Showing promise: Kate Middleton has walked the tightrope between boring and appropriate, sensibly priced and cheapskate, fashionable and farcical, with aplomb, says Daily Mail fashion expert, Liz Jones
Now the engagement has been announced, Kate Middleton’s looks and fashion sense will come under unprecedented scrutiny.
Whether she likes it or not, she will soon become Britain’s number one global fashion icon.
There have been those who have swiped at what they have called her ‘lack of innate sense of style’, but I think she shows much promise.
Kate has walked the tightrope between boring and appropriate, sensibly priced and cheapskate, fashionable and farcical, with aplomb.
But now? She needs to take it up not just a notch, but into a different stratosphere.
The American designers are going ga-ga over our new ‘Queen of clean’, which is how Michael Kors described her to me when I asked him to list the women he would most like to dress.
Insiders at Calvin Klein and Narciso Rodriguez are plotting to woo our most British of beauties.
But before all that, Kate will have to ditch, overnight, much that she loves: the long, scuffed boots and woolly or fishnet tights. The sequins. The awful, ubiquitous baseball cap. The skinny jeans and wedge shoes. Wearing a Topshop dress on her birthday. The wraparound shades — we need to see her eyes.
All-out glamour: It Is in her choice of evening wear that Kate has shown most potential, and sex appeal. She favours halternecks almost slashed to the waist from designers including Issa and Christopher Bailey at Burberry - lean columns of duchesse satin that shriek sophistication, rather than net puff balls that reek of dressing-up boxes. Kate's shorter cocktail dresses are most often by Issa - she is proud of her legs and her arms - and she loves a colourful clutch from Mulberry and Longchamp.
She will have to do more with her hair other than simply dousing it in what looks like Pantene Pro-V. Kate shouldn’t lose too much length, but a Scarlett Johansson-style chignon would be good for big occasions.
Most of all, she will have to stop not being too bothered and simply pulling on something nondescript in black from Next.
Diana became the world’s most photographed woman in an age before Tweeting, YouTube and fashion blogging. Kate will need to be prepared for near-constant critique.
She is tall and willowy like Diana, with fabulous legs and a small bust, which means dresses fall better and jackets look streamlined.
Kate even wears hats brilliantly: she has a perfectly symmetrical face, which means any headwear suits her.
But unlike Diana, who had navy courts and twinsets from Peter Jones etched into her DNA, Kate came of age in an era where there are no uniforms, no rules and no boundaries when it comes to fashion. She is faced with too much choice.
A lesson in formality: At society weddings and race meetings she has avoided looking frumpy with silk frocks - most often by favourite designer, Issa - under a curvy jacket. Kate can also carry off a large picture hat, usually by Philip Treacy, and even the ridiculous fascinator. How does she do it? 'Humour,' says Treacy.
She needs to develop her own style, her own taste and to be a little bit brave. She favours Issa, but she needs to summon the big guns to her salon: John Galliano and Jasper Conran.
My best piece of advice? Ignore all the politically correct doom-mongers who will insist she shows restraint in these austere times: Princess Primark will not do at all.
We need a world-class ambassador who will boost the fashion industry, worth £37 billion to our economy, and our standing on the world stage.
Kate could be our ultimate secret weapon now that Samantha Cameron has retreated into stay-at-home mummydom and political unpopularity. We need a fantasy fix and, as Prince William said yesterday, the time is right for Kate.
Who will be her Catherine Walker, the designer who dressed Diana for much of her life as a princess, even making the dress she was buried in?
Vogue is predicting Alice Temperley, Julien Macdonald, William Tempest, Roksanda Ilincic, Erdem and Preen will be her first choices when it comes to filling her wardrobe, while Brides magazine predicts she’ll choose Bruce Oldfield to make her wedding dress.
Country chic: For fishing, shooting and polo, Kate gives the traditional country look a feminine, modern twist which is very on trend right now. She will add a big Ralph Lauren belt to a white shirt and tweeds, or a jaunty hat, or brown suede high-heeled boots.
We shall see, but in the meantime I can see her in Stella McCartney, a designer who knows how to make an impeccable tailored jacket, one of Kate’s staples.
London couturier Suzannah makes vintage-inspired tailored classics for day and night, all hand-made in Britain — a rarity these days.
And for those big, formal receptions? The soft draping of Vivienne Westwood would give us the fairytale romance we crave. And the Alexander McQueen label, under the direction of Sarah Burton, will transport Kate from girl next door to princess.
But please, don’t stick her on the cover of Vogue, airbrushed by Mario Testino. Don’t make her lose weight or put her in bondage platforms. Don’t make her old before her time or turn her into a fashion victim.
Let her find her own feet, shod immaculately, elegantly and expensively in Manolo Blahnik.
‘It’s quite a daunting prospect,’ she said last night, emerging with William (in a suit by Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes and a Turnbull & Asser shirt) on to the world stage in a demure Issa dress in royal blue (what else?) and Diana’s sapphire ring. I adore her already.
...AND A FEW FASHION FAUX PAS
Fashion faux pas: Never again will she be allowed to get away with bright yellow hot pants... even as fancy dress. Every sartorial choice from now on will be fraught with significance. We want her to look happy, but sober. And as for her 'I can't be bothered' officewear - it is anti fashion. Send it back to Next. The black and white dress is too short and, it sounds snobby, but big holdalls look cheap.
source:dailymail
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