On Thursday, November 2nd, 2016, The Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) attended a special screening of the Recovery Street Film Festival before heading to the red carpet premiere of A Street Cat Named Bob at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema Theatre in London.
The Recovery Street Film Festival features films made by former addicts and their loved ones A little bit about the film festival:
“We want to demonstrate through the medium of film the diverse issues that are faced by people overcoming addiction and how those around them can be affected.”
“The aim is to empower people affected by addiction by giving them a voice, providing a platform for them to tell their own stories of the ‘ups and downs’ and how they reached recovery.” RecoveryStreetFilmFestival.co.uk
“The films provide real hope that people can and do recover from addiction” – Kensington Palace
Here is one of the short films, Hope Inside:
During the film festival, Kate saw competition winning films from the past three years She also met with creators of the festival, winning filmmakers and representatives from Action on Addiction and other charities involved with the project. (As you may recall, Kate took on the Action on Addiction charity as one of her Patronages in 2012).
After, Kate attended the World Premiere of A Street Cat Named Bob at the nearby Curzon Mayfair cinema The premiere benefited Action on Addiction too.
The film is based on the much-loved, international best-selling book by the same name. It’s a true story about an unlikely friendship between a young homeless busker, James Bowen, and the stray ginger cat who changed his life.
Luke Treadaway stars as James Bowen. while Bob the cat plays himself.
Kate met with the real-life James and Bob, as well as the film’s actors and representatives from Sony Pictures Releasing UK and Action on Addiction, before watching the film. Here’s a photo of Kate petting Bob:
Kate’s outfit:
Kate debuted a new designer for the evening’s events. She wore a white floor length dress by Self Portrait.
It’s the Pleated Crochet Maxi Dress from the designer’s Resort 2016 collection The bodice features a high neckline with floral lace detailing, a crocheted design and tan mesh lining. The dress features full-length sheer sleeves. The skirt is made from crepe with shutter pleats and a high-side slit.
The dress was available at Shopbop for $640 USD / £526.59 Moda Operandi had the dress in their sale, reduced from £318 to £175. It had sold out at both retailers prior to Kate wearing it.
Self Portrait is a relatively new designer label, but it is growing in popularity thanks to its celebrity fans (now including Kate!) ASOS, Net-A-Porter, Shopbop, Selfridges and Neiman Marcus are just a few retailers that stock Self-Portrait clothing. There’s a great profile on the designer in Vogue magazine from 2013, which you can read here.
Kate brought back a few familiar accessories during the evening Her clutch bag is the Mulberry Bayswater in Conker Suede.
As you may recall, she owns the bag in three different colours.
She also wore her coordinating Gianvito Rossi pumps in burgundy suede.
This is another item Kate owns multiples of, she has these shoes in four different colours at the time of writing!
Kate chose her Oscar de la Renta earrings for the occasion.
The earrings were available on Oscar de la Renta’s website for $190 USD.
The designer described the earrings as follows:
Gilded details nod to natural oysters and Art Deco discs in these show-stopping button earrings, accented with lustrous Swarovski crystal pearls in a statement, sea-inspired design. Handcrafted in America from weightless gold-plated pewter, this simple silhouette incorporates just the right amount of elegance into any look.
Kate debuted the gold-plated faux pearl earrings in October 2016 during a visit to Manchester.
Why were people all cranky about her and this dress on the DM? I thought it was lovely and she looked happy and confident. I thought the slit was perfect.
Yes, I like Self Portrait on her much more than Chloe, which is a bit too ’70s bohemian housewife. But Self Portrait isn’t *quite* it either. Just imho, but Kate’s personality seems to call for something more… glamorous, traditional in the sense of artistic traditions, not stuffy social traditions. She needs something that calls back to ancient ways. She has such a great artistic flair. She should have something to celebrate that.