen laetizia of spain would do with her clothes budget.
+1, I really like the silhouette and the shoes, but why tweed? She looks good overall, however…
Are they high-fiving in that last photo? Such chemistry 😂
Her stylist has GOT to be banging Will. No other explanation for this horrible look.
HAHAHAHAHA! Best comment of the day.
Oh HoyaLawa —. That is so snarky and so funny.
This is not a good look. She wore those sparkly heels with that off the shoulder white sweater dress and that didn’t look good. I don’t think she knows what to do with them!
They’d look great with a sleek, unfussy LBD. The problem is her dresses are generally mumsy, fussy or both.
The shoes and clutch are pretty, but don’t go with the dress at all. She has bad fashion sense
Buttons! Sparkly shoes! Maybe Charlotte picked out Kate’s outfit!
ITA this outfit/look is one of her worst for a while – with the girly sausage curls and the matronly dress she clearly is trying and failing at some sort of classic style.
Plus both she and William did not look particularly comfortable at the event – both had stiff body language and TBH they were dressed like they were going to a city business dinner type.
Plus, they both looked a bit tanned. They certainly did NOT get that glow in the UK – we’ve been getting storms for the past month.
I hate her curls as of late. A soft blowout would be perfect. Why the big bouncy curls?
She’s married to the curls and eyeliner I’m equal measure to Normal Bill. She’ll never give up this unholy trinity.
I agree. And I don’t hate all the elements individually (although I agree her hair has looked better, I would say she should have pulled it back, but she only knows how to do low ponytails, or intricate updos at the base of her head, and I don’t think either would work for this.)
But the dress itself I actually like, the shoes are pretty but I agree with someone up above that she never knows what to do with them, the clutch is fine – but the elements do not work together. The dress is heavy and between the material and the length, it has to be styled carefully to avoid looking like…..a schoolteacher going to a funeral. There’s no way an actual stylist put this together.
Natasha Archer is not a professional stylist not by any stretch – she’s Kate’s former PA co-opt’d as her ‘stylist’. Archer has ruined many pieces by putting them together badly – same with the alterations, she has ruined many lovely outfits with the ‘bespoke’ and badly done alternations (I recall several photo’s where threads were flying in the wind and you could see the stitching as well).
Kate is an amateur who is styled by an amateur.
The hair needs about 6 inches taken off. It’s dated and aging.
I think she’s openly competing with the queen to see whom can choose an outfit more grannish (is that the word?), I mean that fits better on a grandmother. Since the mess with H&M she started using clothes cut for someone many years older than her. Before, all her wardrobe was fit for someone a lot younger than her. She has to find a point of balance soon.
This was a terrible look, all around. The outfit is heavy, hits her at all the wrong places. Paired with sparkly heels and a sparkly clutch? No. I thought her hair looked terrible – it’s like halfway between a couple of styles, and her makeup was harsh. Overall, one of the worst recent looks for her, IMO.
Not something I would wear but looks fine to me.
Love the individual pieces, but they don’t work together.
This seems to be her issue: nice, even flattering, individual pieces that don’t look good as an outfit. A nice solid black or navy sheath dress with the accessories would have worked here.
It’s a bad look, but the buttons aren’t white. They’re like giant rhinestones. So, the fancy buttons is what makes this an evening look. You can’t wear giant rhinestone buttons during the day, obviously.
Apparently the buttons are bespoke too. So, they’re intentional. The original buttons are different.
The buttons are new. The originals had crowns on!
Lol! I feel like she should have kept the buttons with crowns. She loves to theme dress after all. Maybe that is even too on the nose for Kate.
Honestly, my growing disgust with the BRF has ruined even the fun fashion gossip for me. They are all awful, and I can’t wait until monarchy is a thing of the past.
@OriginalLalla even the Daily Wail hyperbole-spouting lunatics have been calling for a referendum on the monarchy.
I HATE that I find myself in agreement with them!!
Her stylist is on maternity leave. Don’t care for the outfit or accessories, but she otherwise looks great.
Teacher-at-funeral is spot on. Just add some sparkly shoes and it’s perfect for a night out! I mean, neither item is bad on its own, but worn together, it’s a giveaway that a stylist did NOT assemble this.
It’s sort of like someone tried to follow the instructions in a magazine for making a look translation from day to night. Start with your teacher dress, put on some sparkly accessories, take your hair out of the bun, use lots of eyeliner, and bam! You’re ready to go out on the town. Kate just forgot to make sure the accessories actually match the outfit at all in any way, and she chose a dress that doesn’t transition well either.
