Catherine, Don't Discount the Power of Your Fashion
The Princess of Wales wants the media to focus less on her fashion, Palace will not share details of her look
Kensington Palace’s press team has recently revealed that Catherine, The Princess of Wales wants to people to focus less on her fashion and more on her passion projects. To that end, they will not be revealing the designers she’s wearing.
While there is a strange sense of deja vu, as I’m almost positive this has been attempted before and failed, but the true challenge is that Catherine’s fashion is perhaps her greatest power.
The story first broke in The Times, where royal editor Roya Nikkhah reported, “There is an absolute feeling that it [the public work] is not about what the princess is wearing. She wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting. There will always be an appreciation of what the princess is wearing from some of the public and she gets that. But do we need to be officially always saying what she is wearing? No. The style is there but it’s about the substance.”
This has been tried before. Having been a dedicated royal watcher for well over a decade, I remember a similar storyline sometime early in her marriage. Perhaps sometime between 2011 to 2014. Needless to say, it failed. People simply love her fashion, as she acknowledges, but the desire to put more emphasis on her work is totally understandable.
But making fashion take a back seat will be impossible, unless she radically changes her wardrobe.
Even one of The Times columnists pointed out that the public can, in fact, do two things at once. Focusing on her fashion and on her work.
Another urged Catherine not to be so hasty to dismiss the influence that her fashion choices can have. As Daisy Goodwin put it, “The point is that done right, an outfit carries more weight than any amount of judiciously chosen words or carefully spun initiatives.”
And she’s not wrong.
Royal women, infinitely more than the men, have the powerful ability to tell a story through their fashion. It could be as simple as Catherine wearing a pair of gold plated earrings in honor of a young woman named Issy, who tragically took her life, or as haute couture as wearing Chanel while in Paris to represent the French fashion industry. From the shoes to the clutches and the dresses to the blazers, every time a royal woman steps out of a car, nearly every item is infused with a million little decisions that reflect the people, places and intent of the event.
It is also infinitely consumed by those dedicated to following royal fashion or fashion in general.
This is also not limited to Catherine but nearly every royal woman, as there some general unwritten rules that they must follow.
The choices must be modest. The designers should reflect their country and host country, as applicable. The outfit must tell a story, which can be achieved through a color or pattern that can represent such broad issues as miscarriage or breast cancer awareness. The ladies also can’t generally be too pricey with their choices, but also shouldn’t look cheap. They must be stylish, but also classic and timeless. It’s a precarious balance to maintain, and perhaps no one does it better than Catherine. I would argue Queen Mary Of Denmark and Queen Letizia of Spain perhaps come the closest to meeting those challenging standards. Queen Maxima nearly always hits it out of the park when it comes to glamorous gala events and State Visits, but doesn’t always nail day to day attire.
And this is not just relegated to the modern era. The influence of dress throughout European royal courts shared a story and influences. For example, did a woman decide to go with a French or Italian style? What were the colors she chose? All influenced the women around them and the women beyond them.
For royal women, fashion should always be about telling a story and bringing attention to an event through their look. After all, sometimes the fashion is the only reason a story makes it to the press or that a royal’s visit is highlighted at all. It’s not a surprise that generally the story of the men gets buried and the women’s gets highlighted.
It’s not only about their beauty, but the fashion.