The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined the Queen at Buckingham Palace yesterday for a garden party. The Duchess looked sophisticated and polished in a new blush Alexander McQueen coat and percher hat.
The Duchess of Cambridge choose a bespoke piece by one of her favoured designers Alexander McQueen. Kate wore a combination of two different coats: the top half of one (in black below) and the bottom half of the other (in blush below). Kate wore the double breasted military style coat on the top and a coat with pleated sides on the bottom. The coat has slightly peaked shoulders with long sleeves, a wide peak lapel, tight vertical rows of round flat disc buttons to create a military style, a partial peplum at the hips and back. Falling away from the peplum are tailored pleated folds down each side of the coat and around to the rear. The coat appears to be crafted from a soft dusty rose pink wool crêpe.
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We think that the Duchess looks beautiful and sophisticated in this design but feel that it is lacking a little bit of something. Perhaps embellishment or embroidery around the cuffs, collar, down the front or even around the hemline? The Queen is known for always adding something extra to her coats, giving them more of a royal stature. We feel we have seen this look on the Duchess before, both in style and colour, and want to see Kate mix up her choices more. We would love to see her become more confident in choosing different styles from Alexander McQueen.
The silhouette and cut of this coat is second-to-none and impeccably tailored, but is based on ready-to-wear pieces. Alexander McQueen is well known for a gothic and darker approach to fashion, with an eye for details in choice of luxurious fabrics fashion-forward detailing, signature embellishments and daring runway shows. Whilst some of this is not always appropriate for Kate’s royal style, we sometimes feel that Kate could better harness some of the features that the label is known, combined with her more classical style. This can be a very tricky balance to make, but could give the Duchess more of a wow factor approach to royal fashion.
Below we show fashion forward yet classically styled looks from Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2019 and Autumn/Winter 2019 lookbooks. We feel the Duchess could slightly tweak and modify these styles to mix up her Alexander McQueen look. We are secretly hoping that perhaps Kate may wear a modified version of the blue and white angalaise lace dress that is part of Alexander McQueen’s current collection for Wimbledon later in the year.
Catherine opted for a bespoke Juliette Botterill headpiece in matching pale pink. The rounded shaped percher is worn very prominently to the front of the face. The fascinator is embellished with a large pink rose, sharply pointed arrow feather inside a looped buntal detail and silk abaca bow detailed to the back. The ‘Rose and Feather Knot Disc’ hat retails for £570 which you can purchase in the origina; silver metallic colour-way here.
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The Queen hosts Garden Parties as a way of recognising and rewarding public service. Image via @KensingtonRoyal
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Kate carried her Loeffler ‘Randall’ tab clutch. A rectangular front flap clutch with gold hardware tab clasp and optional gold hardware chain shoulder strap. This clutch has a textured effect and is a nice addition to create a mono-chromatic outfit.
Kate wore her Gianvito Rossi ‘Praline’ pumps; we’re not entirely sure which heel height they were – she owns them in 105mm heel height and 85mm too. The grass and lack of photos can make it difficult to identify shoes! These nude coloured pointed toe pumps are perfect for this outfit.
The Duchess accessorised with Diana’s Collingwood Pearl earrings. These large baroque pearl earrings hang from a diamond stud.
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What did you think of Catherine’s look today?
Steal Kate’s style here: