Catherine Duchess of Cambridge

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The Duchess of Cambridge has been establishing the headband as one of her style signatures since the birth of Prince Louis in the spring of 2018, and this Easter, she dug out a favorite brilliant blue Jane Taylor headpiece with which to offset her duck egg Emilia Wickstead coat dress at a Windsor church service. First worn at Sandringham in 2019, the diamond crepe pleated hair adornment was the perfect foil to Kate’s prim spring formalwear, which was a color-blocker’s dream.
Taylor, who grew her millinery empire on a narrow boat docked in Kew before setting up shop on Chelsea’s King’s Road, has become something of a secret weapon for Kate. Her arts and crafts-inspired pieces, such as the two-tone Jane Taylor halo band which brought a festive flourish to the Duchess’s burgundy Catherine Walker coat for a 2018 Christmas Day service, are instant outfit elevators, but offer a modern alternative to the world of hats and fascinators. The blooming cream Jane Taylor headpiece, which Kate commissioned for Louis’s christening in July 2018, is perhaps her most famous take on the world of regal headwear regalia, while a Blair Waldorf-esque band worn on a royal tour of Dublin in March 2020 showed a more discreet everyday way to wear the accessory.
The Duchess wearing a custom Jane Taylor piece at Prince Louis’s christening. Photo: Getty
Christmas Day chic à la Kate in King’s Lynn in 2018. Photo: Getty
Wimbledon-based Juliette Botterill is another millinery favorite of Kate’s that is less Ladies’ Day, more refined, thanks to the designer’s keen eye for sculptural silhouettes. (Botterill cut her teeth in the studio of the Queen’s milliner, Marie O’Regan.) A blue Juliette special laden with florals added flair to Kate’s Catherine Walker dress coat at the wedding of Sophie Carter and Robert Snuggs in September 2018, while a pretty pink silk band pepped up her pleated pussy-bow Stella McCartney dress at Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor’s christening during the summer of the following year.
The first time Kate wore her Jane Taylor band to church in 2018. Photo: Getty
Kate doing Easter style her way in 2022. Photo: Antony Jones
Although hair adornments can be seen as a natural extension of the jeweled, ornamental crowns, tiaras and tokens that are part and parcel of her royal image, the Duchess doesn’t discriminate between high end and high street. She’s just as likely to be seen wearing a beaded Zara Alice band as she is to commission a royal milliner to create something special for her. The sweet ribbons Kate also ties in her ponytail might look like the work of fashion favorite Jennifer Behr, but are actually from J Crew.
Wearing Jane Taylor at Westminster Abbey, 2018. Photo: Getty
Velvet Jane Taylor in Dublin, 2022. Photo: Samir Hussein
The fashion pack commends the Duchess’s growing collection of chic headpieces. “I like them as they frame your face and extend your silhouette,” Simone Rocha, whose hairbands are as much a part of her personal aesthetic as they are her catwalk looks, opines about the appeal. Vogue’s contributing fashion director Venetia Scott, who calls hair accessories a habit of a lifetime, also praises the fuss-free, foolproof mode of adorning an outfit. “It’s just a detail which I forget is even there,” says Scott. “It’s funny how people pierce so many holes in their ears to have more places for jewelry, but they don’t use their hair more to embellish.”
The rest of the industry agrees. From household-name brands, like Miu Miu and Gucci, to the accessories labels, including Maison Michel, Eugenia Kim and Lelet NY who Kate is yet to discover, hair accents have become a bona fide category for e-tail giants and department stores alike. When Prada released its wildly popular satin bands stamped with the brand’s triangular plaque, Net-a-porter.com grew its headband offering by 50 per cent to satisfy the demand for the myriad colors, crystal and studded versions.
Hair ribbons for the win in 2018. Photo: Getty
In Sloane Ranger mode, 2016. Photo: Shutterstock
Head adornments were not always on the Duchess’s sartorial agenda, however. The 2012 Diamond Jubilee Tour around the Solomon Islands saw her don a variety of floral headdresses that one could only assume she had not planned to wear when plotting out her usual diplomatic wardrobe. She did not return to headbands again until the summer of 2016, when she entered the Alice band phase. Cue a barrage of flashbacks to Fergie in the ’80s, which are now, thankfully, a long way and many excellent headbands behind her. Here, six styles that would put Kate in the cool-girl camp over traditional Ascot territory.
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Originally published on Vogue.co.uk

