Royal style: who needs an Indian summer when you can have a Pakistani autumn?

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Previous thread

And the countdown to the Cambridge trip to Pakistan begins!

@bertrandRussel - I agree. (although do think the style suits kate and she might just consider this easier).

To be fair Bertrand, your whole existence on MN is to cause discord, as well you know

I've thought for a long time that Kate does resemble Diana, facially. Replace the long brunette locks with short blonde hair and it'll be more obvious.

I can't quite work out what the difference in opinion is all about so all I'm going to say is that the cool jade really needs silver/pewter embroidery rather than the warm gold which is why, for me, it's a bit in your face. But gold is more of a cultural norm I believe in the area and it's still a beautiful garment and I totally agree with comments about the outline of these outfits really suiting Kate's height and build.

I thought William looked younger in his traditional outfit the other night. I think for Kate, as she needs to adhere to a more modest dress code there, opting for the local style of dress makes sense. Although given her love of round necked coats/dresses/coat dresses, she's pretty much got the idea of modest dressing already.

Also, can we have a bit of peace and love etc??

Yes the colour really suits her. And having seen it close up I think I’d actually wear that gold embroidery too, if I had occasion to!

I agree that seeing her walk barefoot it’s clear that she could quite easily incorporate low to flat heels here and there and look great with it. Mind you that may well come - she’s, what, five or six years younger than me, I think, and I’m definitely at the stage where I can’t be arsed with very high heels anymore.

I’ve always happily worn flats/low/mid/high/very high - basically all versions of a shoe but for ‘stripper shoes’ - but love(d) wearing fairly high heels for the past 4 or 5 years after being unable to do so for years due to plantar fasciitis. Now, my feet feel it more and also I’m mentally relaxing into early middleagehood and not giving a fuck unless I actually want to (although shoes/heels have always been a contentious point for me from the feminist perspective, but that’s a discussion for another day ). I wonder if it will take 5 ish years longer for Kate et al to reach that point given that they’re so much in the public eye. I would hope not.

For some reason people get very twitchy when negative things are said about Meghan, and leap to her defence. The same posters are happy to bang on about how thin and dull Kate is.

It does lead to a sense of imbalance in the thread which isn't substantiated by the number of actual negative comments that both women receive.

Actually, I've given it a bit more thought and I think Bertrand makes a valid point. One of my good friends is married to a Pakistani man and converted to marry him. She, and her daughters (and his mum and the SILs) all wear traditional dress (admittedly, over jeans sometimes) all the time, but I've never once seen her husband or his brothers in traditional clothes, even when they go out for Eid. The only man of the family who does is her FIL (the families live next door to each other). However, for K&W, I hope it was an option for Kate choose to dress how she's done this week, rather than a firm expectation. If any of that makes sense!

But yes to the peace and love, it makes for a much more harmonious thread!

Ah silver with the cool jade! That's why I read this thread ,I'm trying to develop my eye ,and now it's been said ( thank you FrugalKitty ) it makes sense .To me ,it's all subjrctive I know .

But yes that bright gold is more the thing I believe in the culture .

I honestly can’t believe that people are finding the feminist perspective on cultural expectations/traditional dress/patriarchy-misogyny/patterns of expectation of female vs. male dressing whilst abroad a mind-blowing new concept, tbh. But maybe that because I’ve done my years, and then some, in brutal feminist analysis. I forget sometimes that a lot of people haven’t. So I’ll accept that it’s my issue, and I’ll find somewhere else to get my down-time.

Kate looks fabulous in the traditional dress I prefer it to her normal look but yes I don't see why she is fully decked out each occasion while William is in his usual suit. It's a bit odd. Maybe Kate blew the budget

Bad language says it all really.

Not quite style and beauty but I really hope DH doesn’t think I look like my MIL who I have never seen wearing anything apart from navy, grey and black, usually at the same time! If she was an iconic woman of style - then maybe.........

Is it only me who would love to be a fly on the wall when the outfits for a tour are planned?

