To think wearing a £2600 dress is vulgar?

[CloudsofBrick]

According to This Morning (I'm on half term with a rare child - free day, don't judge) Kate Middleton was wearing some designer flowery thing for a night out this week that cost £2600.

AIBU in feeling slightly sick at the thought of a garment costing so much? Especially when that is almost two month's wages for me.

Even if I got rich, I swear I would never feel comfortable spending that sort of money on clothes

Lots of comments about her being able to do what she likes with HER money, and that people who EARN more spend more...hmmm. Do I have a problem with someone working lots of hours in overtime to get that designer handbag that they've craved for years? No. Do I have a problem with the taxes of people who are scraping by going towards a £2600 dress? Yes. It came out a few years ago that Prince Charles pays for Kate's wardrobe allowance, so the taxpayer is funding her extravagance. Kate is a modern day Marie Antoinette.

I'm not surprised that KM would wear a dress worth that - but I am surprised that that dress is worth that. It looks like something I could run up on my sewing machine with a JL dress pattern and some silky material.

Is it not the state's money however? How are the Royals funded after all?
And in anyone's world £2,600 is a LOT for a dress.

In a week where all the debate is about how much less working families are going to get due to the tax credit debacle, I'm not at all surprised the OP is a bit sickened.

Quite surprised more of you aren't tbh

I bought a pair of LK Bennett sky high nude stiletto heeled shoes for £25 in Boundary Mill. LK Bennett also have very good sales

QueenBean you are so right about the hair. She'd look great with a lighter hair/make up/tan look in general.

If I was rich I'd have handmade shoes and beautiful, well made clothes with lots of high end fabrics and gorgeous tailoring. I rather like Victoria Beckham's design line but it's not for those of us with hips (too many peplums and other features in the hip area). There seem to be some gorgeous heavy jersey semi-structured, very simple but beautifully cut things around at the moment with cowl necks or simple knot features

I think it's pretty mind blowing that a dress can cost so much tbh.

I agree with harshbuttrue1980. That said, I doubt she paid for it, it was probably loaned or donated by the designer in return for publicity.

The dress is horrible. But YABVU.

wilting
Kate is funded by the Duchy of Cornwall : money that came from the UK taxpayers hundreds of years ago and nowt to do with Gideon and Dave

Vim
Nope. She pays. Or at least Chazza does.

AIBU in feeling slightly sick at the thought of a garment costing so much? Especially when that is almost two month's wages for me

Even if I got rich, I swear I would never feel comfortable spending that sort of money on clothes confused

The OP's post was pretty mild and doesn't justify the pile-on.

Comments like 'mean' 'jealous' and 'bitter' are just mindless and nasty, as well as being totally unjustified as far as I can see.

Obviously most people can't afford to be wearing a £2000 dress when they attend events....but if I could, then I would!!
The only time I've ever worn what I consider a very expensive dress, was on my wedding day. Our wedding cost £4000, and nearly a third of that was spent on my dress. I was scared of ruining it the whole day purely because I had spent the equivalent of a month's wages on it.
And as PP's have said, she only wears dresses by British designers, gets splashed across the world's press wearing said dresses, and then the insanely rich from around the world think "Ooo Kate Middleton is wearing such-and-such's desing...I want it!" and boost our economy! I don't see a problem!

I think she (or rather, her stylist) achieves a good mix of high street, mid-range designer and couture.

Also I don’t credit her for having too much, er, style per se, or that she has much autonomy about the designers she chooses or the price points of her outfits for appearances. Her whole wardrobe is probably picked out for her (eg., a selection of three or so complete outfits for each event), with minimal input from her.

