Royal style & gossip: the Middletonian, the Marklesque and the Maximal!

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Link to previous thread

Link to book group thread, which has the list of books.

And in case you get bored of the royals or they're having a quiet week, here's the Celebrity S&G thread!

Remember, let's critique the clothes without getting too personal about the wearers.

She looks like Rachel Zane, paralegal on Suits was working late, was tossed a clutch bag and heels and was told to run and represent her boss at an awards dinner.

It doesn’t look casual and sexy, it looks contrived and try hard.
Neck up, gorgeous hair and make up
Hips down, slinky and elegant.
Collar to bump. An ill fitting mess.

Another wierd thing - it wasn't a full length occasion?

Do you mean evening dress by "full length"? She is wearing a white shirt and a longish black skirt - not exactly a cocktail dress or an evening gown. I have worn skirts down to my ankles (especially when pregnant) without anyone thinking I was wearing an evening dress.

I still just love those shoes. If I had the money (and anywhere to where something other than boots) I'd hire the Duchess of Sussex to buy my shoes.

Look familiar?

Is a heavily pregnant woman supposed to look sexy?

According to Twitter the Vladimir tiara is currently being exhibited at the Queens Gallery at BP.

Wow, now that's a tiara!

Why is no one sitting her down and saying :
You need a proper stylist
Please focus on promoting British designers
Wear more High Street and spend a lot less
A bit of training in what’s expected in terms of her status and role

It’s astonishing the RF still haven’t learned anything from the Diana and Fergie years.

I really want to love last night's look. As a concept I think it's cool as hell. But I agree with elspeth that** the third trimester possibly just isn't the time to try it. It's interesting though, god love her for doing something different!

I don't like the scraped back hair at all but that's just a personal thing. Don't like it on anyone.

Fifth that montage of Kate is fascinating - I could have sworn she was never seen touching her bump. Naughty press agenda.

Oh bloody bold fail. Wasn't trying to hammer home points, the posters' names were supposed to be in bold

I also think the interview with the anonymous friends about how wonderful Meghan is was ill advised. It is as if she is applying a celebrity strategy to the BRF and all it does is emphasize the difference in the way she does things.

Don't like Meg's outfit at all. It's too tight and gives her camel toe. Also she should have her hair down, it suits her much better.

It is also doing her no favours to keep wearing such expensive outfits, it doesn't help her popularity.

I think leaking stories to the press isn't helping her either. She needs to keep a dignified silence - people will get bored eventually. Instead, she's keeping it all going herself.

I think the friends who spoke out probably Serena Williams, Jessica Mulroney, Abigail Spencer, Priyanka Chopra?

I think it's dreadful. It doesn't fit and looks messy and "un smart". Love the shoes though.

Just buy some normal maternity dresses ffs!!

To be fair to Meghan, she's kept a dignified silence for the last several months and it didn't stop the stories so maybe she thought she'd try a different tactic. She should've just stopped with the story about her father though, the ones about her dogs and cooking for friends go a bit too far.

As for the cost of her clothes, maybe they should all learn to budget. I quite liked the concept of last night's ensemble but looking at pictures today agree it wasn't as tailored as it should've been. There was no need for it to be Givenchy. It's a look that could be replicated with pieces from any brand.

And Kate's evil green dress from earlier in the week cost £2000 but looked like something from the Boden catalogue!

CurlyWurlyTwirly
Your post at 00:19

@CurlyWurlyTwirly Thanks for posting that tiara and reminding me about the exhibition. I must try to get there before it closes. Have always been slightly obsessed by the last of the Romanovs - think it was the Anastasia story wot dunnit!

Well I liked Megans look last night
I don't think she should change her style to 'fit' in with an expected image of the British royal in the way Kate did - she's not Kate and she isn't going to be queen.
But she has got the funds now to have her clothes adjusted to fit beautifully - that would give her a polished look within her own style.
Is that montage of Kate a piece of work by her new communications guy - very clever, much smarter than the article linked to earlier which misses the mark for me.
But really I like the fact that she clearly wears what she wants. There seem to be 2 schools of thought in the style and beauty topic - you need to fit in and wear a 'uniform' from certain shops/colourways that shows you belong to a certain style tribe or sod it - have the confidence to wear what makes you happy. I am of the second group!!!

Well said @drowningincustard - who wants duchess clones? It's nice to see individuality.

Mad about Meghan has been updated with more information about the awards themselves - they sound a very good cause and one Harry is passionate about. There's also some footage of Meghan presenting an award. Her wardrobe choices might be divisive but public speaking seems to be her strength. She sounds comfortable and natural and barely looks down at notes.

Problem is, when Meghan pushes the envelope with her clothes; the headlines are inevitably about that instead of what the event was about.
Likewise, Kate wore a slightly different look with the angry green dress and people are talking about that more than mental health.
There’s a reason why they should tone it down when they are working and save the Marchesa couture and chandelier earrings for private events.
Maybe Meghan thought the shirt / skirt combo was business like, but as pp posted said, if she was non pregnant, I think she would have nailed it. But with her bump, it just looked wrong.

