The Kate Middleton Effect: Dressing Like Royalty

Kate Middleton grew up in a small village in the English countryside, the daughter of two British Airways workers, and went on to become a duchess when she married Prince William in 2011. Her story is a twenty-first century fairy tale that has enchanted women worldwide, making her the darling of the media and the public since she officially became engaged to her Prince Charming back in 2010. Since then, her significant influence on women’s fashion has come to be termed ‘the Kate Middleton effect’. So what is it that characterises Kate Middleton’s style?

The Elegance of Lace

Kate’s wedding dress is perhaps the best known of her sartorial choices. An elegant Alexander McQueen number with intricate lace-patterned sleeves, the dress has already gone down in the fashion history books. Lace is a fabric we see over and over again in photographs of Kate’s outfits. She usually chooses to wear lace dresses unadorned, letting the intricacy of the lace speak for itself.

Beautiful Simplicity

When she’s not wearing lace, she often goes for simple, elegant dresses, usually avoiding mish-mashes of different colours in favour of a single colour. We can cast our minds back to the Grecian, lilac dress she wore to the BAFTA Brits to Watch event in Los Angeles. The floor-length dress was simple, but elegant, flowing ethereally as she walked down the red carpet. She wore it with a plain belt that showed off her figure and a clutch bag. When visiting Canada, she added a splash of colour to a knee-length white dress with red heels and a red headpiece.

A Sense of Occasion

As the wife of a prince, Kate Middleton has had her fair share of formal and military events to attend. To dress for the occasion, Kate has added a naval touch to her outfit by wearing a knee-length gold-buttoned, navy jacket. Navy always goes beautifully with gold and it’s a look Kate has used on a few different occasions. A navy, gold-buttoned pencil skirt was paired with a matching white blouse with a navy front placket and gold buttons when on a royal visit to a community centre in Birmingham.

The simplicity and understated elegance of Kate Middleton’s wardrobe means that many of her outfits can be recreated cheaply by fans of her fashion choices, so if you fancy dressing like a duchess, have a look at photographs of Kate online, pick your favourite outfits and start looking for ways of recreating them on your budget.

This article was written by style columnist Ella Hughes for an Irish clothes retailer with an online shop where you can buy womens clothes online.