Photo: Getty
Kate Middleton and Prince William have arrived back in the UK after their Caribbean tour. After departing Lynden Pindling airport in the Bahamas, wearing a sprightly white and yellow printed dress by Alessandra Rich, the Duchess of Cambridge marked her first official outing on home turf in another of Rich’s designs.
Pictured with her family at the memorial service for the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, Kate wore a polka dot midi dress, a jaunty hat, pearl earrings, a box clutch, and simple black pumps.
Photo: Getty
The Duchess has modeled Rich’s demure, ladylike dresses on several occasions. Her latest polka dot style nods to Diana, Princess of Wales, who was an avid fan of the cartoonish print.
The retro ’80s silhouette and puffy sleeves aren’t dissimilar from styles worn by Diana herself, but Rich’s signature button embellishment and cinched belted waist offered a contemporary twist on the late royal’s formalwear.

This isn’t the first time the Duchess has nodded to Lady Di’s favorite pattern. The royal wore a navy dress with a crisp collar by Rich for Prince Charles’s 70th birthday portrait in 2018 and she introduced the world to Prince George wearing a dotty cornflower blue dress by Jenny Packham as she stood outside St. Mary’s hospital in 2013.

Originally published in Vogue.com
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The Duchess of Cambridge’s name might be synonymous with the coat dress – the hybrid fashion item that brings a certain degree of polish to the royal’s public-facing looks on even blustery days – but Kate has also amassed a collection of chic outerwear that is worth a closer look.
Thanks to longstanding relationships with Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen and Said Cyrus, the man behind Catherine Walker & Co, Kate’s edit of custom coats ranges from crisp military styles to mannish double-breasted versions and caped fancies in a smörgåsbord of wearable hues. Coats have become her secret weapon (along with that glossy blow-dry), painting a picture of a woman who remains pulled together regardless of the weather, or the particular royal duty she is navigating.
When tasked with visiting Sweden’s National Association for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Health in 2018, Kate wore a ’60s-style houndstooth Catherine Walker coat that signalled a level of self-assuredness in the face of sensitive conversations. For the 75th anniversary of the RAF Cadets in 2016, the Duchess pinned an Air Cadets Dacre brooch onto a sky-blue McQueen coat that honoured their work without looking overdone.
Kate’s coats also reflect the personality behind the public figurehead. To meet the Queen’s Scouts in 2013, the mother-of-three walked the lawns of Windsor Castle wearing a joyful Mulberry coat with flower-shaped buttons that nodded to her love of nature. At the 2018 Christmas Day church service at Sandringham, when all eyes were on Catherine and her new sister-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex, she pinned an oak leaf brooch to her berry-coloured Catherine Walker button-up. The fauna represented the Middleton family’s coat of arms, and brought a slice of Kate’s history to another much-documented moment for the monarchy.

Recently, Kate has added several new coats to her wardrobe, from a grey princess coat, again by Catherine Walker, for a solo visit to Copenhagen to an emerald green military style by contemporary couture label Laura Green London for a St Patrick’s Day parade.
Here, 13 of the Duchess of Cambridge’s most elegant coats that show her deftness of touch when it comes to commissioning expert tailoring.
Alexander McQueen

Photo: Shutterstock

Kate’s bespoke utility-style McQueen coat brought a calming presence to New Zealand’s Blenheim War Memorial, to the D-Day 70th-anniversary events at Normandy in 2014, and then, pictured here, to the 75th Anniversary of the RAF Air Cadets in 2016. The belted style with large pockets and pleated back certainly verges on dress-coat territory, but with Burton’s design expertise, the precisely crafted piece looks fresh.
Sportmax
Photo: Shutterstock
Blackpool witnessed Kate wearing a favourite moss-green Sportmax coat in 2019, which she had worn a handful of times before to church services at Sandringham. The royal often belts the style, which is slightly more boxy than her usual custom pieces, for a more fitted effect.

Alexander McQueen

Photo: Shutterstock
The smile of a woman whose bespoke McQueen coat is a thing of excellence. Worn here on a trip to Bradford in 2020.
Hobbs
Photo: Shutterstock
One of Britain’s best high-street ambassadors, the Duchess – seen wearing Hobbs at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse airport in Yukon – proves once again that well-crafted fashion does not have to cost the earth.
Mulberry
Photo: Shutterstock
A memorable caped Mulberry coat that proved peppy colours have mood-boosting qualities.
Catherine Walker
Photo: Shutterstock

A Catherine Walker confection which showed a zanier side to Kate, and which formed the perfect backdrop to her coveted Chanel bag on a state trip to Sweden.

