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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think wearing a £2600 dress is vulgar?

301 replies

CloudsofBrick · 28/10/2015 12:25

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 Confused

OP posts:
Branleuse · 28/10/2015 15:20

im not sure what else youd expect from the royal family. The queen has a posh hat costing more than that. The whole fucking family are hideos

Branleuse · 28/10/2015 15:20

hideous even

HopefulAnxiety · 28/10/2015 15:21

I'd imagine that fabric is silk or a silk mix. Not cheap if ethical.

Agreed that it looks a bit off - the same fabric in a v-neck column dress would have looked much better but I guess it's the 70s thing. I think a more 70s/peasanty top half would have worked better for her though.

Her hair there bothers me more!

DinosaursRoar · 28/10/2015 15:23

MrsDeVere - sadly, I've seen the frock photographed from several angles on my FB feed with friends saying "WTF is she wearing?" - it looks just as bad in every photo, with a couple of them the way it's caught making her look a little fatter than she is.

It's the sort of dress that looks a bit like she was made to wear it, like she said "yes, I'll wear whatever you want to make for me" to her friend and then had to grin and bare it when she opened the dress bag, rather than offend a friend.

HopefulAnxiety · 28/10/2015 15:25

Branleuse have you read the last couple of pages? The Queen's hats are custom-made by specialist milliners. The hours and hours of work put into that - millinery is a specialised form of dressmaking - will be what put the costs up, along with good quality fabrics.

I am anti-monarchy as an institution, but the reality is that we should all pay more for our clothes and especially handcrafted ones.

StrawberryTeaLeaf · 28/10/2015 15:25

Grin @ MrsD searching for the upsides.

Ooooh OP is green. So very, very green.

I doubt it. So many people are so aware of austerity ATM and have been for years. I imagine she just literally thought 'all that money for that dress'.

I tend to agree with her now that I've had a proper look Smile

TalkinPease · 28/10/2015 15:27

Anybody want their own one?
erdem.com/shop/lucetta-gown-hibiya-orchid/

GingerIvy · 28/10/2015 15:28

Double, not sainsburys, waitrose surely?

I just came home from Waitrose, and didn't see one formal flowery dress being worn. Maybe it's just for "Friday night formals" shopping? Grin

My theory on her hair is that she will not cut it for quite some time, as with a shorter haircut, people may start making comparisons to Diana (as her hair was usually in a shorter style), saying she is trying to look like her, and the PR people may be worried she'll be savaged over it.

It must be quite a fine tightrope she's walking, as she's being judged against Diana and Sarah Ferguson and what they wore and how they acted. I can understand why she might "hide" her personality and personal style a bit more for when she is "off camera" to keep some privacy for herself. No matter what she wears, she is criticised.

decisionsdecisions123 · 28/10/2015 15:31

Wow Talkin some of those dresses on the Selfridges site have crazy prices and crazy designs!

I am sure it does take a long time to sew the designs, add the glittery stuff by hand, pay people decent wages etc etc but at the end of the day, its still a crazy way to spend your money!

I just cant understand why anyone would feel the need to have a dress that had been laboured over for days on end, especially when they are probably only going to wear it once or twice and hide it away in a cupboard after that. I also cant understand why anyone would want to spend that much time making such a dress but anyway, everyone's different.

I treated myself to 2 pairs of socks today for £2.50. Whoop whoop!

HopefulAnxiety · 28/10/2015 15:31

Talkin ok the v-neck on that version improves it no end! I guess as a royal she has to dress more conservatively, but a surplice bodice would have made it so much better.

Italian fabric explains part of the expense.

CarrotVan · 28/10/2015 15:34

Jeez but there's some hideous stuff at Erdem. And it's an Italian jacquard fabric.

The only dress I sort of like is this one and then only if I have a time machine to take me back to colonial Singapore and I can prop up the bar at Raffles and drink pink gins

Potatoface2 · 28/10/2015 15:35

dont be silly.....she certainly didnt pay for that dress......the general public paid for it out of their tax!.....so we all own it :)

itsmine · 28/10/2015 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HopefulAnxiety · 28/10/2015 15:37

decisions it's generally more ethical to have more expensive, better-produced clothes (not all expensive clothing is better produced) and have fewer of them, than lots of fast fashion. I don't see how it's any crazier than spending money on artwork or cars - the top end of fashion is essentially wearable art.

