I hosted a yard sale this weekend and while combing through the attic came across a plethora of lovelies. Grandmama’s wedding gown, odds and ends, and this fabulous Cosmopolitan Magazine from September of 1961.
And who happens to be on the cover? That perennial showoff, Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. How absolutely stunning does she look? And her gowns are absolutely exquisite, but more on that later. This superb find made me think of a tid-bit of news I saw recently on Huffington Post.
Recently, reigning Queen of Punk Vivienne Westwood brought the new Duchess of Windsor, Catherine “No More Waity, Katie” Middleton, under fire for her fashion sense, or lack thereof. Westwood in her own words is waiting “until Kate kind of catches up a bit somewhere with style.”
I have to say that I agree. Sure, great, good you want to seem “ordinary” for your subjects and that you aren’t necessarily “above” them. But, however will you distinguish yourself from the crowd if you aren’t slightly opulent? The Duchess could take quite a lesson from the Queen in this department. Yes, I know as of late the Queen is anything but a style icon what with the matching-hat-and-two-piece-suit ensembles, but the pages of that Cosmo I found proves otherwise.
Heralded as “the world’s most influential fashion model,” Queen Elizabeth II never wore the same gown to two functions and traveled across the world with trunks packed to the gills ready at a moment’s notice for a quick change. No, we don’t want Kate Middleton to be the next Anna Dello Russo,
but let’s see a little more pizzazz. How about it Duchess?
Ostentatiously Yours,P.S. Anna Dello Russo is my all time fave. Check out this video.
