In September 2015, the Duchess of Cambridge officially resumed her royal duties after giving birth to Princess Charlotte earlier in the year. She paid a visit to the Anna Freud Centre, a children’s mental health charity in London.
For her debut back to work, Kate wore a silk houndstooth shirtdress from the Ralph Lauren Black Label collection.
Details:
The silk shirtdress features a point collar. The dress is finished with genuine mother-of-pearl buttons under the concealed buttoned placket. It also comes with a patent leather belt at the waist.
- Style name: “Silk Austin Shirtdress”.
- Style number: 61899816
- Price: $1595 / £1245
- Material: 100% silk. 100% leather belt
- Care: Dry clean only
- Length: 24” from the natural was it
- Color: Black & Vanilla Multi Houndstooth print
- Made in Italy
Ralph Lauren describe the dress as follows:
The quintessential shirtdress, this houndstooth-patterned silk style flares at the skirt for a supremely flattering fit. It comes with a patent leather belt that accentuates the waist.
At the time of writing, the dress remains fully in stock on the company’s USA website but only limited stock remains on their UK website (UK sizes 6,8,10). If you’re from further afield, you’ll need to change the country at the bottom of the website to check the stock in your region.
Also available from:
At the time of writing, Kate’s silk houndstooth print dress can be purchased from:
Houndstooth trend for Fall/Winter 2015 –
“As soon as that canine check creeps onto your clothes, you know that’s it: autumn is on its way. And when you have succumbed to that little patterned square, there’s no turning back, your season gearshift has changed and it’s full throttle into the next.”
– Vogue
The houndstooth print features heavily across all Ralph Lauren fall/winter 2015 collections. Here’s a sample of items available from the Black Label collection currently available at FarFetch.com, including Kate’s dress (bottom right). Trousers, jackets and polo-neck sweatshirts also feature.
It’s not just Ralph Lauren embracing the check! Back in February, InStyle magazine predicted that houndstooth would be popular this season after spotting the print across multiple NYFW runways, including Miu Miu, Sonia Rykiel, Carolina Herrara, Mary Katrantzou, Boss, Alexander McQueen and more.
Of course, everything we see on the runway filters down to the high street – lucky for us, there are plenty of affordable houndstooth dresses on the high street too. If you’d like to borrow a little style inspiration from both Kate and the runway, but cannot afford the Ralph Lauren Black Label price tag – here are my favourite affordable options:
Kate and Ralph Lauren:
Duchess Kate is no stranger to Ralph Lauren, she has several pieces in her closet from the shop.
The Duchess wore a Ralph Lauren blouse during her visit to Canada in 2011. Later in the year she chose a green dress by the brand, for a visit to the Centrepoint charity headquarters. In 2013, she opted for a green blazer to keep her warm during the Anglesey ultra-marathon in September. She then wore the brand’s white and blue breton striped “tori” tee during a SportsAid workshop that October. Kate also owns a black ruffle trim jacket from Ralph Lauren, which she wears regularly to engagements. Further, the Duchess owns several casual sweaters from the brand, which she appears to wear on a day-to-day basis.
