Royal style: the Duel of the Duchesses

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Previous thread

What will tomorrow bring for Kate? Does her love for green know no end?

And Thursday night sees the return of Meghan! I know she can be polarising so let's stick to just discussing her clothes rather than the intricacies of Megxit. There's plenty of other threads to do that!

That is taking her literal dressing to a new level!

....except the song is about Belfast and she is in Dublin. So it would be like a tartan dress in Cardiff.

And her hair, it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

Cringeworthy if that is true but I really think/hope that connection was made by some journo who think they are genius/poetic/hilarious - take your pick.

Oh dear @eggandonion, not very diplomatic then! But I assume she wore the headband because she likes it, it's not like she hasn't worn one before.

I also believe it’s a coincidence, and find it extremely funny as she wore amazing diamonds, will be queen, has swishy hair and wore a black velvet band - every verse checked neatly.

I think she is doing really well though, stress levels must be high in the household the past few weeks. Maybe it's a relief to get away.
They are doing youth activity stuff and agriculture stuff today, so casuals needed - then dinner tonight with Mr Simon Coveney.

Skinny jeans and Barbour at the ready then, and conveniently the Barbour is also green! I'll admit I don't know who Simon Coveney is but I assume if it's a dinner then it'll be another cocktail dress.

I miss one day.....

The coat was fine but honestly, if she's wearing a green catherine walker, she needs to rewear. This new coat for every occasion thing is really starting to grate on me. I'm usually the one blithely saying I don't care how much they cost, I'm find with fancy new outfits etc but this is a step too far and the coat thing is really starting to wind me up.

I had a Home economics (did you do that here? Cooking, sewing, nutrition etc - "girls" stuff?) teacher who did a module on style. One of her rules was that for make up you could go dramatic eyes or dramatic lips, not both. Similarly, she maintained that an outfit should highlight one key feature eg legs, arms, chest, back etc. She was surprisingly open about trying to look sexy considering this was 30 odd years ago in South Africa and gave us a lecture about sexiness vs sluttiness (again, it was the time). Again, her theory was that you could wear a super short skirt if you had the legs for it, but then you should have a high neckline. Or vice versa etc. One element was sexy, too many was slutty.

I mention all this because Kate goes completely the opposite with the green dress. The dress itself is fine. But if you look at how it was styled by the designer, it has the slit and a belt, allowing an interesting flash of leg and to highlight the waist. But on Kate, the dress covers her legs, her chest, her arms and manages to totally disguise the fact that she has a shapely figure - it just shows as thin. She just really struggles to get this right.

Simon is the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He's very well spoken, and has three children. He is quite sporty and knows about cattle. An ideal host for royals!

On previous thread someone mentioned the ankle strap on shoes? The ONLY women who can get away with ankle straps are ones who have extremely spindly skinny legs. So Meghan can do it ,and it would give her legs a bit more shape. When I was a skinny teen/early 20s, I could and they made my legs look amazing. Now I'm older and while I still have slim legs, they're actually more shapely than they were via a combination of lots of walking and overall weight gain - if I wear an ankle strap shoe my legs immediately look dumpy. It's a pity as I still have a few pairs left from my hey day and DD is clearly going to have a figure more in line with her father's side of the family so she won't be wearing them.

Today Kate seems to be wearing a white coat with black buttons, over what looks like a black and white polka dot bluse and black skirt or trousers. They are visiting Jigsaw, which is a mental health facility for young people. William is in an open necked shirt and a greenish looking jumper. RTE news photos aren't great!

I like what she's wearing today. It's appropriate for a chat with young people. Not too dressed up.

From Rebecca English on Twitter

Apparently the cream coat is Reiss and a rewear from 2008!

Much better today!

Oh yes, that's just right Kate!

Much stronger look today I love that coat I think it's this one the blouse is another rewear from kore recently though

Loving her hair again today! A nice change from the curly blow drys.

Today's outfit is lovely.

Has she brought indoor shoes? They look so young in the 2008 photo. Don't we all though.

Much better today, thank goodness!!! Her hair looks nice too, styled straighter than usual. Thumbs up today Kate!

I think Kate looks pretty much the same as she did in 2008 but William!!

Has that side zip been taken out of the coat?

I'm sure a PP said we'd see Kate in black & white today, to resemble a pint of Guinness!

Oh sigh. All the green. It’s partly my issue as I just have such a visceral aversion to the shades of (mostly dark) green that Kate seems so obsessed by. My beloved mother, VERY far from a style icon, is obsessed by dark foresty greens and I’ve grown up loathing them.

Yes they suit kate but other colours suit her too! I love her in a strong red for example, or a sapphire blue.

I’m also finding all the In-Ireland-must-wear-green extremely twee.

She seems to want only to look thin, if that makes sense? Like all other considerations (style, passing nods to fashion, glamour, even a weeny hint of gasp sexiness) are passed over in favour of Looking Thin. She IS very thin so I’m not sure why she emphasises that above all else.

I like her so much and agree she is so fabulously engaged at events.

But as a clothes lover she just gets me down obviously I’m quite sure she couldn’t give two flying hoots what I think tho!

Don’t love the coat today, thank Christ it’s not green but the princess style is twee and boring. How fabulous would she look in a dramatic coat (NOT GREEN OR BEIGE) with eg a high collar, or even a lovely belted coat like Megs favours, or a cocoon style... ANYTHING except princess or military again.

I know (or rather I get the sense) she just wants to look smart and appropriate and not let her clothes dominate or take focus off what she’s there to highlight. But surely there is SOME wiggle room in there...!!!

I agree Narnia, it isn’t as if her clothes don’t cost a lot of money so why not choose something stylish. I don’t think she has style tbh but a good stylist could sort that out. Then again from what I have seen of the wedding guests at total weddings, style is often missing in those circles!

DH’s sisters wear terrible clothes. They always get it wrong. One SIL is very thin and she hates shopping because she finds sizes difficult. She never dresses well but favours her size 4/6 figure over everything else.