Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
Over the Summer, we heard that Anna Wintour had given London based designers a brief: your muse must be the Duchess of Cambridge. It has already been shown that, like it or not, our new royal sells clothes in unprecedented numbers. If she wears it, a certain kind of everyday-stylish blow-dry obsessed girl/woman will want it.
The Duchess of Cambridge is under considerable pressure to wear British designers so it makes sense for them to play to her clearly demonstrated taste levels. But they can't explicitly write 'This is for you, Duchess Kate' on their show notes now can they?
The Duchess has already dipped her toe in the water of experimenting the current London line-up by choosing Erdem to wear for stepping off the plane as she embarked on her Canadian tour. This initial promise though failed to materialise as she stuck mostly to old faithfuls Issa, Temperley and McQueen for the remainder of her time away (apart from another Erdem dress for morning prayer on Day 3)
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| Kate, in Erdem, and William arrive in Canada (image from Daily Mail) |
So, how did the London crew approach Wintour's call to arms? It is likely that the idea of using Catherine as their woman might grate, she's hardly on the cutting edge of glamour and modernity in those nude heels and fascinators is she? Well, we noticed a number of references to a kind of deranged housewife figure. The next chapter in a book begun by January Jones' Betty Draper. And actually, at the moment, that is how many people see the Duchess because she is overwhelmingly defined in the public eye by her role as wife. We don't know what she thinks or what she's passionate about. So, in my first attempt at replicating the previous Fashion Junior's Big Head feature, I have scoured images from the past few days to see what we might be seeing HRH in next Summer, and she'll have a lot to dress for what with the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations....
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| Burberry- Kate and Wills were engaged in Kenya so she might be quite taken with this Kanga print |
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| Clements Ribeiro. Lace is a sure hit with the Duchess |
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| She already likes Erdem, florals and shifts so this is a must-buy |
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| Giles does classic Princess-y shapes |
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| Kate is Issa'a number 1 fan but this would be a change from the slinky wraps she usually chooses from the label |
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| Sara Buys, Harper's Fashion Director and a relation by marriage of Kate's, chose Osman for her outfit to the Royal Wedding so surely on the radar |
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| The most Kate worthy dress from Peter Pilotto's offering |
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| Add heels and a fascinator and ta da, a classic K-Mid wedding outfit from Richard Nicoll |
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| Daytime prettiness from Jonathan Saunders |
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| Perfectly demure for a black tie event, again from Jonathan Saunders. |
I don't even need to add a head to this, it has vintage Duchess Kate written ALL over it...
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| Issa |
And what she won't be wearing....
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Meadham Kirchhoff weren't bowing to Wintour's memo, and good for them!
Images from catwalking.com |
