This morning, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a “Creative Collaborations” event at Lancaster House in London.
Their Royal Highnesses joined Their Excellencies President Xi and Madame Peng at the event. (Side note: I could live with being referred to as Her Excellency”, you know, if I had to!)
As you may recall, the President and his wife are conducting an official visit to the UK. They attended a State Banquet with the Duke and Duchess yesterday evening (check out Kate’s amazing tiara by clicking here!)
Today’s showcase highlighted the creative and and technological collaborations between the UK and China. The UK Trade & Investment organisation organised the event, which showcased much-loved British TV exports, including Doctor Who, Sherlock and BBC Earth. The attendees also watched a film about U.K. and China’s artistic relationship, watched a performance by the cast of Matilda, were entertained by Kung Fu Panda and met Jackie Chan. Picture via Daily Mirror reporter Victoria Murphy –
During the event today, Prince William presented a gift to President Xi on behalf of BAFTA in a move to promote open, creative coloration between the UK and China. The gift was a piece of original artwork from the BAFTA archive. You may recall that the Prince has been President of BAFTA since February 2010. Picture via Daily Mirror reporter Victoria Murphy again –
The PA have uploaded a video of the the royal couple, the Chinese president and his wife arriving today. Watch it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dzFcW_qtbI
Kate’s outfit:
The Duchess looked positively polished in a purple lace dress, paired with coordinating shoes and clutch bag. She’s wearing two new pieces and two new brands.
It’s from Dolce and Gabanna – yes a totally new (to us at least) brand for the Duchess. She wore Dolce & Gabbana’s Lace Guipure Dress. You can view it here on Net-A-Poter’s website.
The knee-length fitted dress features a high neckline and retails for an eyewatering $3495 USD. It’s also available at FarFetch too.
Kate’s shoes were new too. They appear to be from Gianvito Rossi, again another new brand for Kate (at least publicly). However it is not clear if she is wearing the ‘Gianvito’ style in bordeaux or the ‘Gianvito 105’ style in brown suede.
Kate’s bag will be familiar for most of our regular readers. It’s the Bayswater clutch in conker suede.
Finally, Kate’s Mappin and Webb “Empress” diamond earrings made a return for today’s event.
Gosh I think this dress DEFINATELY does not look the price tag! To be honest – it’s like a Marks & Spencer find! Think the neckline warranted an up do as well. Nice but not overwhelmed……..
Is it just me? While i thought the Duchess looked lovely at the state dinner, she also looked MISERABLE!! Even at today’s event, she has this “smirk” on her face, like she really doesn’t like the Chinese President and his wife (who I thought looked lovely at both events!)! This could just be the photographers getting her at a bad moment, but geez…. This dress and really the whole look is a miss – she looks like a little girl who overdressed going to her first luncheon. The hair and the busy lace pattern of the dress made this look “too much”. tHe Duchess of late has had a few “matronly” misses (hated that Ralph Lauren houndstooth dress – a/k/a the tablecloth) I agree with the other post that the dress doesn’t look the price – I was thinking more H&M. LOL I also thought she should have worn her hair up for this dress. JMHO….
I agree that her hair should have been up. Yeah this could have passed for an M&S (or H&M) dress… Perhaps Kate isn’t a fan of the Chinese President or has strong views on human rights etc. Perhaps Charlotte is teething and tired, or something else entirely? She does a little miserable/tired/off in recent photos.
Tend to agree with you.