Kate Middleton.
Kate Middleton is still the girl that everyone can't stop thinking about, even though she hasn't gone into public to do charity work or grocery shop or buy a dress at Whistles in ages (okay, since August 19, but that's a century in Internet time). If last season's shows in New York were "dress[ed] up with a capital D," as André Leon Talley described them, this season's shows are only expected to be even more dressed up. The "model off duty" look popularized by designers like Alexander Wang — messy hair, filmy T-shirts, worn denim — is expected to make way for a ladylike, dressed-up look that the younger generation hasn't ever really tried. This is because, designers and retailers think, Kate makes it seem cool to be polished, clean-looking, conservative, and classic. Showers: yes; grease: no, etc. Ed Burstell, managing director for Liberty of London, calls this "the Kate effect" in the Times. Anna Wintour, whose personal style is very ladylike, also approves!
“There’s nothing trashy or vulgar about her,” said Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, which has featured the duchess several times. “She dresses her age and never looks out of place.”
Catherine is, in Mr. Burstell’s term, “the anti-Kardashian,” a bracing antithesis to the strident style and manner of many Hollywood celebrities, who “look so phony by comparison,” he said, “with their paid endorsements and brand-ambassador deals.” Diane Von Furstenberg, whose dresses the duchess has worn, said that she represents a craving for a proper alternative to the “housewives,” a reference to the popular television reality series.
Few would call Catherine adventurous, or even especially chic. “She is no Daphne Guinness,” Ms. Wintour allowed.
The anti-Kardashian — and you've been looking for the perfect three-word way to describe Kate's look. That is so it, and that is so what the world needs.
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Filed Under: princesses!!!, anna wintour, ed burstell, kate middleton
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