I'm really curious to know who gives advice on the cultural expectations (if any), the proposed itinerary (changeable), the climate, the key messages, the personal tastes/opinions of that particular RF member and then how that translates into the outfits/accessories for so many varied engagements.

It has to be a huge task that starts many months in advance and has so many variables. And that's before you look at cost/budget, new v rewear, British v local and designer v high street.

And does Kate still get to pack a bag of jammies, comfy clothes and contingency underwear?

Why haven't we seen the Massive Tour Planning Wardrobe Spreadsheet!?!

Peace and love to one and all!

But, tbh, I'd love the opportunity / excuse to wear some of the amazing traditional clothes Kate wears on tour and I'd rather be in her shoes, (literally arf arf), than William's as he always seems to (have to?) wear a dark suit, regardless of climate.

But I do agree that things are often expected of women which are not expected of men and that is not fair. Women are often the ones who ate expected to adjust and men, not so much.

The Foreign Office used to advise on things like clothes and protocol- don’t know if they still do.
If my dp was hoping i would age like my mother did he is being sadly disappointed as we speak!.

Bad language? You do realise this is Mumsnet, don’t you? Nethuns is that way ————————> complete with x x x as punctuation. (Oh wait, did they shut down or something?

Ah well, I’m bowing out now. Perhaps I’ve done my time on MN too.

Stay Ninkaninus. Here, have a .

@ frugalkitty,

I think Kate must have been told that there was a strong expectation for her to dress in traditional Pakistani outfits. Why would she otherwise dress in them throughout the tour? Once or twice to please the hosts would suffice. How many Pakistani leaders' wives who visit UK turn up to official events in European trouser suits or dresses/skirts etc...none.

Also there is an expectation , no, requirement to convert to Islam if one wants to marry a muslim man. Never the other way round of the muslim person converting to the spouse's religion.

Re Shalwar or salwar... someone asked the correct word , both are ok and accepted in both India n Pakistan.

I think if I were a pakastani woman interested in style, I'd be very disappointed to see the DOC wear the same clothes women wear in my own country. It'd be like if the Queen of Bhutan came to the UK and wore a catherine walker coat dress in pale blue. I'd be gutted :)

Interesting @pallisers because I think I feel the opposite and Bhutan is a great example - W&K when they were there and everyone was dressed up in local styles was amazing. Colourful and vibrant and interesting.

But if the King and Queen came here, I'd have no problem with her wearing clothes she's comfortable in and mostly wearing her traditional clothes but I'd actually love to see her wearing Western clothes and seeing how she interprets that for, say, a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace.

pallisers a Catherine Walker coat would probably be preferable to Erdem!

Don't go Ninkaninus I enjoy your contributions to the thread. (And interesting that you mention Netmums, there seem to be lots of threads popping up about it at the moment.)

Kate hasn't been in traditional dress the whole time. The green coat dress with white trousers and the green evening gown are "inspired by" rather than traditional. It a mix of factors - women are more like to be in traditional dress in the country than the men are, the women's dress is more noticeably different to western dress (i.e. a Kate coat dress would potential offend (eeekkk legs) where as a Western men's suit wouldn't), Kate's clothes are more likely to be talked about and photographed so it has a bigger impact if she wears local designers/styles and of course a good old dose of sexism its the women that get the rough end of the deal.

On a seperate note, just saw some pics of her in the Mosque. Honestly, one thing about Will and Harry - they managed to marry truly beautiful women! I mean, of course, brilliant beauty and hair care and perfectly fitting clothes and all that mean that they get to look their best almost all of the time, but there's no doubt they are both truly beautiful.

God, the Windsor genes really are getting some good new ones!

I'm loving her traditional dress this tour - it really suits her and i think she probably finds it fun to wear different things. All looks v comfy too.

I thought they both looked fabulous in their dark green evening outfits the other night.

I'm getting some fabulous adds pop up for salwar suits. If only i had any reason to buy one!