The Duchess of Cambridge follows in the footsteps of the Queen in spring-green Jenny Packham coatdress
Tuesday marked the first day of spring, and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, chose a suitably seasonal look for her latest official engagement, wearing a bespoke mint-green coatdress and coordinating shift by Jenny Packham to host a symposium about early intervention for children.
Her Royal Highness brought together academics, researchers, educators, practitioners and non-profit workers at the Royal Society of Medicine to discuss perinatal, maternal and infant mental health and the importance of supporting parents.
It's no surprise that the Duchess turned to Packham to outfit her for such a high-profile event. She has worn pieces by Packham on more than a dozen occasions since 2011, and the London-based designer is often mentioned as one of the possible fashion names behind Meghan Markle’s wedding gown.
Coatdresses have become one of the Duchess's wardrobe staples before and during her third pregnancy, but wearing an open coat over a matching dress struck a sartorial note that for many royal-watchers brought to mind another member of the family: the Queen.
In fact the Duchess's green coat closely emulated one of Her Majesty's looks from 45 years ago: a mint-green silk coat and matching dress that she wore to the polo in June 1973.
During her decades in the spotlight, Her Majesty has identified brightly coloured coats and coordinating dresses as her failsafe event-dressing formula. Her priorities are to remain at all times dignified, appropriate and visible - "I have to be seen to be believed," she has said.
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Catherine could do far worse than to draw lessons from HM's approach (including the importance of weighting the hemlines of silk dresses with chains to avoid the perils of strong gusts), though she has updated the Queen's tactics in a manner befitting the millennial generation of royals. Her dresses tend to be shorter than the Queen's, she eschews hats on all but the most formal occasions, and her heels - whilst still sensible - are higher than Her Majesty's low block heels. A flower-embellished hat, sadly, has yet to make an appearance.