She actually looks gorgeous. She reminds me a bit of Brooke Shields here
From the neck up.
I think she looks beautiful
I don’t think the sparkly texture of the shoes work with the tweed texture of the dress, and the skirt part of the dress seems a bit bulky. The fabric must be really thick. Midi dresses are ok if they’re flowing but not when it goes into lampshade/potato sack territory.
I hope they took away the mental health messages of the show. And the one about how lies can get out of control and have horrible consequences. I’m kidding myself, I know.
The dress and shoes/accessories look like they came from two entirely different outfits.
@Belli That would require humility, self-examination and a willingness to listen. Do you think they have the capacity for any of the above?
Perhaps we could run a struggle survey on it
What….huh….I do not get this at all. 😳
I can’t help but think of Dorothy in the wizard of Oz with those shoes. What a jarring mishmash of awfulness from top to bottom. She is the Queen of Frump. .
Shoes and bag are great but the dress is SO matronly and so dated. It looks like something that a 56-year-old woman would wear in 1957. I don’t understand her style half of the time. The only time she looks comfortable is when she wears sporty, outdoorsy looks which is fine, we all do, but she is 38 now, how is it possible that she is still so uncomfortable wearing more elegant or professional clothes? It’s probably the lack of life/work experience.
The buttons look Silver/sparkly to me? And I actually think the clutch and shoes tie it together, but the length of the dress ruins it. It is too long and looks awkward at that fit and material. I think it would have been better just below the knee.
That’s what I think, too the buttons are silver sparkley and that’s why she added the shoes and clutch
Also for a “bespoke” dress (notice NO hint about the cost!) we shouldn’t be a pro see the hook clasp at her waistline. Tacky
BUT SHE IS NOT ALLOWED TO WEAR BLACK BECAUSE ROYAL PROTOCOL!!!!
(/snark off)
She looks as though she’s been raiding her mother’s wardrobe
Granny’s wardrobe.
Hm, i thought the dress was really pretty and she looked good. The shoes are
Silver to blue ombre so they do match.
Shes not freshly ‘toxed’… just the lighting was that good. U could see all her forhead lines once she was inside.
I do love glitter and sparkles but I think it’s a tad too much. Swap out the clutch for something not sparkly and I would like it. Also that dress looks really heavy. Reminds me of that black dress Meghan wore in November (event is escaping me)
It also looks pretty itchy to me lol!
From the neck up I think she looks great. The dress and the shoes are a no for me. The material is wrong for evening and the shoes don’t match anything at all…
What’s wrong with her face ?? Her smile looks crooked and manic . She looks exactly like her wax figure with crooked smile. What’s going on with her face is not normal. Her fake and forced smile is very obvious.
She looks awful. Her shoes look nice though. Even though they dont match her funeral dress. William is ugly no matter what. But some of that tension. Ouch.
The dress just doesn’t suit the event. She should have saved it for the Festival of Remembrance- it would have been perfect for that.
Blimey!!so the buttons are bespoke meaning she actually ASKED for them to put it there!!!🤦♀️
This whole outfit is matrony fashion overdrive! Who wears sparkly heels with black tweed?!!
I agree. Who pays extra to put diamanté buttons on a midi length tweed dress? Especially a dress not meant for an evening wear. She really has no clue, does she? SMH
Another day, another event where William and Kate don’t even acknowledge each other’s presence.
On the website this is called “The Evening Dress” so I think it was meant specifically for evening.
This was meant to go under another comment that seems to have moved. Sorry, iPhone problems. Lol.
She never knew how to accessorize an outfit, silver glitter heels with a black tweet dress, it just produced a huge contrast in her look.
Some women are naturally glamorous, elegant and sophisticated, Kate is not one of them. And all this propaganda done around her to improve her image compared to Meghan becomes ridiculous and ambarrasedement. People have eyes so can see that Kate is just a pretty girl .We can’t distinguishes her among other pretty girls because she have nothing of special about her or her personnality. And she becomes transparent even more quickly when another girl with personality, look and intelligence arrives on her world.
Thanks I hate it
Kate looks healthier in the face, I don’t know if she gained weight or got some new work done but I’m pleased that she looks less drawn.
I can see where she was going with this outfit in thinking that the silver thread in the dress, buttons and clutch would tie in with the shoes but it doesn’t work.
That material & cut is so heavy, it looks like a coat dress and like she should be wearing something more svelte underneath. I dislike the buttons, without them the look would’ve stood a better chance. A slimmer fit boat neck with a knee-length skirt in a slightly brighter black/blue & silver fabric.
