Week in Review: Catherine Middleton, 1-8 January

Here's what Catherine Middleton wore the week of 1-8 January:

1. a. Attending the wedding of Sarah Stourton and Harry Aubrey-Fletcher, 8 January; b. the coat from Libelula; c. the dress as worn to the wedding of Peter and Autumn Phillips. I think the dress is Issa?

Well, now. See, here's the thing: she goes and wears a sheer dress that I have to think more suitable to a New Year's Eve party than to a wedding, and it's black (oh, so much black! Not another one with all the black, please!) - but then she goes and pairs a hot purple shoe with it and now my mouth is shut. Purple shoes are like my Kryptonite. She's crafty, this one.


Photos: Libuella/Hello

Style Speculation: Kate Middleton

So: Kate Middleton's day in the sun has arrived. Let's talk about her.

I've never covered Kate on this blog. Three reasons for that, really:

1. I may or may not be harboring a slight resentment for the girl, ruining my fantasies of snatching old Wills for myself. (What? A girl's got to have something to daydream about.)
2. Her style...it's never interested me. I do not think she's badly dressed, per se, but I don't see an innate flair there either.  That said....
3. I've never felt it quite fair to hold her to the same standards as I would a princess. She's been going it on her own, likely without the help of a stylist or the team of designers, hair and makeup people and other assorted lackeys a royal would have access to. And certainly without a full-fledged royal budget.

But she's engaged now, so the game is afoot. Let's revisit her most recent appearance:

Clarence House says the couple were engaged while in Kenya, which was before this appearance, which makes this the first of Kate's official princess-in-waiting outfits. It's a little boring, no? Not bad at all, but there isn't anything making my skirt fly up here. I'm hoping this all changes, and soon. I hope that Kate gets herself a stylist, or that some designer will take her under a wing.

See, I have a theory, and it goes like this: a royal family needs all kinds of people in it for greatest appeal. You need your workhorse royals (like the Princess Royal, and Queen Elizabeth), but I think you also need a bit of glamour to make it work, and the Windsors don't have that right now. Even crusty old me can admit that Kate's a gorgeous girl with a hell of a figure, which makes her potentially the best thing to happen to British fashion since Diana. I'm not sure that will happen, though, precisely because it would invoke a Diana comparison. And one can only imagine the royal family's thoughts on that.

UPDATE: Photocall time! Diana's ring, which I think is sweet.

  

While I switch my daydreaming focus over to Guillaume and Harry, tell me: What do you think? What are your predictions, and your hopes, for the style of the future Queen Catherine?

Photo: Zimbio/Reuters