Everyone knows a princess needs to dress to impress — but what happens when it all goes wrong? Here are the outfits that got Catherine, Princess of Wales, into a whole heap of trouble.
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00:00Everyone knows a princess needs to dress to impress, but what happens when it all goes
00:05wrong? Here are the outfits that got Catherine, Princess of Wales, into a whole heap of trouble.
00:11Back in the early 2000s, when Kate Middleton and Prince William were dating, the princess-to-be
00:16didn't seem to care much about what she wore out in public, and she definitely wasn't bothered
00:20about the paparazzi. In June 2005, for example, she was photographed roaming the streets in
00:25a white strappy camisole and blue low-rise jeans with a black belt. Kate was on the cusp
00:30of joining the royal family at the time, and so she quickly attracted media criticism for
00:35the outfit.
00:36Around that time, Kate was often spotted wearing dresses with plunging necklines, skirts that
00:40revealed much of her legs, low-rise pants, and tall boots. It's probably safe to assume
00:45that her original style was nothing like that of a royal. Still, that clearly didn't stop
00:50Prince William from falling for her, or marrying her.
00:53In 2008, Kate and a few of her friends arranged a fundraising roller skate disco night in
00:58London, hoping to raise $200,000 to fund a ward of a children's hospital. Although her
01:03noble intentions hit the headlines, her ensemble for the event turned out to be the real talk
01:08of the town. The outfit in question comprised a halter top covered with the sparkliest green
01:13sequins out there, yellow hot pants, bright pink socks, and, of course, roller skates.
01:18Shortly after the charity event took place, the Daily Mail reported that Kate's choice
01:22of clothing for the event had been deemed un-ladylike by Buckingham Palace courtiers,
01:26and that they were nothing short of appalled. The outlet also claimed that the then-reigning
01:31Queen Elizabeth II found Kate to be something of a show-off at the time.
01:35You might find it hard to believe that anybody could have found Kate's wedding dress controversial.
01:39It really is a story of great British design, this wonderful dress."
01:44But a lawsuit filed against Alexander McQueen, the label behind the dress, appeared to suggest
01:49In 2016, Hertfordshire-based designer Christine Kendall sued McQueen, claiming the label's
01:54creative director, Sarah Burton, had blatantly used elements of her ideas when designing
01:59Kate's wedding gown. As Kendall told The Sunday Times, she had shared her designs with Kate
02:04and the palace months before the 2011 royal wedding took place. They even responded with
02:08a promise that they'd
02:09"...keep in touch."
02:10Speaking to The Sunday Times after the lawsuit had been filed, a McQueen representative stated,
02:15"...Sarah Burton never saw any of Ms. Kendall's designs or sketches and did not know of Ms.
02:20Kendall before Ms. Kendall got in touch with us, some 13 months after the wedding. We do
02:24not know why Ms. Kendall has raised this again, but there are no ifs, buts, or maybes here.
02:29This claim is ridiculous."
02:31That said, even this lawsuit couldn't diminish Kate's love for the luxury label. In 2018,
02:36she wore an Alexander McQueen dress for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding as well.
02:40During their 2012 visit to the Solomon Islands in Oceania, Kate and William attended a dinner.
02:45For the occasion, they wore outfits that they presumably believed to be traditional to the
02:50islands. However, the patterned shirt and floral dress the couple donned soon attracted
02:54harsh criticism, when it was discovered that they were actually from the Cook Islands,
02:58which is a completely different country. As it turned out, the two royals and their attendants
03:02had apparently been misinformed about the outfits. Clarence House, a royal residence
03:07in London, insisted,
03:08"...We saw they weren't the same design of the traditional clothes we were told would
03:12be gifted, so we checked with the Solomon Islands government to ensure the right ones
03:15were worn. We were reassured the clothes were correct, and so the Duke and Duchess wore
03:19them to the event. It was not learned until later in the evening that the clothes weren't
03:23from the islands."
03:25Anyone who knows about the British royal family will also know how much Queen Elizabeth loved
03:30her striking, bright-colored outfits. However, it wasn't the queen herself who decided to
03:35dress her in vibrant colors. In 2022, royal expert Daisy McAndrew revealed to Today that
03:40the queen's dresses wanted to make it easier for people to spot her from afar, which may
03:44have been difficult otherwise, as she was a fairly small person. Meanwhile, fashion
03:49journalist Robin Givhan added,
03:51"...It was about being able to say, I saw the queen, and her attire made that possible."
03:58And yet, in 2012, Kate outshined the queen during her very own Diamond Jubilee, a national
04:04event marking 60 years on the throne. While Queen Elizabeth herself opted for a white
04:08outfit for the day, Kate sported a screaming red Alexander McQueen dress that attracted
04:13quite a bit of attention, to say the least. The dress offended many, in fact, with a writer
04:18at the Daily Mail going as far as to say,
04:20"...It says something when even princesses Eugenie and Beatrice were more appropriately
04:24attired than the usually immaculate Kate. I blame her family. Not the royals, but the
04:29Middletons."
