Princess Kate has ‘got this big new title, and she’s dressing for that job’

Every few months, there are stories about the Princess of Wales’s newfound keenness and her promise to do more at some point in the future. That’s been the pattern for more than a decade. Alongside the “promises to be keen” stories, we’re gifted with “Kate’s updated style” stories every six months or so. It’s like they can’t admit that Kate’s always had terrible style and she’s constantly copying other women’s style (badly). It’s always “Kate is finally dressing for her new keen vibe!” These stories are the same kind of treading-water go-nowhere busywork of Kate’s Early Years campaign. Besides, I don’t think anyone should be in the business of pointing out how drastically Kate’s style changed the second Harry married Meghan. But here we are.

Kate Middleton is shaking things up when it comes to her style. “I think this is her power moment — she’s easing into the Princess of Wales role and that promotion that she’s had in such a beautiful way,” Bethan Holt, fashion director at the Daily Telegraph tells PEOPLE, adding: “She’s got this big new title, and she’s dressing for that job.”

Not only did Kate, 41, move up the family hierarchy by becoming the Princess of Wales after Queen Elizabeth died in September, but last month saw the royal mom launch her Shaping Us initiative, an awareness campaign on the importance of early childhood, which resulted in a flurry of fashion-forward outfits in quick succession. The most glamorous ensemble was a scarlet red Alexander McQueen pantsuit that Kate wore to a pre-campaign launch event at BAFTA headquarters in London on Jan. 30.

“We’ve seen her do tailoring before but what I really loved about the red suit was that she was wearing it to an evening event,” says Holt. “I loved seeing that kind of spicy experimentation, it almost had a slight Studio 54 vibe to it. She was wearing that suit for the launch of an initiative that is her passion project — red is the color of passion, it was a big moment on her CV.”

“It was all about her, and I think that’s such a telling gesture from William that he was happy for her to take center stage and share the limelight with her, rather than the other way round,” says Holt.

Tailored pants have been a go-to for Kate in recent months, a departure from the fit-and-flare feminine dresses the royal was once so closely associated with. It’s a shift that fashion insiders have noted and applauded.

“I think what’s really interesting is how it’s taken quite a serious slant. There’s a lot of very polished tailoring, and it’s a very sleek silhouette — I really think it marks a new era in her royal life,” says Holt. While the style shift may be subtle, the messages behind her new look couldn’t be stronger.

“She might not be able to say to us, ‘Look, my life is now completely different — my husband and I are one step closer to the biggest job of our lives,’ but she is saying all of that through her fashion choices,” says Holt. “Kate has this platform, and she is out there on her own, nailing it.”

[From People]

Jesus, what is this woman smoking? “She is out there on her own, nailing it.” Ah, yes – Kate is on her own, with only a humble closet full of wigs, button-slathered ensembles, ruffled Alessandra Rich monstrosities, a full glam squad and a Meghan mood-board. While I acknowledge that Kate’s style silhouette has changed a lot over the past five years, it’s glaringly and creepily obvious that Kate has found a crazy amount of inspiration from the sister-in-law she considers her nemesis.

“Tailored pants have been a go-to for Kate in recent months, a departure from the fit-and-flare feminine dresses the royal was once so closely associated with…” Kate’s fashion history is a lot more tortured than they’re describing – Kate used to copykeen QEII, she used to copykeen Jecca Craig, and as always, she was obsessed with copying Diana’s old looks too. There is so much Diana-inspo ‘80s style stuff in her closet. Then she went through a childish ruffles/Mary Quant phase, and who can forget her Sister Wife prairie dress phase? These days, it’s all about the Meghan mood-board though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

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68 Responses to “Princess Kate has ‘got this big new title, and she’s dressing for that job’”

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  1. Julia K says:

    A grown up woman, defined by the clothes she wears. Sad.

    • Moondust says:

      And yet not a style of her own. Her only signature is buttons….

    • notasugarhere says:

      Which are all copies of things worn by other women around her, making it even more pathetic.

      Moondust, IMO Kate’s button obsession is related to all the buttons Diana wore. Just like her mock military outfits (Remembrance Day, etc.) are nods to Diana outfits. Diana went through buttons, braids, Sgt. Pepper phases.

