As a shade closely associated with medical professionals, white is also a subtle reminder of Catherine’s health issues, but the decision to upcycle this dress signals business-as-usual consistency.
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Upcycling outfits is a tactic frequently used by Charles, Princess Anne and Camilla, who re-wore a pale green Anna Valentine coat dress to Trooping of the Colour seen at Royal Ascot last year.
White Jimmy Choo heels have been worn by Catherine to a number of official events, and her $US6059 ($9160) pearl cluster earrings from Cassandra Goad made their debut at Prince Louis’ christening in 2018.
The Keep Calm and Carry On message is driven home by the familiar choices of designer Jenny Packham and Irish milliner Treacy. Packham has created dresses for some of Catherine’s biggest fashion moments, including state dinners for South Korea and South Africa, and her golden Bond Girl dress for the premiere of No Time to Die in 2021.
Hats by Treacy have been worn by Catherine to the previous three Trooping the Colour ceremonies in 2023, 2022 and 2019.
Irish representation was enhanced at this weekend’s event by Catherine’s medal for the Irish Guards. Last week, the guards received new regimental colours from Charles, with Catherine, their colonel, unable to attend the ceremony. Instead, the princess sent a congratulatory letter signed Colonel Catherine.
My Fair Lady style: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at Royal Ascot in 2018 (left); Nicole Kidman at Derby Day, Melbourne in 2012; and Audrey Hepburn on the My Fair Lady set.Credit: Getty Images, supplied
Our fair lady
Shopping your wardrobe doesn’t require abandoning glamour. Fresh touches such as the stiff striped bow transformed Catherine’s outfit into a My Fair Lady tribute.
Audrey Hepburn’s memorable monochrome dress with Edwardian details from the 1964 movie musical has become red carpet shorthand for sophistication.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, nodded to the original Cecil Beaton design when she attended Royal Ascot in a belted white Givenchy dress and Philip Treacy hat in 2018. Catherine’s Trooping the Colour outfit is more of a full curtsy to its inspiration, closer to Nicole Kidman’s divisive L’Wren Scott dress worn to Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse in 2012.
The humbug-striped bow at Catherine’s collar is a direct tie to Hepburn’s costume, along with the tilted hat. Fortunately, a lace parasol was not included in the aesthetic update.
In the musical, the outfit represents poor flower girl Eliza Doolittle’s introduction to society at Royal Ascot, and in the ballroom scene that follows, the commoner is mistaken for a Hungarian princess.
It’s a lesson Catherine has mastered. Clothes make the man, but a white dress with a black box, make the princess.
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