04:30When it came to royal women wearing skirts or dresses, Queen Elizabeth reportedly always
04:35wanted the garment in question to be knee-length or longer. Back in 2016, however, Kate broke
04:40that rule when she chose to wear a shorter-than-ideal dress to the celebrations of the then-queen's
04:4590th birthday. The dress in question was a pale blue Catherine Walker coat dress, adorned
04:50with beautiful white lacework. The princess paired the dress with a white hat and nude
04:54shoes with high heels. While the dress did entirely cover the upper portion of Kate's
04:59body, it left her knees uncovered. Exposed knees may not be a huge issue to most people,
05:04but some criticized Kate for failing to respect the queen's rules and preferences on her birthday.
05:10In early 2016, Kate and William took their two children to the French Alps for a skiing
05:15holiday. On the trip, they shared some family photos on their official ex account. Although
05:19Kate's outfit in the photos might not have seemed inappropriate to the untrained eye,
05:24Peter begged to differ. That's because the Rastelli Guanti gloves the princess was seen
05:28wearing were made with real possum fur. Shortly after the photos were shared, the director
05:33of PETA UK, Mimi Bekshi, spoke to E! News. She said,
05:37"'If the gloves are indeed made of real fur, we'll be contacting Kate, who we imagine is
05:41unaware that possums killed for their fur are often caught in bone-crushing steel jaw
05:46traps.'"
05:47Given that all sorts of faux fur clothing is available on the market nowadays, Kate's
05:51choice was widely seen to be unethical. It was also a little surprising, because the
05:55royal family has always been vocal against animal cruelty. For example, dogs in royal
06:00kennels haven't undergone painful tail-docking or ear-cropping surgeries since the reign
06:05of Queen Victoria, the great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth.
06:08Years before her death in 2022, Queen Elizabeth herself stopped wearing garments made with
06:13real fur, and both Prince William and King Charles III have been attempting to fight
06:17the illegal wildlife trade for many years.
06:20For my part, ladies and gentlemen, I will continue to do what I can to help bring key
06:24players together to find a way to end this trade."
06:28Notably, in early 2024, Camilla, Queen Consort, announced that she had stopped buying clothes
06:33made of real fur.
06:35In March 2023, when economic depression had become a serious issue in Britain and inflation
06:40was at its peak, Kate attended the Commonwealth Day service wearing a £3,000 suit designed
06:45by Erdem. The suit was comprised of a jacket and a skirt made of the same navy blue fabric
06:50with small flowers printed on it.
06:52Perhaps unsurprisingly, the outfit's astronomical price point led the public and media to criticize
06:58the princess for being out of touch. One Daily Mail article discussed what Kate, Queen Camilla,
07:03and Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh had worn for the event. The comments section was filled
07:06with harsh remarks against both Kate and the royal family.
07:10One person noted,
07:11For the 2023 Order of the Garter service, Kate donned a white dress covered with black
07:25polka dots. No big deal, right? Wrong. This dress managed to spark quite the controversy.
07:31Once the photos from the ceremony were released, it didn't take netizens much time to point
07:35out that the dress bore a strong resemblance to one Kate had sported for the 2022 Royal
07:40The polka dots on that dress were brown and bigger, but it was created by the same designer
07:45that made the dress she wore in 2023.
07:47With both of the dresses being designed by Alessandra Rich and looking extremely similar,
07:52Kate's second purchase was deemed unnecessary and callous by many. The 2023 dress was priced
07:57at over £1,000, and Kate chose to wear it at what was, economically speaking, a tough
08:02time for the United Kingdom.
08:04Speaking to the Express, style expert Molly Elizabeth Agnew noted,
08:08It's hard to think of a viable reason why anyone, including a princess, would buy a
08:12dress so identical to one she wore only last year, especially from the same fashion house.
08:17When so many in the UK are struggling monetarily, it can come across as somewhat out of touch.
08:22In 2002, Kate wore a sheer black lace skirt as a dress for a charity fashion show held
08:28at St. Andrew's University in Scotland, where the now-princess was pursuing her degree in
08:32art history at the time. Sporting nothing but a black bandeau bikini underneath the
08:37dress, Kate walked the runway with William present in the audience. According to a popular
08:41rumor about the couple, this event was where William first fell for his future wife.
08:46The £30 dress that Kate wore, created by then-fashion student Charlotte Todd, was sold
08:51at auction for £78,000 in 2011, the same year Kate and William tied the knot. Kate's
08:57college fashion show moment became a hot topic once again in December 2023, when actor Meg
09:03Bellini re-enacted it for the sixth season of Netflix's The Crown.
09:07"'Kate Middleton. And you notice I pause here for dramatic effect. Go on. Is single again."
09:14The dress wasn't exactly inappropriate or unusual for a fashion show, of course, and
09:18Kate wasn't even an official royal back then, but it says a lot that it was still able to
09:23make a splash over 20 years after it was first worn.