It’s been a long time since the British royals have walked a red carpet, and at Tuesday evening’s premiere of the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die, the Duchess of Cambridge single-handedly brought back the glamour of royal movie premieres.
If you audibly gasped when you saw the Duchess of Cambridge on the red carpet of No Time To Die Tuesday evening, you weren’t alone. My jaw dropped as soon as I saw her alight from the car.
When Kate stepped onto the red carpet there were many thoughts racing through my mind. This was, undoubtedly, the best she’s ever looked (outside of a tiara appearance—I can’t ignore the full glam of a state function, after all).
She looked like a Bond Girl dressed to the nines.
She looked like an Academy Award personified.
She looked every inch the style icon we’ve known her to be over the past decade.
When Daniel Craig, who’s starring as James Bond for the final time, saw Kate inside the Royal Albert Hall, he said, “You look jolly lovely.” And when Phoebe Waller Bridge, one of the film’s screenwriters saw her, she said, “Wow.”
The golden, shimmering cape gown came from one of her favourite designers, Jenny Packham. It’s a variation on existing Packahm designs, and since Kate has been a loyal patron of the designer for a decade now, it’s a partnership that works. The styles and silhouettes suit her; the dresses she chooses always make her look regally modern.
Her jewellery, a large emerald-cut ring and statement earrings (by O’nitaa London), matched the dress, as did her shoes. Every piece of this outfit was to maximize the look and the evening, and the message was this: I pay attention.
For according to the Telegraph, Kate’s gown was a nod to the film as the “draping of the design mimics the famous Bond swirl vector, used in the film franchise’s opening credits and graphics for decades.”
The Kate Effect has been written about tirelessly for 10 years now. We know Kate’s sartorial power lies in her ability to dress up and dress down, to mix couture with High Street fashions. But when she goes glamorous like this, the way she does on a red carpet, there’s something magical that happens.
For as much as I love the sporty, country fashion sense Kate has cultivated in her royal career, when we get to see this side of her style, we see the style icon and the pageantry that this future queen consort is capable of.
If this is what Kate brought to a James Bond film premiere, I can’t wait to see what else she has in her closet.
