As newly minted princess Kate Middleton greeted Michelle Obama in the ornate surroundings of Buckingham Palace Tuesday, it was hard to believe she was wearing a $340 dress from British retailer Reiss — a frock any commoner could buy.
Middleton’s appearance in the nude-hued “Shola” dress sparked a shopping frenzy, causing the retailer’s Web site to crash and the dress to immediately sell out. And now style watchers are hailing the Duchess of Cambridge as “the pauper’s princess” — the first stylish royal to embrace affordable trends, and the perfect recession-era symbol.
“Kate is a princess of our times,” says Zanna Roberts Rassi, senior fashion editor at Marie Claire. “She’s more of a people’s princess than Diana. Diana was understated, but she liked her labels. Kate’s heralding this almost changing of the guard, from the stuffy royal family to this modern-day princess that we can all relate to.”
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Middleton’s fashion choices have also boosted mass-market fashion chains. Reiss, which owns three Manhattan-based stores, will reissue the “Shola” dress in June and is planning to open another store in New York, along with a concession at Bloomingdale’s.
“We were described as New York City’s best-kept secret, but that’s not the case anymore,” says Laurie Marco, Reiss’ North American president. “In terms of brand awareness, it’s been a phenomenal time for us.”
The leggy royal has been a Reiss customer for years. She chose an off-white dress from the retailer for her official engagement photos and sported a flirty white Reiss coat at William’s military graduation in 2008 and a charity event in 2009.
Middleton also favors frugal fashions from Top Shop and mid-market brands such as Whistles. The week before her wedding, she went on a shopping spree — not at London’s finest ateliers, but on the High Street, spending about $350 on three floral dresses and a white blouse from chain store Warehouse.
Even after she wowed the world in a wedding gown from the house of Alexander McQueen — which was rumored to cost between $66,500 and $200,000 — she proved marriage to a prince wouldn’t change her.
The day after her wedding, she went back to her thrifty style, pairing a pleated frock from Zara with patent espadrilles from LK Bennett, a midprice British shoe chain.
Her fashion approach is nothing less than revolutionary, say style experts.
“She’s not putting herself up on a pedestal and alienating herself from people who can’t afford the extreme high-level designers. She’s breaking the rules where she needs to,” says Marissa Webb, the head of women’s design for J.Crew.
While Michelle Obama has also been applauded for wearing clothes from affordable stores such as J.Crew and H&M, she also favors big-name designers such as Jason Wu and Isabel Toledo. The floral Barbara Tfank dress she wore to meet Middleton this week cost at least $2,000.
And while Middleton has championed the midpriced designer line Issa and bespoke coats by Katherine Hooker, the only occasion when she’s worn a high-end designer was her wedding — a move that Marie Claire’s Roberts Rassi cheered, along with the rest of the fashion world.
But Middleton, 29, has also been criticized for her flirtation with accessible clothing.
After her prewedding shopping spree, fashion commentator Liz Jones urged the royal to change her low-key approach.
“Kate’s role is a sartorial minefield that needs an expert eye to steer her through safely,” wrote Jones in the UK’s Daily Mail.
But celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch disagrees, saying Kate’s simple style suits her bargain-price wardrobe.
“When you’re a minimalist, it’s a lot easier to be a recessionista,” he says. “She was very on-trend with the nude dress, and hasn’t missed a beat.”
Still, fashion watchers anticipate that Middleton will tap a top couturier when she starts attending black-tie galas in the future.
“It will be interesting to see what she chooses for formal occasions. She’s the type of girl who might go for McQueen’s diffusion line, McQ. She’ll still support the high end, but make them look . . . accessible,” says Roberts Rassi.
But even if Middleton starts experimenting with designer clothes, Marco believes she’ll continue to support the mass-market brands that ordinary girls love.
“As the years go on, she’ll surprise us with beautiful high-end designers,” she says. “[But] she will be the kind of icon who will wear affordable luxury, too.”
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