Royal Style: Make Do and Mend, or Go Big and Spend?.

[Maireas]

New thread!
Thanks for the title, Deftly!

Kako is beautiful. They're all so elegant as well.
I have read that rice soap is very good for the skin!

I think it might've been missed towards the end of the last thread but Empress Masako turned 59 recently but she too looks at least a decade younger! https://www.newmyroyals.com/2022/12/japans-empress-masako-is-celebrating.html

Actually, looking through the Kate retrospective again, my favourite evening look for her was that stunning white embroidered Jenny Packham caped gown, worn with the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara. A very elegant look for the official banquet.

Empress Masako does look good there, @KillingMeDeftly , and you can tell she's not had work done.
I love her cream suit, which I guess is silk.

If you have 10 minutes and a cuppa, this is a nice trundle through the style of CPM over the years.

www.nowtolove.com.au/royals/international-royals/princess-mary-fashion-style-51358

I really liked that one but I’d love to see it reworn, the orders kind of spoiled it for me.

Looking at the Meghan retrospective, I realised just how elegant she usually was, and obviously wore such great shoes. Sometimes she looked so fabulous.

And she wore some colour even as a working royal, and even now she tends to wear navy and white and beige and olive/khaki, more than colour.

Meghan wears bright clear colours well. Early on in her marriage she wore a bright yellow sleeveless shift dress, I think to a Commonwealth event. It's one of my favourites.

I think Meghan tends to look trussed up in formal wear and it is often just slightly 'off' in some way - sometimes crumpled, sometimes makes her look larger round the middle, sometimes slightly ill fitting for expensive couture.
She absolutely nails it in casual wear. That Christmas card where she's in old blue jeans and a navy sweater is just wow. Scrolling through that retrospective (thanks for posting all the photos!) she also looks fabulous in black skinnies, black polo neck, grey trench and a sharp pair of boots.
I also like the jeans/short Chanel style jacket and the Wimbledon look with lovely shirt and jeans.
So I think she definitely wins the casual chic award! Also the excellent makeup award!
For me, Kate easily takes the overall elegant and polished award for formal wear and the bounciest sleek hair award! That Bond dress was phenomenal and she always looks fab in Jenny Packham I think.
Leti takes best Euro style and Max takes best jewels, most exuberant and the one everyone would want to sit next to at dinner 😂

I agree. She suits those bright colours. And she's better in dresses without obvious waistlines because of the proportion of her torso. She looked great in that yellow and in that gorgeous photo of her and Harry in the rain, dressed in turquoise. The single colour made her look better balanced. And she has such a neat backside too.

@Maireas yes, that yellow Meghan dress was really nice. Yellow is a lovely colour in the right shade - I like Kate's yellow shift dresses too!

Zara has the trussed up look in formal wear too. Her casual look in Australia revealed a fantastic figure

Definitely, Zara looked amazing in Aus in that little black play suit.
I think she has more misses than hits with formal wear though.

The Australian tour was a fashion high point for Meghan. I loved almost everything she wore on it!

Zara does well in casual clothes but her formal outfits always look a bit 00s Karen Millen and seem a size too small for her.

I think Meghan lost her mojo for a while, wearing clothes that swamped her or were ill fitting and just didn't suit her body type (that red evening gown was one of the worst), but she was a post partum mum and it's hard to readjust your style to a new body type. I think she is coming back into her own, she wears casual clothes and simple classic dresses impeccably (The funeral walkabout and the cape dress).

Kate is the opposite, she doesn't seem to manage casual too well. My all time wardrobe favourite tour was the India tour, least favourite wardrobe was the Caribbean tour.

Bea is hitting all the high spots lately, I now find myself looking out for her to check out what she is wearing.

Zara, I find, is a bit hit and miss, but I get the impression she doesn't exactly 'dress to impress'.

Yes I do agree about Meghan not looking as good in most belted things, but overall, looking at that retrospective, I think of her as ^chic.
^
Kate is always well-dressed and smart, with beautifully fitting clothes, but somehow not chic, usually, IMHO.

The Australian tour was a fashion high point for Meghan. I loved almost everything she wore on it!

The belted plaid mac, the striped maxi dress, the white sheath, all the bright clothes she wore while in the Pacific Islands, they were all great looks. I didn’t like the two formal gowns she wore in Australias (the froofy Oscar De La Renta in Oz, the severe black with triangular cap sleeves in NZ) so much.

I thought Meghan generally nailed more casual wear but seemed to struggle with more formal dress codes, whereas Kate is generally the reverse.

Lived Megan's blue/navy pleated skirt (Givenchy?)in Oz. Also loved her green skirt , green shirt in Ireland and later a burgundy skirt with cherry jumper. Beautiful. Kate's are more formal 'what I'm supposed to wear ' looks. My favourites from her are her gorgeous Wimbledon yellow with chocolate hair and the JP that was short at the front. I might be on my own when I say I wasn't a huge fan of the Bond dress at all and... I don't think that's her colour at all. Also loved her pink trouser suit and her makeup that day.

I actually own that green silk shirt. It's a nice design and I have it in a few colours and patterns. I'd love the green leather skirt too but have nowhere to wear it!

I am also contemplating buying a DeMellier bag in the sales, another favourite of Meghan's. And I think Camilla's too.

Oh lovely KillingMeDeftly lucky you. I'm the same, I'd love both the leather skirt outfits but don't know when I'd wear them!

The Givenchy skirt and top of Meghan's in that rich blue is one of my favourites, @mikado1 .

She had that green leather skirt in a deep rich red as well, didn't she? Worn with a v neck sweater in the same red.

Oh yes I forgot the top! Did she leave the tag on?

Yes, that's the one I'm referring to above, a cherry red jumper and a more burgundy skirt, love that monochrome look.

Yes, she and Letizia had the same skirt. I thought it was one time that Meghan really nailed her postpartum dressing as she worked with her new curves rather than against them.