Green Blog
30 August 2011
Kate Middleton's dressing down
The Duchess of Cambridge has now survived her first 100 days 'in office' without a scandal. Until now, that is.
See, Kate has done something outrageous. She has been seen wearing the same clothes on several occasions.
For the wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall a couple of weeks ago, Kate wore a gold Day Birger et Mikkelsen coat and a pale lace dress, both of which she has been spotted in before. For the rehearsal dinner the night before, the Duchess wore a gorgeous green dress from Diane von Furstenberg that had its début showing a month earlier in LA.
The headlines - and negative comments - about Kate's 'recycling' have really struck me. I feel a bit sickened that as a society, we seem to criticize someone for wearing the same dress twice.
What's worse is that this isn't just something that applies to blue bloods and celebrities. A culture of disposability seems to have taken hold in Britain, to the point where several of my friends confess that they don't like wearing the same dress more than once. I myself have stood with a dress in my hands and thought: "I can't be seen in this. I've worn it too many times."
Clothes aren't meant to be disposed of after one outing - the clue is in the fact they have washing instructions. We should be hesitant in following a throwaway trend that neither our wallets nor our environment can sustain.
Kate is absolutely right to wear her clothes again and again - it's what the ordinary people who help fund her lifestyle do.
If you think about it, it would be completely bonkers if the Duchess wore a new outfit every time she was to be seen in public. For a start, she'd need some wardrobe to store all the dresses, skirts, trousers, jeans, jumpers, tops, blouses, coats, jackets, shoes, boots, hats and jewellery after they had been worn - once.
Besides, who can blame her for wearing that green DVF dress again - if it was mine I would wear it every other day!
Rannva Danielsen, Intern - Communications & Media team
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