Dear Kate, you are wrong – it would be sexist not to ask about your clothes
Fashion has long been dismissed as a silly frippery, despite the fact it generates billions for the UK economy. What a shame the Princess of Wales has deemed it worthless to tell us what she is wearing, says former glossy magazine editor Jo Elvin
Maybe it was shallow of me to wonder about the Princess of Wales’s stunning five-string pearl necklace. After all, she and Prince William were attending a Holocaust Memorial Day service to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Fashion is beside the point at such sombre moments, right? Well… no, not always.
It transpired that the necklace was specifically chosen for the occasion as it was from Susan Caplan, a Jewish-owned luxury vintage jewellery brand. It was a meaningful communication of respect for the Jewish community, and typical of Catherine’s careful and considered approach to getting dressed. It championed a Jewish business in a way that many found deeply moving.
It’s just one example of why I’m dismayed by the announcement from palace officials that Catherine will no longer be routinely releasing information about what – or “who” – she is wearing for her royal engagements.
As reported in The Sunday Times, a palace source has said that the royal wants to ensure that the focus remains on the “issues, people and the causes she is spotlighting”, rather than her clothing.
“There is an absolute feeling that it [the public work] is not about what the princess is wearing. There will always be an appreciation of what the princess is wearing from some of the public and she gets that. But do we need to be officially always saying what she is wearing? No. The style is there but it's about the substance.”
As a former glossy magazine editor, I am used to seeing fashion sneered at and dismissed as pointless frippery. But I didn’t ever think I’d see the day when our most famous style icon would join that chorus.
Any implication that what Catherine wears is unimportant, a triviality, is quite the demeaning kick in the guts for the fashion industry. A sector which, at last count, directly contributes £62bn to the UK economy, has created 1.3 million jobs and raises more than £23bn in tax revenues, according to a landmark report published by UKFT last year.
Why should it be seen as belittling to want to know what a famous woman is wearing? Catherine’s wardrobe, as she ably demonstrated on Holocaust Memorial Day, can be a significant piece of soft diplomatic power. Those pearls were not “beside” the point, they were very much part of it.
What might sometimes feel like unimportant information can be a transformational shot in the arm for small British brands. Ask the likes of small British brands like Beulah London or Needle and Thread if the so-called “Kate Effect” is unimportant information.
Why is there quite so much sneering and wilful belittling about this juggernaut of a British industry? It generates more wealth than the coal and steel industries combined. Even The King is a fashion campaigner, having been the patron of The Campaign for Wool since its 2010 inception. Yet, we continue to treat fashion as being a bit of a silly – even shameful, immoral – vanity. Why is that so? One can’t help but feel if fashion wasn’t still seen as a predominantly female concern, it might be treated with respect to match its economic weight.
This is why I don’t really buy the line that asking a woman what she’s wearing is sexist. It’s not sexist to want to know the brand choices of the most photographed woman in the world. Kate’s clothing choices are business choices – big business choices. Not to mention the fact that as a fully paid member of the firm, when thousands are being spent on the Princess’s wardrobe, the public is entitled to know the details behind that publicly-funded expense.
Of course, a woman is more than what she’s wearing as was brilliantly illustrated in the #askhermore movement a few years back. Rightly, this campaign highlighted that there needs to be a pushback when high-profile women are asked a disproportionate number of questions about their appearance, families and ability to balance work and a personal life, rather than the issues they are campaigning on.
However, I would argue that the Princess of Wales does a brilliant job of launching conversations about the issues that matter to her. If the media only ever talked about her outfits, I wouldn’t know of all the ways Catherine has raised awareness for the crucial developmental stages of young children, or her mental health work. The most penetrating images from her Holocaust Memorial visit were those of the men and women who survived those death camps.
No one sits in a newsroom and debates whether they will report on what she did or what she wore. Reporting on her outfit choices sits alongside that. It just so happens that millions of fans around the world also appreciate her style and want to know about it. This is excellent news for the British-based brands and designers she mostly wears.
This new approach from Kensington Palace won’t quash the news articles, the Instagram and TikTok accounts or the thousands of blogs devoted to documenting her every stitch. It actually might make the clamouring for such details even more desperate.
It is sad that Catherine is leaning in to all into the wrongheaded ideas that this information is worthless, when she knows only too well it is anything but.
Why can’t the fashion brands she chooses to wear be simultaneously and proudly championed?
It feels like, with this announcement, Catherine seems to be tacitly agreeing with naysayers who believe fashion is something to be mocked, something to be embarrassed that you like. Can you imagine the Prince of Wales refusing to name the football team he or George supports? Why is it so different?
Catherine is, arguably, the most influential woman in Britain. She has a lot of power – and she is the one woman who can use her power to show that British fashion is something to be proud of.
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