I love Meghan being different to the rest of the Royal women because she IS different. She's not English British, she has had a public awareness in her previous job but from a very different perspective, she is older and will have more established ideas of what she likes and wants to do (and wear).
Bloody good for her not to conform!
I don't meet anyone in rl who has bad things to say. The right wing tabloids and these threads are often very nasty
Sadly I don't move in bespoke clothing/haute couture circles but catwalk collections often look badly fitting to normal people like me, perhaps Megs wants to look as she does (I do agree that she likes to spend £££)

Royal in shirt and long skirt has been done before; but here it looks so much better.
CP Mary in Vogue.

Unfortunately I think that whatever they wear, that's what the press will focus on. Indeed it's the raison d'être of these threads so maybe we are to blame too. But I guess people will always be interested in what royal women in the public eye wear - we had it with Diana in the 80s and then there was Margaret in the 50s. The big difference is that social media wasn't around then!

Also, as @gingercat02 I'm not sure the general public care about the royals that much. We might be in our own little bubble with these threads!

Meghan is clearly an intelligent and articulate woman, she is also very beautiful but she has missed the mark with her maternity wardrobe, even when she was first showing. Everything looks tight, ill fitting and I agree about her needing proper maternity wear, not just buying bigger, designer clothes.

I agree that I find her spending to be obscene but of course Kate spends a lot too, but she also has had years of building up her 'Royal' wardrobe and has had plenty of time to rewear, while this isn't the case for Meghan.

Whether or not Meghan knew much about Harry and the royals she surely had no idea what she was really letting herself in for, she's had a whirlwind 18 months and I'm sure she's struggled, and that's without a supportive close knit family like Kate has.

Regards the touching of the bump, I confess I do find it irritating, but completely expect the press to pick those photos out of the thousands taken of her. I think the occasion at the fashion awards, when she was in the long, black, one shouldered dress, the bump clutching on stage really wasn't needed. In reference to that montage of Kate above, she's had 3 pregnancies to choose pictures from, Meghan is still in her first.

I honestly thought Meghan was going to be a lot cooler. I really thought she was going to be almost exclusively high street seeing as she and Harry as supposed to be the “young” royals. How cool would it be for her to go to an evening event in a plain full length black dress and dripping in jewels...to tell reporters “oh it’s Topshop/All Saints and these are costume jewels, I can’t trust diamonds to be ethically sourced”. My girlfriends and I were so excited to see all the looks she’d pull out - the photo of her in the leather jacket is so cool, and she’d been to the Invictus games in ripped jeans and a crisp white shirt. Amazing!

Literally every look we now get is “here she is, in Givenchy/name any other obscenely expensive designer”. It’s so boring, plus so little fits her. Why is nothing sent to a seamstress?! I get things adjusted and only costs 10/20 quid.

Assumed she was using high end designers now as she’s pregnant, but none of the outfits fit at all. And there are so many maternity ranges she could be wearing - high st and independent retailers.

I know people think she should promote British labels, how about just promoting British high st shops and independent retailers? She looks a real beauty and seemed like she had style at some point, it wouldn’t be hard to turn a look without resorting to another £5k dress (never mind the expense of the bags, shoes etc).

Plus it’s getting borderline offensive for Harry and Meghan to turn up to fundraisers or struggling organisations in such expensive stuff. Plus without wearing more “normal” clothes, those organisations can never get their names out there.

I’m so bored of her events, the looks are always so off :( wouldn’t believe it’s the same woman from pre- engagement times. I do wonder who her stylist is, it can’t be Mulroney otherwise surely there’d be more range?! Sorry, I have designer fatigue. You want to see a “look” and it’s always boring :(

I agree with you gingercat. The narrative of how a woman should do this, needs to do that, is so tedious.

Should have her hair down (only to get slated for touching it too much),

Needs a better stylist (do we even know for sure if she has one? And I mean for sure, not through gossip or conjecture...)

but at the same time she is spending far too much on clothes and needs to rein it in...

Needs to sit down and be told how to behave. As a 37 year old woman. She got married, she didn't give up her independence.

Needs to display wow looks, but she should go for dowdy British high street.

Needs to turn up in perfectly fitting clothes, as a formerly very slim woman whose body is changing rapidly, yet must look effortless and not spend so much money on her look, especially not if it's a charity event.

Needs to look impeccable and wow and sexy, yet not take attention from the subject of the event she's attending.

We want Schrödinger's Duchess.

I'm sure those aren't the only photos of Kate touching her bump. I'm sure Kate and Eugenie wore as many unique outfits in their first year of marriage. Kate, Beatrice, Eugenie, spend wads of cash on bespoke designer clothes. The Queen turns up to charities in cars that probably cost as much as their annual budget - she could go in a Fiat 500. She could give up a few of her castles and palaces. Harry'sast night wasn't from Burton's, by the look of it.

Not every thing she wears is obscenely expensive. She was wearing a £25 H&M dress a couple of weeks ago! High street maternity, just as you asked.

I like looking at royal outfits and some are hits, some not so much. But Meghan's job is not clothes horse, she will never stand there and talk to reporters on the red carpet about where her outfit was from, what royal does that?! They're not Little Mix at the Brit Awards.

Can can be fun and individual, you can give as much or as little a shit about what you wear. I don't get why people are so critical about what someone else decides - and not just critical of the clothes, but of the person and their entire life choices. It's literally just clothes.