It’s time for Wimbledon Doubles: from dots to broderie anglaise, how Kate Middleton loves to recycle dresses at the All England tennis tournament
- All eyes are upon her but the Princess of Wales is not afraid to re-use dresses
- For all the latest Royal news, pictures and videos click here
- Latest Wimbledon 2023 news, including schedule, travel updates and results
When William and Kate surprised NHS staff by dropping in for a tea party celebrating the NHS 75th anniversary last week, fashionistas spotted that she was wearing a £1515 blue polka dot by Alessandra Rich.
And, more to the point, it was not the first time that she’d worn it.
The Azure Midi Dress had already appeared at the All England tennis club last year when the Waleses watched Novak Djokovic beat Jannik Sinner in the men’s quarter finals.
If recycling is something of trend for the sustainable princess, it has been particularly in evidence at the tournament, where Kate is fast becoming known for her ‘Wimbledon Doubles’ – outfits she wears to the tennis and then recycles (or vice versa.)
The Princess of Wales attends a NHS Big Tea party last week at St Thomas’s Hospital in London to mark the 75th anniversary of the health service
Kate arriving in the same dress at Wimbledon last year
It all began on July 4, 2012, when William and Kate attended the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club to watch family friend Roger Federer play England number one Andrew Murray.
Kate was spotted in the Royal box wearing the cream sailor dress that she had worn, precisely a year beforehand, on Prince Edward Island during the newly-weds tour of Canada and The States.
On both occasions, she teamed the dress with her blue sapphire earrings and the engagement ring that once belonged to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana.
Kate wore the dress on Prince Edward Island during the newly-weds tour of Canada and The United States in July 2011
The sailor dress then reappeared on Centre Court during day nine of Wimbledon in 2012
Four days later Kate was back at the tournament, with her sister Pippa wearing another Wimbledon Double from her first overseas tour. In this case it was the £335 cream Joseph Vanessa dress she had worn on arrival at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in Canada.
She teamed the dress with the designer’s Nessie Tweed jacket, which she first wore to the 2011 Epsom Derby, a Diane von Furstenberg leopard print clutch, her LK Bennett nude sledge pumps and Givenchy Obsedia sunglasses lent by Pippa.
Catherine wore this cream Joseph Vanessa dress as she arrived at the Forts-de-Levis Community celebration in Quebec on the fourth day of their nine-day tour of Canada in 2011
The Princess of Wales was spotted in the same number at the men’s single’s final in 2012
The following month, Kate achieved a tennis triple, when she attended the Olympic tennis quarter finals with William in a Stella McCartney royal blue Ridley Stretch Cady dress that she had worn to the National Portrait Gallery the previous year.
Kate wore this sky blue Stella McCartney dress for a visit to the National Portrait Gallery in 2012
The dress made another appearance when Kate, then Duchess of Cambridge, attended the men’s Quarterfinal of the London 2012 Olympic Games, which took place at Wimbledon
After missing Wimbledon in 2013, when she was expecting Prince George, William and Kate returned to Wimbledon for the 2014 men’s quarter finals, to watch reigning champion Andy Murray get knocked out by Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
On this occasion, she wore the Zimmerman broderie anglaise £260 Roamer Day Dress that she had worn three months earlier to the Sydney Royal Easter Show during the couple’s Royal tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Four days later, they were back for the final between Federer and Djokovic – Djokovic won – in another Wimbledon Double: she chose the Jonathan Saunders’ checked Evelyn dress she wore when arriving in the Solomon Islands on the 2012 Jubilee Tour.
Kate wore the Zimmermane £260 Roamer Day Dress to the Sydney Royal Easter Show during the Royal tour of Australia and New Zealand in April 2014
Kate recycled the dress and wore it again to the Simone Halep versus Sabine Lisicki match on Centre Court in 2014
Since then, she has rarely diversified from her trend: in 2016, after taking over as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club from the late Queen she turned up to watch Serena Williams play Elena Vesnina in a Roksanda Ilincic’ Ryedale’ dress.
The yellow and white dress, which was dubbed the ‘banana dress’ after William told her she looked like the fruit, was rechristened the Slazenger dress after the colours of the ball.
Kate with her husband, Prince William, at the Sydney Opera House in April 2014
The mother-of-three smiled as brightly as her dress for the tenth day of the Wimbledon 2016
Four days later, they were back for the final between Federer and Djokovic – Djokovic won – in another Wimbledon Double: she chose the Jonathan Saunders’ checked Evelyn dress she wore when arriving in the Solomon Islands on the 2012 Jubilee Tour.
Kate arriving at Honiara airport in the Solomon Islands on the Pacific leg of their tour of the Far East in September 2012
The dress made a second appearance two years later at the 2014 men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer
It was in 2019, that all eyes were on Kate, when she arrived at Wimbledon to watch the women’s finals with her sister Pippa and the Duchess of Sussex.
Kate wore the green Dolce & Gabbana dress that she had first worn on her 2016 tour of Canada to present Romanian Simona Halep with the trophy after she beat Serena Williams.
The Princess of Wales stunning in emerald green while visiting the University of British Columbia in Kelowna back in September 2017 during her trip to Canada
She arrived wearing the same dress for the Women’s Final on day twelve of the Wimbledon Championships on July 13, 2019
However, in 2021, the Princess chose a new dress when she turned up on Centre Court with her father Michael Middleton to watch Djokovic win Wimbledon for the sixth time.
She teamed Beulah London’s £720 Ahana Midi Dress in blush pink with a vintage Josef Point de Beauvais clutch bag and Aldo’s Nicholes pumps.
But last week she wore the gown again for the official opening of Young V&A, proving that, even if she wears a new dress at Wimbledon, she will still at some stage recycle it.
Kate first wore the dress to the 13th day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in July 2021
It made another appearance when the Princess of Wales appeared at the opening of the Young V&A, formerly known as the V&A Museum of Childhood, in Bethnal Green, London, on June 28
Last year, Kate wore another yellow number, Roksanda’s Brigitte dress, both on her arrival in Jamaica on her tour of the Caribbean and for the Wimbledon women’s single finals, four months later, matching it with LK Bennet’s Saffron Straw Hat.
Kate pictured in the radiant maxi-length yellow dress during the official arrival at Norman Manley International Airport on March 22, 2022, in Kingston, Jamaica
Kate shone among the crowd at the Wimbledon Women’s Singles Final on July 9, 2022
Kate wore a straw hat to protect her eyes in last year’s hot summer
And, although she chose a new £1028 Alessandra Rich polka dot dress to take Prince George to Wimbledon for the men’s single finals, she recycled it again last week when she visited Hope House, in Southampton. She even re-wore the matching £586 heels.
The royal wore the polka dot number to the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final back in July 2022
The Princess of Wales arriving for a visit at ‘Hope Street’, a residential community piloting a new approach to supporting women in the Justice System, in Southampton, on June 27
Source: Read Full Article