Selasa, 26 Juni 2012

£105,000 the TRUE bill for Kate's clothes: That's far more than the £35k reported. But she's worth every penny, says LIZ JONES

£105,000 the TRUE bill for Kate's clothes: That's far more than the £35k reported. But she's worth every penny, says LIZ JONES

By Liz Jones

PUBLISHED: 18:10 EST, 26 June 2012 | UPDATED: 18:47 EST, 26 June 2012

So it’s estimated that Kate’s clothing has cost Prince Charles £35,000 just since the beginning of the year. It is a princely sum.

But Femail has delved more deeply into the Duchess of Cambridge’s wardrobe, and discovered that the ensembles she has worn over the past 12 months come in at just over £105,000.

While Prince Charles will have footed the bill for the outfits Kate wore to official functions, it is unclear who will have covered the cost of the rest, though they will include items she owned before she joined the Royal Family.

Cost: 2,065

Cost: £2,065 I adore this baby pink box-pleat wool dress by London designer Emilia Wickstead. At £1,220, it is expensive, but Kate has worn it at least twice. At the Buckingham Palace garden party, she teamed it with a pastel-pink Jane Corbett hat, £500, nude LK Bennett Sledge courts, £185, and clutch, £160.

Cost £3,001

Cost: £3,001 The red-carpet occasion dress is where Kate really comes into her own. I love this lilac belted Alexander McQueen gown, £2,246: the full skirt and pleated bodice are a welcome change from her usual very slim silhouette. She’s also wearing silver Jimmy Choo shoes, £460, and silver clutch, £295.

Duchess of Cambridge

Cost: £3,335 Kate is stunning when she goes slightly over the top, rather than narrow and severe. This Jenny Packham gown, £2,875, in emerald green was worn to the Olympic concert in February. I find the lace panel at the back deliciously daring,  the hair neat and grown up. Her Jimmy Choos, £460

Duchess of Cambridge

Cost: £7,178 This grey Katherine Hooker coat, £795, worn over a grey silk floral print dress by Jenny Packham, £6,000, is one of my favourites. However, I’d have added colour in the clutch and shoes. Kate wore her trusty LK Bennett courts, £185, Hobbs clutch, £99, and Whiteley hat, £99.

But, whatever the answer, it’s still a staggering amount to spend on clothes, jewellery and accessories â€" especially in a recession, when so many are going without more basic day-to-day requirements.

Yet I maintain that we shouldn’t accuse Kate of unnecessary extravagance. She never accepts discounts or freebies, and nor should she.

This is the practice by which most celebrities and fashion editors manage to look so good: Kate has to remain above such bribery.

Besides, we haven’t asked Charles to sell his Aston Martin; nor should we ask William and Kate to move into a Barratt home so that Kensington Palace can be made into a dorm for the homeless.

Clothes may seem frivolous, but what Kate wears is so much more visible, and vital, than where she lives and what she drives.

kate
kate

She is now â€" like it or not â€" an ambassador for Britain. What she wears is not about being attainable on the High Street; it is about being breathtaking. She needs to have the ‘wow’ factor.

So to those members of the PC brigade, who presumably wear sackcloth, eat only gruel and insist Kate should not be spendthrift in a time of need, I say: ‘Poppycock!’

We need our morale raising, and our biggest industry â€" retail â€" needs boosting, especially as it is the largest employer of women in this country, and it is women who are being hardest hit by the downturn.

During the Thirties’ Depression, people turned to the cinema and the likes of Carole Lombard, dressed in liquid satin, for escapism â€" a hit of much-needed glamour.

Today, Kate is that superstar. Not a style-setter, but a nation-saver.

I actually wish Kate would spend more of her father-in-law’s money, and develop an intimate relationship with one or two couturiers, so all her clothes are made-to-measure, not off the peg.

I also wish she would experiment more with colour: too often, she is in dove grey.

She can afford to inject frivolity into her wardrobe, and add zing to her choice of shoes: I beg her to abandon those nude  LK Bennett ‘Sledge’ courts at once.

Above all, I’d like Kate to remember she is still a very young woman, with a fabulous figure.

She needs to abandon the Chanelesque wool coats with no shape: I see her as a new Grace Kelly, not following in the footsteps of Carla Bruni, the Queen or even Diana.

She must be her own person: a goddess and, yes, a clothes horse.

There is no better boost for the economy, or our national psyche.


Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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Don't act naive, Liz, you know full well that the Duchess doesn't have to pay the full price for her clothing. Designers are falling over themselves to have her wear their designs which creates instant worldwide publicity for their label, which in itself is priceless. She probably gets some pieces free or on loan for special occasions. Designers do the same for celebrities, so you can bet your life they're doing the same for Catherine.

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I don't get the top comments about people saying we all moan when Kate repeats clothing as if she's darned if she does and darned if she doesn't. I can remember everyone praising her in articles about her recycling her outfits. And who's to say is she spent less she'd be walking around in ripped jeans? There are plenty of perfectly nice non-designer clothing you can get under 100 pounds.

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So while we are stuck in a recession, the future Queen consort is spending £105,000 on designer clothes. I thought she was meant to be down to earth, a 'high street girl' and thrifty. There was another young women who ignored the events around her and indulged her vain whims and fancies. And she lost her head.

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So Beatrice and Eugenie and Camilla and Sophie all wear handmade?? No thought not.

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She still spends less than Angelina Jolie, JLo, Jennifer Aniston etc. I mean honstly think about how much Hollywood celebs spend in a week. wasn't it reported that Rihanna spent like 13k just on her hair in a week? Imagine how much she spends in a month just on her hair! And everyone is complaining she spent that much? Wow. - iris, Australia, 26/6/2012 2:40 I don't think there can be any comparison. All of those women earn their money. You may not agree with how much they make for what they do, but they earn it. None of them receive any form of money from the government or tax payers. Kate is more comparable to a diplomat. How do you think people would react if they found out that Hilary Clinton or a politician spends this much?

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You aren't happy when she buys new things and you're not happy when she recycles outfits...guessing you just aren't a happy lot! You should be proud of how the Duchess represents your country; she's yet to make a misstep and has been an excellent ambassador for Great Britain, but guess you are just all waiting with baited breath for that to happen too.

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Spending even a quarter that amout would still be sufficent for looking good. It's not like if the amount was any less she'd be walking around in rags. If she had spent a million pounds on clothes, you all would find a way to justify it.

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She still spends less than Angelina Jolie, JLo, Jennifer Aniston etc. I mean honstly think about how much Hollywood celebs spend in a week. wasn't it reported that Rihanna spent like 13k just on her hair in a week? Imagine how much she spends in a month just on her hair! And everyone is complaining she spent that much? Wow.

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Your comment isn't very nice. I find it difficult to believe Charles is happy to foot the bill for every Christmas, Birthday, etc. present William buys his wife. And to say he has no income of his own is untrue, 44,000 a year is nothing to sneeze at and aside from that he's independently wealthy through his mother's side (...) - koolchicken, Hawaii, USA, 26/6/2012 22:10 ============================ At the end of the day, you know I'm right with that comment. No one would ever respect a man who can't afford or support his spouse's lifestyle, and neither will the spouse. I didn't say he didn't have an income. I merely pointed out that his income cannot support his spouse. A man like him will be, and certainly deserves to be, cuckolded. He has no self-respect or dignity if other people, and of all people his own father, have to donate money to his wife's lifestyle.

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So, who is paying for the rest? Her parents? William? She does represent a country and Royalty and needs to look the part.

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