Princess Cathy attended some solemn and important occasions over the weekend, giving us the opportunity to express a few observations about royal style generally and some of the misconceptions surrounding it.
AT THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION’S FESTIVAL OF REMEMBRANCE
First, let’s start with this: both of these events resist placing an importance on her outfits, which is why there are so few photographs where you can see the whole thing. Second, her choices here will be limited by virtue of the type of event and the requirement that she wear black. More on that in a second. And third, she’s been sporting more and more of these oversized Diana-like collars lately, but in keeping with our longstanding tradition of pissing off royal fans and other royal journalists or commenters, this is not about her trying to mimic her late mother-in-law (something she has typically avoided for most of her time in the public eye, to her credit) and more about her wearing an element that was trendy forty years ago and is trendy now. Also, those ringlets are a bit out of control. She looks like she was using a curling iron in the car ride over.
AT THE NATIONAL SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE
But the point we wanted to make is this one: these events are the types where style commentary like ours tends not to matter, largely because of the amount of restrictions placed on her and the solemnity of the occasion. In her yearly royal calendar, there are probably no more than a dozen-and-a-half events where the restrictions on her as high as this; usually anything involving a tiara, a balcony, or a church. A lot of royal watchers tend to mistakenly assume that every engagement she undertakes comes with the same level of restrictions or protocol, but in truth, the vast majority of them do not, which is why we’ve always felt free to critique her choices as we would any other public figure. Having said all that, Catherine has cultivated a particular occasion-specific style at which she is extremely adept, and it’s one of the most important skills for a royal to have: she really knows how to do Mourning Chic. On a normal person, we would find her outfit here a little costumey, but this is one of those occasions where she understands that she is, in fact, appearing as a figurehead in a costume. Knowing that she will be photographed mostly from the middle up, she made sure to pile the visual interest all around her face and neck. We’re not even convinced the lace jabot coordinates all that well with the jacket, but damn if she doesn’t look every inch a queen. Our hair critiques remain the same. She’s overdoing the extensions and hair pieces and they don’t look right with the hat.
Style Credits:
First Look: Alessandra Rich ‘Envers’ Lace Mikado-Trimmed Peplum Dress from the Spring 2025 Collection | Gianvito Rossi Shoes
Second Look: Catherine Walker ‘Evie’ Coat | Lock & Co. Hatters Hat
[Photo Credit: Jack Taylor/PA Images/INSTARimages, Cover Images]
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