Princess Cathy in Emilia Wickstead and Solace London

Posted on December 03, 2022

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Princess Cathy spent the final day of her Boston tour visiting Harvard University in a really snappy day dress and hitting the Earthshot Awards green carpet in a series of somewhat surprising, if not borderline shocking (in that royal sort of way) style choices.

 

Catherine Princess of Wales Visit the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
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This is very prim and cute in a way that really speaks to her style preferences, but the houndstooth print and even the color combination feel a little fresh. The collar is too tight on her, though. The matchy doll bag looks as silly as ever, but again: she’s pre-Queening her style and adopting these more Elizabethan signatures of late. That includes the lowering of her hemlines, which in this case, doesn’t work all that well for us. We think this would be so much cuter – and no less appropriate – with a knee-length hem.

 

Prince and Princess of Wales attend the Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall
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Ooooh, we feel like we’re going to make everyone hate us right now. We can sort of see why the press was wowed by this dress, but we don’t like it for her at all. Before we get to our whining, we’ll note that this is a rented gown, in service to the Waleses own request that guests wear eco-conscious, sustainable, or recycled outfits. That’s good and smart imagecraft, even if she makes a somewhat poor spokesperson for that sort of thing (through no real fault of her own, because the role requires a huge wardrobe of high-fashion looks). We’re also a bit pleasantly surprised to see her in something with this much sex appeal and skin. She is of course nowhere near shocking levels of exposure or hotness, but we wonder if she felt she had a little freedom to loosen up on American soil. After all, she does tend to dress in deference to the countries she visits. Maybe she thinks America is where all the hotties are. We also want to note with some approval the contrasting shoes. It’s honestly a relief that she didn’t wear a green pair. She’s wearing Queen Mary’s Art Deco Emerald Choker for the first time; a piece Diana made iconic when she wore it as a headband. Once again, this is less about paying homage to the previous PoW and more about signaling that Kate is now the bearer of the title. Since she graduated to Princess, she’s started using jewelry more like a queen. Okay, now to the part where we make you mad at us: the critiques.

For one, the dress’s shade of green is pretty harsh and we honestly don’t think it flatters her. For another she looks like she can barely breathe in it. The Princess has always liked her clothes as form-fitting as possible, but it feels like she’s been skirting right up to the line of “too tight” in a few of her recent looks. And finally, we think it’s a perfect example of how her matchiness sometimes gets a little out of control. Dressing to match the carpet – not to mention dressing in green to promote sustainable fashion – is a little, we don’t know… unimaginative? Obvious? A little too theme-y? We also tend to think matching your jewels to your dress makes it look a little costume-y. Our wishlist: keep the jewels and the shoes, wear the same dress (because the design is nice) a size larger and in a contrasting, flattering color.

 

Style Credits:
First Look: Emilia Wickstead Dress | Mulberry Handbag | Lenique Louis Earrings |
Second Look: Solace London Long-sleeve Off-the-shoulder Gown | Queen Mary’s Emerald Choker | Asprey Emerald and Diamond Earrings | Gianvito Rossi Pump

 

[Photo Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images, Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimag/Cover Images, Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Image/Cover Images]

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