Eponine London

Photo: Shutterstock
Dressy outerwear by a Kensington-based brand which Kate can be credited with single-handedly putting on the map.
Mulberry
Photo: Shutterstock
Kate was utterly spring-like in April 2013, as she met the Queen’s Scouts wearing a Mulberry coat adorned with playful posy buttons.
Catherine Walker

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Pictures of the Fab Four at the 2018 Christmas church service at Sandringham went viral, and Kate looked the part – plus a touch festive – in a berry-coloured Catherine Walker coat and a matching Jane Taylor headpiece that spawned thousands of online searches for Alice bands.
Massimo Dutti
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A muted Massimo Dutti coat showed Kate’s deftness of touch at coords and diplomatic dressing during a 2020 trip up north. The Strathearn Tartan scarf nodded to her Scottish title, the Countess of Strathearn, and looked totally charming against her beige ensemble.

Alexander McQueen
Photo: Shutterstock
Another investment purchase from Kate’s beloved McQueen. A 2020 trip to Wales saw the royal put on a positively festive demeanour in an elegant postbox-red double-breasted coat, worn over an Emilia Wickstead tartan skirt and with a matching scarf positioned neatly over one shoulder. The Duchess first wore the peppy outerwear during the unveiling of portraits from her Hold Still community photography project in Waterloo in October the same year, and no doubt we will see her in the cheering button-up again during similarly seasonal appointments in 2021.
Catherine Walker 
Photo: Shutterstock
The Duchess showcased quintessential royal style for a solo visit to Copenhagen in February 2022, opting for a grey princess coat by Catherine Walker featuring black lapels. She accessorised the chic outerwear with a matching black Mulberry bag, Gianvito Rossi pumps and pearls.
Catherine Walker
Photo: Shutterstock
Never one to be afraid of a block colour, the Duchess wore a cobalt blue coat dress by Catherine Walker for the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2022.
Laura Green London 
Photo: Shutterstock
The Duchess debuted an emerald green military-style coat by contemporary couture label Laura Green London – a new brand for the royal – for a St Patrick’s Day parade in Aldershot in March 2022.
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Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at a special reception hosted by the British High Commissioner to Pakistan at the iconic Pakistan National Monument during their Royal Tour of Pakistan on October 15, 2019 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Kate Middleton just repeated another outfit!
Back in November, the Duchess of Cambridge attended the Royal Variety Performance in London which featured performances from Ed Sheeran, Rod Stewart, and James Blunt. The annual event supports the Royal Variety Charity, which raises money to help entertainers throughout the U.K. who “need help and assistance as a result of old age, ill-health, or hard times.” A recorded version of the event aired Sunday, December 19, on ITV HD.
For the occasion, Middleton wore an emerald green Jenny Packham gown that she originally donned during a tour of Pakistan back in 2019. The striking green glittery column dress with long sleeves is a perfect fit for the holidays, and a staple anyone – even the Duchess of Cambridge – can re-wear for years to come.

The Duchess styled the look with gold drop earrings and made the whole outfit monochrome with a green sequin clutch and green pointed-toe heels. She wore her signature brown hair in a side part and to the side with gorgeous, glamorous curls. For makeup, she kept it simple with some black eyeliner, blush, and a berry lip to match.

You can check out the full look below:

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attends the Royal Variety Performance at Royal Albert Hall on November 18, 2021 in London, England.This demonstrates how slight styling adjustments can change up a look. The dress is a memorable piece that is so sparkly it does not require much accessorizing, but with little tweaks in hair and accessories, even a sequin staple like this can look different over the years.
This is just the most recent time Kate Middleton has recycled wardrobe staples. In October, Middleton attended the 2021 Earthshot Prize awards ceremony wearing a fan-favorite from a decade ago: an Alexander McQueen dress she wore to a black-tie BAFTA event in Los Angeles back in 2011. She wore the lilac McQueen gown in July 2011, a few months after her wedding to Prince William. We love to see it.
Originally published on Glamour.com
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