Kate Middleton takes throne as fashion icon
Kate Middleton has gone from commoner to worldwide style queen -- and just about everyone is smitten with her elegant style.
Kate Middleton has gone from commoner to worldwide style queen -- and just about everyone is smitten with her elegant style.
Kate Middleton has gone from commoner to worldwide style queen -- and just about everyone is smitten with her elegant style.
She can spark a buying frenzy simply by being photographed in an outfit.
Take a look back at some of her top looks, which has women across the world eager to copy her style.
Middleton famously paired her new sapphire and diamond engagement ring with a blue Issa dress on the day her engagement to Prince William was announced. The dress sold out within hours, as did a budget version from Tesco.
Other retailers and labels also released their own imitations, including this one from Ingenue.
Middleton chose a white Reiss dress, the Nannette, for one of her official engagement portraits with William. It was a past-season piece from the label, and the company rereleased the dress after high demand.
In the United States, it reportedly sold out within two days.
Middleton also dressed herself for the second engagement portrait, this time choosing a cream, silk blouse from Whistles.
Like the Reiss dress, the blouse was rereleased because of customer interest.
In December 2010, Middleton wore a cream and black Temperley London dress paired with a black blazer to a charity event in Norfolk, England.
Admirers were disappointed when the dress, which was from a previous collection, wasn't restocked.
For a trip to Belfast in northern Ireland, Middleton wore a Burberry trench coat featuring a ruffled hem. The coat sold out online within hours.
Middleton chose a vibrant two-piece red skirt suit by designer Luisa Spagnoli when she visited the University of St. Andrews with William. The outfit sold out within days at the London boutique Hollie de Keyser, which stocks the label.
She paired her suit with boots by Aquatalia by Marvin K, and fashionistas snapped them up.
Speaking of boots, royal fans have noticed that the future queen loves her knee-highs.
In April 2011, the UK's Daily Telegraph reported that sales of knee-high boots soared 663 percent in the past month.
Fashionistas have also been keeping an eye on Middleton's love of hats and hair accessories. Fascination over the "fascinator," a particularly ornate hair accessory that can feature feathers, beads, flowers and other fancy trimmings, is growing in the United States.
In April 2011, CNN reported that Google searches shot up 50 percent for "fascinators" since January. Middleton wore this feathered piece at the wedding of Laura Parker Bowles and Harry Lopes in May 2006.
Middleton during the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, southern England, Dec. 15, 2006.
She wore this one at the Order of the Garter Service in Windsor, England, in June 2008.
Another envy of women across the world is Middleton's hair. Glamour even published a how-to for attaining her "bouncy, shiny, basically perfect" locks.
Middleton has the Midas touch on jewelry, too. As soon as the world caught a glimpse of the sapphire and diamond engagement ring on her hand (which once belonged to William's mother, Princess Diana, shown on the right), it seemed everyone wanted their own replica.
Knockoff versions, left, were stocked at QVC, HSN and elsewhere. At right is the real ring.
The white topaz earrings she wore for one of her engagement portraits, from Links of London, were also hot. A fight reportedly broke out between two women over the last pair at the New York Links store.
Some women want to emulate Middleton so much that they're making it their livelihood. Kate Bevan quit her job to become a professional Middleton look-alike.
Several style blogs and websites devoted to Middleton's fashion -- and how you can score your own "copy-Kate" outfits -- have also popped up.
And if you needed any more proof that Middleton really is a style icon, take a look at this: She has her very own fashion doll.