Get a new style team, Kate.
I like the outfit actually and think it works for a night out in February. The buttons have photographed as white in some pics but they’re not, I don’t mind the clutch I think a little something sparkly always works for a night at the theater but she should have gone with other shoes
You know what, let’s talk about Bill and his 200 blue suits that he owns. He needs a change up, stat.
That green velvet jacket he wore some time ago needs another appearance because I thought he looked decent in it.
And as, I think we can pretty much agree, his suits are bespoke, those 200 suits will cost a minimum of £5,000 (I’m going off Gieves and Hawks’ prices: one of London’s oldest tailors, the acme of male elegance, who even parked a yacht near the Crimea during the Crimean War so that gentlemen officers could have their uniforms tailored properly). At least 100,000 has been spent on his suits alone, therefore, before we even get into the cost of his shoes (which are probably made for him by Lobb or at least, Church’s. They create lasts of your feet so every pair of handmade shoes is fitted exactly to your unique specifications). And his shirts, ties, cravats, waistcoats. Charles’s tailoring bill is likely to be even more frightening.
But let’s count every penny Meghan spends, eh?
These pieces are fine individually but do not work together at all. Her posture is still awful, I see. And their body language is awkward and uncomfortable. But her face looks slightly less gaunt, so there’s something.
I thought she looked pretty good here in that she didn’t look manic, her smile seems less strained. It’s been painful to see her look so stressed during all her recent engagements. The contrast to this event is striking
Listen, I’m all for women coming back into the workforce should they chose to do so after having a baby. 100%, but… Natasha Archer should have stayed on maternity leave.
Those spectators in lounge clothes live vicariously through Kate lol.
Nice dress, looks pricey.
Kaiser I agree with you! THe BP sound like a broken record “Westerners are loud and glamorous and British so quiet and shy and downplay themselves”. Like they’re trying to get it through our skulls, I’ve met MANY westerners who are self effacing and insecure and Brits who are brash and drunk and chavs. This is the divide and conquer strategy Brits used t conquer the world, but people of average intelligence are too awoken to fall for that anymore, no one wants to be their slaves. People are people no matter where you are.
Everything is so heavy and ugh. Combined with that thick curtain of hair and terrible posture she looks like she’s being weighed down. Kate has never been fashionable though. Boo to everyone who ran Meghan off, I miss seeing glamour at these events.
The dress is fine but not something I would have worn to this type of event. I watched the video of them arriving, and they both didn’t seem like they were the happiest. Stress behind the scenes?
I also had a question about her bespoke dresses. Do you notice that no one comments on the amount it costs? Is the bespoke on purpose so that there are no price tags that can be added? I feel like with Meghan, every article would mention the exorbitant cost of her outfit, but nothing here…
I’m indifferent about Kate, but I absolutely love this look.
I don’t mind either piece – dress or the shoes- but not together. She has worn those shoes before but never with the right outfit. Maybe with a slick pant suit would be better.
Yeah, this outfit is wack.
Don’t even hate it — it’s fine, but looks like something the grandma-of-the-bride would wear.
Aw I like this dress.
I like how her thought process went – I’m going to a musical – Eponine is a character in a musical! Lol
I am constantly surprised at how much i disagree with opinions on Kate’s fashion. Usually i think it’s dated. I think this is the best she’s looked in ages.
Right? I like it.
This dress looks like an expensive version of the Duggar uniform. I love glitter but not with that monstrosity.
Millions of outfits, millions of accessories, and this is what she comes up with? She has no fashion sense. Her admirers can “make her happen” but she just IS NOT HAPPENING.
Kate and William have zero chemistry together. At this point, they are people who are married and live in the same house and share children. I bet they live entirely separate lives are “together” for work events only, all other times they are ships passing in the night. . .
I don’t think they live in the same house.
Really? Who lives where? They certainly seem like they don’t live in the same house/location.
I actually really like this look. I thought it was perfect for the event and I even liked the accessories. Perhaps I am ill…
Kate has never met a button that she didn’t love.
LOL!
You know, I like Catherine and her dress.
I have a thick wool dress like that I bought from Zara in December. It has black buttons all the way down it. I love it. It makes me feel Victorian gothic. The more I pack for America, the more I realize the disconnect between American fashion and European. I wear it in Paris and no looks twice. If I wore it in America I’d probably get looks.
Kate has horrible dress sense and her styling is always so so bad but her dress isn’t out of place in this part of the world.
Why would you get looks in America?
Hello Mumsy.
Her biggest fashion faux pas is her electric blue arm candy.