      • Chloe says:

        @nota: i do think that occasionally she goes for the Diana cosplay (she used to do it more before meghan came) but i also think she just loves the 80’s style. Frills, puff sleeves, buttons, she just really likes it. It’s, I think, much more her own style.

        It’s very obvious that she’s been copying Meghan and that EVERYONE, from her stans to the press, is trying to make it out like it’s HER signature style.

        I really wouldn’t care if it weren’t for the fact that meghan was ripped shreds for wearing pantsuits.

      • notasugarhere says:

        It is a very Marie Antoinette, Cottagecore cosplay for her. But looking back, none of it is her ‘style’ from the earlier years. Much of it is her ‘buttoned up country Miss’ attempt to bury the decade of partying and falling drunk out of clubs image.

    • DouchesOfCambridge says:

      I’M out there in the world nailing it, with pant suits and I don’t even have a title. I didnt realize I could act like such a successful princess.

    • Lux says:

      “[H]er Shaping Us initiative, an awareness campaign on the importance of early childhood, which resulted in a flurry of fashion-forward outfits in quick succession.”

      This says it all, doesn’t it? It resulted in a flurry of—some may argue—“fashion forward” outfits and NOTHING ELSE. The Shaping Us campaign is really about Shaping Kate into her new Top CEO Barbie outfits.

    • Al says:

      I don’t fault women for being defined by their style- if their style is a reflection of their personality and identity. If there is substance behind it, in other words. But what Kate wears is a reflection of … what, exactly?

  2. K8erade says:

    Does anyone else find the emphasis on Kate’s autonomy and independence to be a little weird?

    • Chloe says:

      No. They try to make her into meghan 2.0. Meghan is very much her own woman and had a full life before meghan into that gruesome family. So no they try to make kate out to be some independent lady.

      • Em says:

        Bingo, Chloe!

        It is exactly that. There is a very targeted and concerted effort to erase Meghan and appropriate her strengths onto Kate. It is malicious and, frankly, pathetic and creepy.

        However, it definitely speaks to Kate’s lack of substance, accomplishments, and PERSONALITY. This woman is truly an empty vessel. I’m certain when Meghan was around her mere existence highlighted that fact.

        Kate is a dud and will always be a dud.

  3. Noki says:

    I am guessing she cant have a walk-in-closet at Adelaide!? So do they shuffle her stuff weekly from Kensington!? I don’t think she archives anything yet, because she sometimes pulls things from years ago.

  4. Well the key word here is job. She knows she needs to copy someone who actually knows how to do a job but, unfortunately she is only dressing like someone who knows how to do the job. She will never do the JOB.

  5. girl_ninja says:

    This entire articles is so very CRINGE.

  6. Rapunzel says:

    ““She might not be able to say to us, ‘Look, my life is now completely different…. she is out there on her own, nailing it.”

    They’re making Kate sound like a newly divorced woman getting a post-divorce makeover.

  7. Noodle says:

    They mention her “CV”. I want to see that CV. What action verbs is she using to show off her skills and accomplishments?

    • Dot Gingell says:

      Yachtgirling (seasonal)
      Man Stalking (vocational)
      Accessory Folding (internship with family friend company, P/T, seasonal)
      Faffing About at Family Business (unpaid P/T)
      Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award for Voluntary Pervert Therapy (flashing rear and front bottoms)
      Breeding
      LARPING & Grinning (current role)

  8. HeatherC says:

    Bless her heart, wearing adult clothes as a woman in her 40s.

    Is it a culture thing, Brit vs US because I didn’t find her red suit “spicy”

  9. Tessa says:

    She got it because the heir to heir moved to heir. And because he was born first. She is so shallow just about.outfits and hair. Executive barbie

    • Eurydice says:

      Really this. She got a promotion because someone died and she’ll get another promotion when somebody else dies. What she wears and does in-between is irrelevant.