As for why people spend so much time making a dress, it's an artisanal craft like any other - people spend hours making the best wine, the best art, the best cars etc etc and I don't see why clothing should be any different. I also wonder if you'd find a £2600 custom tailored Savile Row suit more reasonable than a £2600 dress? For some reason men's tailoring is considered to be 'worth more'.

CarrotVan · 28/10/2015 15:37

The skirt on the Erdem website is different too. It's only got the hideous gathered tier at the sides and back I think.

Which means she was wearing a customised hideous and badly fitted frock

ooerrmissus · 28/10/2015 15:40

In all honesty if I was going to have a millionty photographers swarming over me and a gazillion photos of me in the press every time I went out, I'd spend a darn sight more than that on my frocks.

And I wouldn't make them out of curtains. either.

HopefulAnxiety · 28/10/2015 15:40

She should have just gone with the standard one!

CarrotVan · 28/10/2015 15:41

The standard one is nicer - just

QueenPotato · 28/10/2015 15:50

All for some restyling, but please not the cliché of the short haircut, and a short dress with boots as formal evening wear is nearly as clichéd and inappropriate.

Ach I know what I mean! I'm not talking about a Julia Roberts in pretty woman short dress and boots. I mean like how someone like Carey Mulligan, Diablo Cody or Michelle Williams might do it.

ExConstance · 28/10/2015 15:57

I'm proud to think that in this country there are designers and dressmakers capable of producing garments made of beautiful material and stunningly beautiful and well made. If people like KM didn't buy or loan them we would have no jobs for these skilled individuals and they would have to design crappy polyester stuff for Next, which would be very sad all round.

sparechange · 28/10/2015 16:02

Erdem is one of the leading lights of ethical fashion

The standard one has a low neckline. The Daily Fail readers would have been clutching their pearls and criticising her for flashing too much cleavage. A few of the Jenny Packham dresses she has worn have had a boob-coverup panel inserted as well...

decisionsdecisions123 · 28/10/2015 16:03

I don't think there's anything much ethical about charging thousands of pounds for a dress/suit/item of clothing unless you're using it to pay all your workers like cleaners and those at the very bottom a really decent wage but I imagine it just goes towards the pockets of the already rich.

Isn't it just making fashion conscious people feel the need to part with even more of their cash? I don't see anything ethical in that, though I do understand that buying better quality is better than buying lots of cheap fall apart stuff but there really is no need to ever have a dress or suit costing thousands of pounds. I can understand buying yourself a really nice wedding outfit or a fancy dress for a special occasion but I imagine the kind of people who can spend that much money on a dress that doesn't even look very nice doesn't just have 1 or 2 high price dresses. I still say its a total waste and really not that ethical at all unless the money is being fairly shared out which I really doubt it is.

Original poster
CloudsofBrick · 28/10/2015 16:06

Soooo, lots of responses there! Thank you to those of you who agree I'm not being a complete knobhead Grin

To clarify a few points raised:

  • just because I question the price of a dress does not mean I'm bitter or jealous. Probably more jealous of these types who get to backpack around the world than celebs TBH.
  • this wasn't a K Middz bashing thread, it just so happened she was the subject of the story I saw.
  • my thoughts on this also stretch to men and women who spend ridiculous amounts of suits, handbags and shoes.
  • yes, This Morning was on in my house today, but in the background while I was cleaning (hope that gets me off the hook with daytime tv - watching vulgarity!)
  • I do love a nice bit of clothing, and if it is ethically sourced and handmade then it's obviously going to cost a bit more and be worth it. However, I'm the sort of person who panics over buying a pair of £40 shoes.

Finally, I had no idea Mumsnetters were such royalists!

OP posts:
TalkinPease · 28/10/2015 16:07

decisions
I don't think there's anything much ethical about charging thousands of pounds for a dress/suit/item of clothing unless you're using it to pay all your workers like cleaners and those at the very bottom a really decent wage but I imagine it just goes towards the pockets of the already rich.

Did you look at the approximate costing I posted ?
accountant not seamstress BTW

OurBlanche · 28/10/2015 16:08

KMiddz?

Huh?

Royalists?!!