2011
Royal Lackey: “So, Catherine, after much discussion we’ve decided that you’re going to wear both high street and designer clothes. So soon after a recession we can’t have you walking about in Chanel wiping your nose with £50 notes. It wouldn’t look good.”
Stylist: “Uhuh. Now, have you ever heard of Reiss?”
Catherine: “Yeah, I think it’s ok.”
S: “Good because you’re going to be wearing a lot of it. Supporting the British high street and all that.”
RL: “We noticed you liked LK Bennet shoes so we’ve bought you twenty pairs of the same style. We’re going for ‘stylish but thrifty’” [unveils moodboard]
C: “….there’s a lot of neutrals.”
S: “I know dahling, but nobody hates beige.”

The dress may be given to her but I very much doubt it is "loaned" and after wearing it she returns it with a thank you note :)

It's not a nice dress at all - a bit monsoon.

Someone wrote "What irritates me more is those who sanctimoniously say that even if they had loads of money they still wouldn't spend that amount on a dress. I imagine they'd probably donate their entire wealth to a foodbank and sit outside it wearing a flour sack telling everyone what a nice person they are. I'd spend that, and more, if I had the money."

I could afford that but I spend my money on other things. I have an internal limit above which I wouldn't go for particular items.
Same with business class on flights - i could afford it but I don't choose to. We all pick our spending priorities.

Lovely - I believe she has done that before now - it's a way to get round the 'no freebies' rule. And she has apparently got "agreements" with some designers, multiple item orders being given a discount - in effect that might mean some of the items are free, but does means she's paid something for everything. Plus so many of her outfits are altered so much from the orginal design for her, it's easier to 'hide' a discount as you arent comparing like with like.

Actually, while it is very 'Monsoon', this dress is very much "pre-princess Kate" - she did have a passion for flowery "mumsy" dresses in her early20s, she had a wacking great budget from her parents, but she bought expensive, but flowery and not very stylish dresses when left to her own devises. There's lots of photos of her in similar stuff with less well groomed hair and a fresher face from those days. Sadly, I think it's safe to say they'd be more of this sort of god-awful outfit without having been taken in hand by a style team...

I think it could could be vulgar but that says more about the person wearing the dress than the actual dress. I don't think that Kate is vulgar, a little dull but I suspect that is part of the job.

I have spent that much on evening dresses, I probably am a bit vulgar but that is not just about the dress but my general persona and how society views "common" people with a bit of cash.

While I dislike the dress under discussion I like the fact that she is wearing British and keeping expensive UK seamstresses etc in work (assuming it hasn't been made in the far east and just designed in the UK) and also think it's great to see her being a bit adventurous for a change! It's a miss, that dress, but at least it is fun for once!

Kate does not just wear British fashion either.

YANBU. Mainly because she does nothing useful so just wearing a pretty dres when times are hard and people are starving in Syria makes her seem crass and vulgar. Even so, she is a lot more use than those other Princesses - Beatrice and Eugenie.

I used to have a dress like that!

My Mum made it for me from a Simplicity pattern.

What she wears to charity events has a direct correlation to the publicity the charity gets from her appearance - and therefore the funds they raise from it.

The more photos of Kate in the papers, the better it is for the charity. And wearing an expensive glamorous frock is clearly key to that. Whether or not she paid for it herself.

Plus the boost she is also giving to the fashion industry.

I don't think a flowery dress has to be mumsy or unstylish though. It's about the fabric/print and the cut playing off each other. If you have Monsoony, mumsy fabric then you can keep the cut modern/simple/edgy and unflouncy, that sets up a tension between them and could be very fashiony and "statement".

On the other hand, mumsy Monsooony fabric, flouncy cut and long, big hair and court shoes. AND heavy eyeliner. And you are in mumsyland.

Roaring but that criticism could be levelled at most upper/ upper middle class mothers who are at home with their children and have nannies etc.

I don't have staff but I don't do proper work and have the audacity to have nice things, that does not make me somehow complicit in the refugee crisis.

Mind you, it IS a hideous dress.

QueenPotato - no, you can have flowery and not mumsy, it's just that Kate appears to have a rather a soft spot for a mumsy dress.