      • Lorelei says:

        To even call it a “promotion” is so tacky, but I’m sure Kate genuinely believes that’s what it is. She has no idea that promotions are generally (for most of us peasants) based on merit. In which case she would have been fired more than a decade ago, and certainly not promoted.

  10. Jais says:

    Tailored pants and sleek silhouettes? The telegraph’s fashion person is ignoring the elephant in the room. Kate is dressing like her nemesis. Just bc they don’t mention Meghan’s name doesn’t mean it’s not understood.

    • Cessily says:

      Exactly! She knows exactly what she is doing copying Meghan’s wardrobe from events so recent is hard to disguise even for an idiot. Then there is her smug “eat shit” smiles looking directly at the cameras that just irritate the hell out of me. There were so many of those photos with her in the Red suit cosplay vanity project it was out of control.. she has serious mental health issues far beyond being an inadequate jealousy driven mean girl turned bitter bitch of a woman. Her wardrobe costs are sickening she should be ashamed of herself but she’s far to shallow to grasp that.

  11. zebz says:

    The thing about kate copying meghan is, that meghans clothes are NEVER the only thing talked about at an event. Kate doesnt give the reporters or public what they need. There is no charming moment, quotable statement, interesting interaction, nothing. Hence they have to talk about her clothing. Look at meghans white blazer black pants event for example. The event went viral, and it wasnt because of her outfit. It was because of what she said and did at the event. Thats the difference. Kate keeps trying to recreate Meghans viral moments and she doesnt have it in her.

    • Amy Bee says:

      Exactly. KP and Kate don’t get this. They are now refusing to give information about her clothes to the press in the hope that they would focus on her work but she doesn’t give them anything to talk about other than what she’s wearing.

    • JoJo says:

      Well, to be fair, recently there’s been…The Notebook (labelled..notebook…?): The, ever popular, wandering eyebrow: The creepy claymotion reveal: The upside down milk carton and the 1.5 hugs (sorry that first one just looked like a beta-test half-hug to me). All strong contenders to provide a couple of non-clothing related paragraphs.

  12. ChillinginDC says:

    I am surprised she hasn’t asked her supporters to stop doing articles talking about her clothes. Shows not much substance IMHO

    • MsIam says:

      KP tried that remember? But I guess the Rota realized they couldn’t pass two sentences off as an article, so back to business as usual.

  13. Sophie says:

    Oh, look, a grown-up woman has learned how to dress professionally (or tries to), something that most of us has mastered in our 20s! Am I supposed to be impressed? Oh, and please bring back the sister wife dresses just for the absurd & fun factor!

  14. Becks1 says:

    I have never seen an article like this written about anyone else. It’s just not normal. They are praising her for……wearing a red pantsuit to an evening event, like she has just cured cancer or something.

    I do “like” how this article ignores that Kate’s style changed notably well before the Queen died, so it has nothing to do with being Princess of Wales. It’s because of Meghan.

    • Mary Pester says:

      Yes LOOK we have a biggly WIGly grown up woman who has decided that copying Megan is the way to go. FFS, can’t these idiots realise by now that we can see right through all this media hype. Khate wouldn’t have and couldn’t have an original thought if it smacked her in her botoxed face!! Diana wore buttons, so Khate must wear buttons (to keep Williams mummy fixation going), Megan wears red, so Khate must wear red, to keep both hers and Williams obsession with Megan going. Harry and Megan both have strong grounding in conservation, so bullshting Billy does earthsht. Megan does the importance of young children and babies, so Khate does shaping us (no, I have no idea what this is either), Harry has his well child charity, stand by, stand by, Khate and William will launch something similar as. Harry went to Africa for his conservation work, William went. It’s getting so predictable and boring now. Harry and Megan are GENUINE, Billy bully and botox barbie and just pale self interested imitations,and it shows. Foreign tours that fail and empty handed food bank visits are the trademark of these two priced royal plumbs

      • Where'sMyTiara says:

        Remember when KKKate cosplayed Crown Princess Mary of Denmark? There was an article comparing the royals somewhere, and then for two years after that Wonder Wiglet was adding copies of Mary’s style into her QE2/Diana/Grandma’s twee tablecloth cosplay rotation.

