Kate Middleton Resurrects a Familiar Look for the Royal Wedding

By Madeleine Luckel

For the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Kate Middleton wore an Alexander McQueen cream coat dress. The A-line ensemble featured a pointed and turned down collar. To top her look off, Middleton donned a large wide-brimmed yellow-hewed hat for the occasion. The hat included large artificial flowers nestled underneath its brim. The Duchess of Cambridge wore Alexander McQueen for her own 2011 royal wedding, as well as her sister Pippa Middleton’s wedding last May.

Many royal watchers may have felt that this look felt somewhat familiar. And while it is evocative of Middleton’s general stylistic wheelhouse, it also appears to be incredibly similar to a specific Alexander McQueen look previously worn by the Duchess of Cambridge. At the 2016 Trooping of the Colour ceremony, Middleton wore a coat dress of the same cut, as well as a distinctive, rose-appointed hat. That first ensemble did however appear to be a shade of very pale pink. What’s more, Middleton also wore what may have been this same ensemble to the 2015 christening of her daughter, Princess Charlotte. However, regardless of these subtle differences in color, Middleton’s message today was clear: focus on the bride. In this way, her own choice of dress was a generous gift to the new Duchess of Sussex.

Today also marked Middleton’s first public appearance since the brith of her third child, Prince Louis, who was born less than one month ago. The Duchess was seen entering the church with other mothers of bridesmaids and pageboys of the wedding. Middleton held the hands of two little bridesmaids, one of whom was her daughter, Princess Charlotte. As the mothers shepherded their children indoors, Middleton appeared to ask her daughter to wave to the crowd. Charlotte obliged, recalling her adorable Windsor wave outside the hospital while visiting her baby brother in April. Below, watch a clip of Middleton and her children arriving to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.