Kate Middleton’s BAFTAs look makes sense in her ‘transitioning’ to Princess

There is no doubt Kate Middleton’s stylists put a huge amount of thought into what the royal will wear, occasion after occasion, and because of this royal commentator Elizabeth Holmes has dubbed Kate’s style strategy “slideshow dressing”. She told fans she likes to step back and take a look at the Princess of Wale’s wardrobe in context.

She said: “I love to step back and look at Kate’s appearances lined up like this because you can parse how her clothes were picked and sequenced.”

In October last year, she used the technique – putting Kate’s looks from a certain period side by side – to analyse Kate’s “Princess of Wales fashion uniform”.

This is a clever move by Kate’s stylists. Slideshow dressing means making sure a wardrobe fits together cohesively from look to look, meaning the person’s outfits look familiar to fans, while actually being different.

It creates cohesion, and recognisability and allows the wearer to state an intention, whether it’s Kate’s stylists establishing a look for “work events” that highlight important issues, versus more relaxed looks at events where Kate might want to show a fun, approachable side to her.

READ MORE: Kate Middleton’s ‘rare’ red carpet ‘miss’ at the BAFTAs – ‘something missing’

Earlier this week Kate wore a red and white houndstooth coat for a rugby match between England and Wales, wearing it over a black roll-neck jumper, black tights, and black boots, with a white handbag and black gloves.

A few days later, Kate wore a cream coat and roll-neck jumper with a black houndstooth skirt, a black handbag, black gloves, and black boots to Tywyn Primary School. These two looks, the royal content creator said, make sense with the BAFTAs look when all three are put together.

She said: “Very similar style touches in all three of these outfits with the black and white being the anchoring styling elements. You’ve got the gloves, you’ve got the handbag. These outfits were confusing and disjointed on their own but when you look at them in context, it suddenly makes sense and has become a fashion moment.”

These are the first content creators to note Kate Middleton has a “style uniform”. Style expert Ellie-Jean Royden has previously explained how the Princess has “has five looks and that’s it” and she wears them “like clockwork”.

She said: “Let’s look at five outfit templates you can steal from Kate Middleton that she uses relentlessly.”