      • notasugarhere says:

        She does cosplay CP Mary sometimes. There was one outfit years ago that was exactly the same. It was a short teal coat dress with braid trim down the front (Birger?). They both wore that when expecting. Part of me thinks Mary might have sent her coat dress to Kate as a gift, welcome to the royal maternity club sort of thing. We’ve seen other royal women share clothes, though usually inside the same family.

    • Nic919 says:

      She started shopping for pantsuits after the maternity leave for Louis finished and I think the first exact copy was when she wore a black pantsuit and top to film something for a Christmas event.

    • Em says:

      It is bizarre.

  15. Brassy Rebel says:

    Now they’re telling us that she launched her early years mega project last month. But didn’t she launch it several years ago, and she just keeps relaunching every year because she has no idea what to do next? It gets a new name and different talking points each year but it’s just the same old thing.

    • Cessily says:

      Changing the name to “Shaping Us” and copying Spotifys advertising of Archetypes with Meghan billboard right down to the font and the new website that is creative theft of Archewells website supposed to fool the subjects into thinking it’s all new.

  16. Angelica Schuyler says:

    The sad thing is that Kate will never look good in these outfits she copies because she doesn’t have an ounce of personality to carry any of it, and William would never allow her to. Coat hangers have more personality than Kate. If only she would develop her own style, then she could carry it by just being her (mean, nasty, racist) self. Every time she cosplays someone else (Diana, Meghan, Jecca etc.) it just falls flat.

  17. j.ferber says:

    Brassy Rebel, yes to the re-launch every year, but what, precisely IS that “same old thing” she’s doing? Because for the life of me, I can’t tell. The only discernible message, for me, is, “The first five years of a child’s life are the most important.” Beyond that sentence, there is nothing, literally nothing. So that’s why the story is about the red suit or whatever the eff she’s copied in her clothing from Meghan. So not only does she have no substance to praise, they are really praising Meghan’s style when they praise Kate’s. So Kate is a woman of neither substance nor style. She is a cipher, a non-entity, an invisible woman of senseless babble and stolen chic.

  18. Still In My Robe says:

    “It was all about her, and I think that’s such a telling gesture from William that he was happy for her to take center stage and share the limelight with her, rather than the other way round,” says Holt.

    If only it were all about her initiative….tell me again what anyone in the UK is supposed to do in response to Shaping Us? No, it’s just a fashion show? It’s “All About Kate?”

  19. BeanieBean says:

    Using work language to describe what Kate does really irks: ‘CV’, ‘promotion’, ‘big new title’, ‘dressing for that job’. It’s so insulting to the rest of us who actually work, and on occasion, get promoted because of our work.

    • Scooby Gang says:

      But @BEANIEBEAN – she carries a notebook that says NOTEBOOK on it. So she really is serious about her work. She’s the real deal. 😉

  20. Nic919 says:

    The hilarious part is there has never been a constitutional role for the spouse of the heir and pretending that it is a real job in any way is just a joke. After all there was a period of time when there was no Princess of Wales. Not only did it happen after Diana died, but there was no Princess of Wales prior to Charles getting married nor was there even a Prince of Wales after Edward VIII abdicated.

    It is all made up nonsense.

    • QuiteContrary says:

      The whole monarchy is made-up nonsense.

    • Jais says:

      If all of it’s made up then why does the heir’s wife even have to anything really? So here’s something I’ve always thought about. What if the heir’s wife strait-up doesn’t want to work in a public facing role? Would they just not be able to marry? Like one day, George meets someone and they really do get on but don’t want to have to do these type of events. Not saying this is Kate bc she seems to really enjoy that part. Can the heir marry someone and say well she just wants to be a stay at home mom? Assuming the press would crucify that person.

      • Nic919 says:

        The Windsors had to justify their existence when their Russian cousins got murdered. That’s why they pretend to be about service. It’s also used to justify all the money and homes they get.

        Only the monarch has a constitutional role in the UK. There isn’t even a role for the Prince of Wales. Had there been, they would have had problems during the reign of George VI when none existed.

