Royal Style and Beauty: Carpe Diadem! No tears or tiers, just tiaras please

[Maireas]

Afternoon, a new thread and thanks to @ArcaneWireless for the great title! On we go!

Checking in

No idea on the designer!

Kate's digging out the Black Watch tartan as we speak...

Maybe she'll get it made into a gown like what Charlotte in SATC once wore to a "highland fling"?

I said o the last thread I think it'll be Saltire Blue for Kate. I'd like to see her in something by a Scottish designer, Christopher Kane for instance. I think Patrick Grant could do a top job on smartening up William up.

I think William has been looking smart recently, (unlike Patrick Grant ☹️) I like the jacket he wore to the cricket with George. Should be an interesting event in Edinburgh.

Is it Needle & Thread?

Thank you for the new thread @Maireas

Elie Saab is the dress designer though they look like dresses from Next.

Oh I agree @LadyEloise1 - it was the comment about a recent royal wedding that made me think Saab but they don't actually look designer-y and the pink dress isn't a good fit. Though GDMT totally would!

Yes!!! There was a ball locally and one belle wore this beautiful dress which in reality is breathtaking. Catching the light as it moves. Well done @JeandeServiette 🏆. 🍾🥂

I've had a good root round Scottish designers, somewhat underwhelming. Apart from Alexander McQueen.

Well yes, she wouldn't exactly be spoiled for choice but I think it would be better received than the I've crossed the Border I shall don myself in tartan vibe they all go for. I'd settle for a Strathberry bag and some of the Queen Mum's jewellery.

Thanks for the new thread Maireas!

Speaking of the recent Royal wedding, I thought this snap the newlyweds posted on their instagram to send out good wishes for Eid al-Adha was very cute.

Morning, everyone! 👋
"Dresses from Next" - so true 😀
Cute insta picture, they look so happy.

Alexander McQueen was from south/east London!

Interesting reel from HRP about 3 of Diana's Catherine Walker dresses https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuJbPYXIX_y

(If the link doesn't work then just search for historic royal palaces on Instagram)

Thanks, @KillingMeDeftly - I love the "fire mermaid" dress. So vibrant. Some of her pieces just don't date.

Thank you for the link @KillingMeDeftly.
Catherine Walker was a wonderful designer, imho.

I adore the green velvet one.

So many of Diana's outfits were iconic. Kate always looks good, don't get me wrong, and wears some beautiful evening gowns but I'm not sure any of them (apart from maybe the Bond gown) as going to live on in memory like the way Diana's "Elvis" gown or "revenge" dress do.

Is it because Diana died young? Or was she just more of a fashion icon? It's hard to say. I was only a child at the time but she seemed to be out at events and galas almost every week, with a new dress for each one!

This Catherine Walker dress was worn by Diana to Versailles in the early 1990s. Twenty years later Ladies Sophie and Gabriela Windsor have worn the exact same style, and also looked totally chic in it!

Yes! So elegant.

Sons girlfriend doing her degree said Diana's clothes are part of the curriculum still

Diana was beautiful, had a great figure and was glamorous.
Kate's clothes are "sensible" at best and "dowdy" or "middle aged" at worst.
Whilst she's not bad looking Kate is not "beautiful" and doesn't have the kind of figure to show off clothes in that way Diana did.

Kate's clothes are not "dowdy" or "middle aged" - I'm genuinely baulking at your use of those words, @KnickerlessParsons because so much female dressing has to be for the male gaze and has become sexualised - look at how many teen girls dress. Imo it's wrong to use"middle aged" as a criticism. It equates to having no style? Women get vilified for being "dowdy". What does that mean? Not sexy? Sometimes Kate is stylish, sometimes she isn't, but it's quite subjective. She's dressing for a role. I remember Diana's dress sense being criticised constantly. Her image analysed, her worth evaluated.

I think most people are beautiful. All it takes is a smile and some crinkly eyes.

Diana was very charismatic and bonny in her own way. Kate is also bonny.

Diana had a clothes horse figure for sure - but let us not forget that came at a price for her. She might have looked glamorous. The road to glamour was a sore one for her and not worth it in my book.

Kate? She is called from heaven to hell for not being this or that but if a dress doesn’t look bonny on her it will be because it is a shit dress (or shit fitting) and sod all to do with her figure.

The lass would probably like to change it right up some days but she can’t because she has to dress appropriately. Like most of us do for work.

She has more limitations than most.

And with that I shall scuttle away in my truly dowdy middle aged arse in my truly middle aged dowdy work attire and dream of being able to ponce around in something lovely. 😊

Never. Going. To. Happen. not with my Ada coupon and sofa sized harris

I'm also here for defending 'middle-aged'. For one thing, Kate is middle-aged. She's in her early 40s. That's no bad thing. I deplore the use of 'middle-aged' as an insult. Often clothes that are branded as middle-aged are classic and elegant. What's wrong with that? Especially for someone who is middle-aged, and is, as @ArcaneWireless says, in a job where her clothing choices are fairly circumscribed. I think she always looks polished, appropriate, and elegant (even though I don't love all of her clothes - or white stilettos).