Before you read the title and assume the royal marriage is now defunct, read on. Kate is still very much married to Britain’s most eligible bachelor and she still has to curtsey before the woman with a penchant for pastels and lady like handbags: Queenie.
But the woman: our future- squeakily clean and perfect dimple sporting – queen has recently come into the spotlight for matters other than her immaculate Reiss and Whistles ensembles. Simultaneous firing from the fashion gentry, criticising Kate’s elevated style status, overindulged eyeliner and ‘thrifty’ trait has been interesting. See, in fashion, it is believed some people have the ‘right’ to comment and reflect, while others should silence their opinions for lack of a Vogue subscription.
In my opinion: Kate Middleton is good at being as normal as they get. ‘They’ being the girls, who shop in local supermarkets, wear the same dress on more than one occasion and even agree to wear silly hats to match their husbands – who in Kate’s case just happens to be a prince. That’s all. If anything, there is a heightened need for Kate to maintain normality when reflecting on the haunting past of her late mother-in-law.
In an interview with Sunday Times magazine, fashion veteran Vivienne Westwood spoke of her disagreement with Kate’s heavily kohl-rimmed eyes. This followed on from the comments made by Dutch design duo, Viktor & Rolf, who pleaded with Kate to de-kohl in order to let her natural beauty shine though. A fair criticism, considering there have been times I have seen images of Kate with her eye makeup looking stark in comparison to her rosy complexion, but you have to applaud her confidence for going DIY with the makeup brushes – even on her wedding day!
But it isn’t so much Kate’s makeup skills that are to blame for the critics’ insomnia. Only last week, Kelly Osbourne (someone guilty of previous fashion faux pas, aplenty) slated Kate’s dress recycling habits on the Tonight show, claiming she’s “showing the British public that the Royals are in a recession as well”. I ask, what is so wrong with that? If Vivienne Westwood believes Kate’s image is”ordinary woman”, isn’t recycling to mix and match looks in a recession-stricken climate exactly what ordinary women revel in? For being married to an affluent man doesn’t require the habits Kate has probably had for all her unmarried life to suddenly become disposable. This is who she is.
Her preference to honour the high street, her love of recycling dresses and the mere fact she refused to take a stylist with her on the Royal Tour of Canada speak volumes about the personality Kate wants the public, who adore her so much, to become acquainted with. It is her normality that won us (and Prince William) over to begin with and made the labels she so easily adopted profitable.
So as I think over the immense pressure Kate endures to reverse the process and be ‘normal’ as opposed to Gaga, I can’t help but second what Matthew Williamson told the Telegraph: “I don’t know why everyone in fashion is waiting to see what she wears. I’m, like, thinking: get over it”.
