Dolce & Gabbana Name Dress After the Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Cambridge now has the ability to inspire designers to change the names of their pieces once she has worn them.

A Dolce & Gabbana dress the Duchess wore in Kelowna, British Columbia, last fall during the Royal Tour of Canada has been restocked and renamed the “Middleton” after its most famous wearer.

The Middleton georgette-trimmed crepe midi dress retails exclusively on Net-a-Porter for £2,150. A similar style, the Middleton bow-embellished cady midi dress, in cream, is sold on the Dolce & Gabbana website.

“Dolce & Gabbana’s ‘Middleton’ dress is named after the Duchess of Cambridge,” reads the Net-a-Porter website, “who wore hers on a recent visit to Canada. This forest-green crepe piece has puffed sleeves, a pretty bow tie and white buttons, evocative of styles from the ‘40s. We like how the stitched seams and raw georgette trims playfully emphasize the craftmanship.”

When the Duchess of Cambridge first wore the dress last fall, she was wearing a bespoke version of a Fall 2016 Dolce & Gabbana runway dress inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

The original dress featured an embroidered pocket-watch design that she opted to remove for the Royal Tour of Canada.

The Duchess of Cambridge is considered one of the world’s most stylish women and routinely features on best-dressed lists – she was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 2014.

The ‘Kate Middleton Effect’, so named for her ability to create fashion trends and put designers in the spotlight, has been around since the royal blue engagement dress she wore in November 2010 put Issa on the map and sold out within five minutes.

The ‘Kate Middleton Effect’ is estimated to be worth £1 billion to the UK fashion industry, as the Duchess tends to favour UK designers. Prince George’s ‘brand’ is estimated to be worth around £2.4 billion and Princess Charlotte £3.2 billion.