The moment we heard that Kensington Palace was no longer providing details of what the Princess of Wales is wearing for public engagements – to encourage us to focus on her work, not her clothes – we found ourselves obsessing about her wardrobe.
While everyone understands Kate’s desire to step away from being seen as the royal clothes horse, the problem is that stylish simplicity – those timeless, no fuss, everyday classics – is what she does best.
Kate’s signature look is, after all, a Breton-style top worn with jeans or trousers or shorts, sometimes with a blazer on top.
Hard to prove, but over the past decade she may single-handedly have kept the nautical stripe at the top of the list of chic, hardworking essentials – and that’s the issue she has going forwards. In trying to row back the ‘fashion’, she might just elevate the ordinary everyday and make it even more desirable.
As it happens, Kate’s go-to casual top is currently riding high in the fashion charts, and it turned up in various guises on the spring/summer catwalks.
Over the past decade the Princess of Wales may single-handedly have kept the nautical stripe at the top of the list of chic, hardworking essentials
Wear it with off-white jeans or trousers now and you’ll score nine out of ten on the chic-o-meter. (To score a ten, add sunglasses and hair that looks like you dried it naturally and didn’t brush it out – known in fashion circles as Nothing Hair).
And, of course, the top doesn’t have to be designer. Over the years, Kate’s striped sweaters and T-shirts have come from Ralph Lauren and Me+Em (she has a lot), but you can pick up a good boat-neck style from M&S (£35, marksandspencer.com) or John Lewis (£35, johnlewis.com).
The extraordinary thing about this striped top – and the reason it sticks around – is that it’s more versatile than plain white or navy. Worn with chunky jewellery and a tweedy crop jacket it makes jeans look new, but it can also act like a cooler for sharper fashion and smart tailoring.
Wear it now with a brown leather or pleather slightly flared midi skirt or highwaisted, wide-leg trousers and they become everyday easy, not edgy or severe. And a striped top under a leather jacket softens it.
Try this Breton striped cardigan (£35.99, Zara) with a pair of pinstripe trousers
A good blue and white striped shirt (£25, marksandspencer.com ) loosely tucked into navy and chalk pinstripe trousers is a no-brainer
Which brings us nicely to the unexpected rewards of stripes in general this season. The simple message is that stripes and spots are the prints of spring/summer 2025, and of the two, stripes are the easiest to wear.
Most of us don’t even think of stripes as a pattern, especially if they come in two colours and one of them is white. However, it’s the most effective way of breaking up a single colour outfit (a striped top under a suit) or to jazz up a neutral wardrobe.
Stripes go with everything, including spots, and best of all, they go with each other. This is the big news for spring: the extra fashionable way to wear your stripes is all together.
You can wear them as you would block colour, with the same stripes head to toe; or you can double up your stripes in different colours and widths (narrower on the bottom); or you can wear stripes in different directions (horizontal with vertical).
Direction clashing stripes is not as scary as it sounds. Think Breton top or striped cardigan (£35.99, zara.com) with pinstripe trousers (£85, cos.co.uk) for example.
Once you let stripes into your life, you’ll find you want to wear them with everything. Such as wearing this vest (currently £6 from Hush) under a denim shirt
For summer, a brown and white striped shirt dress – long, with a scooped hem (£75 from Hush) – is elegant
A good blue and white striped shirt (£25, marksandspencer.com) loosely tucked into navy and chalk pinstripe trousers is a no-brainer smart casual look for spring – and I’m wearing it already – with a striped navy on ivory crew neck M&S sweater (£25) to wrap around, optional.
A navy stripe on a chalk background top with the reverse – a chalk stripe on navy bottom – is a natty new co-ord for spring.
Anything goes in scale, from pinstripes to rugby and deckchair stripes, but I’d take a leaf out of Kate’s book and keep it as simple as possible: Breton width in ivory and blue or red or brown (the new black), not least because it’s easier to play around with.
Once you let stripes into your life, you’ll find you want to wear them with everything, all the time. A brown striped vest (currently just £6, hush-uk.com) under a denim shirt; navy striped trousers with a brown striped sweater (£35.75, laredoute.co.uk).
And for summer, a brown and white striped shirt dress – long, with a scooped hem – is elegant (£75, from Hush) with striped espadrilles. There was a matelot-style dress on the catwalk at Prada, worn with striped navy and white peep-toe heels, naturally. Come wedding season we’re all going to want those.