Crazy for Catherine!

Darling, they adore you!

After weeks of buzz, wardrobe suggestions and speculation, the royals have arrived!! Prince William and Duchess Catherine's long-awaited visit to North America is being widely covered, and from the looks of things our neighbors to the north are no less crazy about the royal newlyweds than we are.

I've had so many Kate-related blog posts (obsessed, yes!) rolling around in my head, but I've got sixty seconds to finally plop down and do one, so herein please find even more reasons to adore the former Kate Middleton.

1. She shops her closet.

Of course, it helps to have an itsy-bitsy figure and a pretty fabulous wardrobe to start with, but you've got to admire any gal in the public eye who restyles previous favorites and re-rocks them in front of the paparazzi's glare. Hats off to you, Kate.

Today in Canada Catherine sported the same white dress she wore for her official engagement portrait with William. Adding a red maple leaf hat, statement heels and a sparkly gem of a brooch from the Queen's collection, Kate reworked the look and even gave a nod to the country's celebration of Canada Day.


Yesterday, in one of her three outfit changes, Kate also wore a dress she has been photographed in twice before: once the day before her wedding and once five years ago (how's that for a flashback of your fashion life, Kate?) by paparazzi.

It says a lot about a girl when her choices from five years ago still suit the person she is, and the title she has been given, at such different time in her life. (Below in Canada and, at left, when she was still Will's "long-suffering" girlfriend. Who's laughing now, tabloids?)

If that wasn't enough, the fabulous slingback espadrilles she's wearing are also recycled. Nicely done, Kate!

Totally obsessed side note: It has been speculated by What Kate Wore that the pendant necklace Catherine is wearing above may be a charm bracelet her mother-in-law gave her (we'll get to that!) reworked as a necklace for the day. Clever!

2. She styles herself.

As the wife of the future King of England, I am sure she has room in the budget for a stylist - but she doesn't have one. Evidently Kate works with personal shoppers at her favorite stores and puts ensembles together herself.

Makes her taste all the more impressive! Can I steal this adorable wicker clutch - already sold out online - for the summer?


3. She supports local designers.


After a seven and a half hour flight from London to Ottawa, Duchess Catherine strolled off the airplane wearing an entirely different outfit than when she boarded. And this classic navy lace overlay number is the work of a Canadian designer. As if the locals weren't Kate crazy enough already...

4. She wears monogrammed jewelry - from her mother-in-law!


I notice Catherine's prettily engraved bracelet in a snapshot of her last week and thought, "How nice to wear something with a crown on it when you actually own a crown!"

When I realized the bracelet was a gift from Camilla, Prince Charles's wife, and it had a differently-engraved "C" on each side to represent both women, I was even more touched.

I'll be Team Diana forever, but a girl who loves her mother-in-law and sports monogrammed jewelry would fit in remarkably well around these here parts. We'll make a Southerner out of the Duchess yet!

5. She carries polka-dotted, affordable luggage.

In the picture below, you'll see Kate's polka-dotted overnight bag. While I'm sure she has trunks upon trunks of her wardrobe traveling with her, I love that she carries a non-Louis Vuitton (hear that, Hollywood elites?) canvas British bag.
And if it were still in stock, believe me, I'd have snatched it up by now. I've never met a navy polka-dotted anything I didn't like...

Wonder if she'd monogram that? (And what would it be cWm? cWe? Or just "I'm a Duchess, don't worry about my monogram?!")

Okay, that's enough Catherine-related gushing for one day. We're about to enter a long holiday weekend of patriotism. Soak it up, friends!

xoxo