After a silent August, the Prince and Princess of Wales returned to the spotlight in September with a busy schedule. Kate, in particular, was busier than she has been in years past. This could be chance or it might be the norm going forward now she is the Princess of Wales.
Kate has fashion fans talking this month, though, because, aside from the Eponine London coat-dress that Kate wore to St. David’s Cathedral on September 8th to mark the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, the Princess wore trousers to every other event in September. Every one.
As a quick aside, I don’t dislike trousers generally. I love casual Kate looks and many of those are jeans or chinos. Paired with sweaters, blouses, t-shirts, or coats, Kate looks fabulous dressed down. This post is focused on the trousers that Kate wears to her more “professional” public engagements as opposed to public engagements where she’s in the woods with the Scouts or abseiling with William or out watching polo.
I know fans are divided about this new penchant for pants. Some of you love to see her wearing trousers as a professional uniform and others would prefer she always wear skirts/dresses. For formal engagements, I prefer Kate in dresses but I like the occasional and well executed trouser ensemble. But I like trousers as a jolt from the regular; I’d rather they aren’t the norm. So I do think Kate has been overdoing it on the trousers of late.
There are two primary pitfalls to trouser ensembles. The first is that trouser ensembles are harder to pull off. This month, Kate had a good example of a big win in the trouser department and a good example of a fail. The biggest fail, to my mind, was the green Burberry she wore to the textile mill. Kate was swimming in the trousers and the blazer was boxy and unflattering. This was a true fashion fail in my mind—it looked clumsy and did not highlight or enhance her natural beauty.
By contrast, the