  21. Linney says:

    I am so sick of these “Kate Comes Into Her Own” articles based on her clothes. Remember the gold monstrosity she wore to some event with the alien hair? There were tons of articles then about how this showed how important and powerful she was. Yeesh! How about these idiots stop writing about her outfits as proof of her “coming into her own”? It’s just gotten so old.

  22. Lizzie says:

    Is she KEEN?????

  23. Amy Bee says:

    I’m sure People had pieces about Meghan breaking protocol by wearing pants. They need to admit that Kate is dressing like Meghan now.

  24. TheWigletOfWails says:

    This is very insidious. Considering that she’s kkkopykeening Meghan and Meghan was abused daily for so called breaches of protocol. At a time when Meghan said the only thing she had control over was her style. KKKate is one sick woman.

  25. Saucy&Sassy says:

    I’ve said it before, but this is a mistake. You can copy someone’s style, but you can’t copy the person. Wails will always be lacking when compared to Meghan. That’s simply a fact and Wails needs to acknowledge it. She’s always going to come in second place. I wish her staff would stop with all of this, create a style specifically for Wails and then let the bm talk about HER style choices. Any positive press she gets then would be hers to own. I have difficulty believing that Wails doesn’t know that positive press now about her ‘style’ is because of Meghan. This is starting to look really sad.

  26. Em says:

    The only good thing about Kate copy-keening Meghan is how hard her attempts flop. Sure, the outfits are similar, but she ALWAYS manages to look awkward and unpolished and..uncool? Meghan has this inherent freshness and chicness about her that Kate can and never will emulate. She just doesn’t wear clothes as well as Meghan and it is so apparent when she is wearing a near-identical outfit. So really…Kate is doing herself NO favors by drawing these comparisons.

    She should try to develop her own unique style that flatters her body type (but we all know that will never happen). I must say, I do agree with those that argue that Kate is, in part, intentionally copying Meghan in an attempt to erase Meghan and our association of her to this style. It is incredibly hostile behavior.

    But ultimately, she should stop the copy-keening because it is simply pathetic.

  27. Over it says:

    Kate must be in full blown panic mode right now. Meghan hasn’t been seen in ages . What is Kate supposed to wear ? Why is Meghan so selfish? Doesn’t she know that princess of keen copying is in need of a new item to add to her stalk book ? I think it would be funny if when Meghan comes out again she is in shorts and sweatpants. Lol. Like I would give good money to see Kate make a sweatsuit work attire acceptable. Lol. If I were Meg I would totally keep doing this for Months to f with Kate head because that B is mental.

  28. susan says:

    the clothes always seem to be wearing HER, not the other way around.

  29. MissTake says:

    Slightly OT: Keen Kate is the patron of the RFU (rugby union) and she was nowhere to be seen on Sunday for the 6 nations match between England and Italy nor the weekend before for the England vs Scotland match, while princess Anne was attending as the patron for Scottish rugby union…maybe she couldn’t find something to wear?

  30. Ms petit says:

    Every time I see that horrible dress, I feel like she’s a walking green screen

  31. The Recluse says:

    Basically, they’re telling British taxpayers to shut up about how much of their money she’s spending and will continue to spend to look the part. Everyone is just supposed to stand back in admiration and praise her for being a fashion plate.

  32. bisynaptic says:

    WTF do tailored pants have to do with being Queen (consort)???

  33. Hannah says:

    That fkn green screen dress 🤮 All things aside. I probably wouldn’t begrudge any woman getting a massive £££ wardrobe increase but she fvcks up every single thing she wears. She gets it wrong every. single. time. I often look at an outfit and think “close, but definitely nope” It’s criminal having that kind of money to spend on clothes and have such shockingly poor taste and personal style

  34. Carolind says:

    After Louis was born Kate apparently asked Queen Elizabeth if she could give up normal engagements for a while. I don’t know was there a timescale on it but it was to be for more than a few months. I think she might have still done the big engagements like all the royals do. Queen Elizabeth refused to let her do this. I think the main royals like Kate definitely need to do engagements; not the niche ones Kate does but meeting all of the people over all of the country. That is the deal for getting to live in beautiful houses with beautiful things.