Fashion Friday: Oh, Princess Kate

First, I have to start out by saying that I absolutely LOVE getting emails from y'all.  It seriously makes my day.  I got a couple of great ones this week, and you make me laugh with the funny stories and tweets of the horrors you see out there in the trenches.  Don't be afraid to snap pictures to send to me! And I can't help but put in a plug here - I finally did design and order coat tack cards, and if you would feel better strolling the streets, armed with those in your pocket, we can make that happen.  Shoot me an email and I will gladly mail some to you!  Here's what they look like, if you don't follow me on Twitter to have seen them there.

But ok, it's Friday.  Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that magazines, talk shows and the blogosphere have been going CRAZY for some Kate Middleton fashion as she and William made their tour of North America.  Let's be honest:  if I were a size 2 and the cost-benefit analysis was therefore a little more balanced, I'd hunt her down, follow her into the ladies room, grab her clutch and swipe the key to the castle, and then head off to pillage all her clothing.  It's been said over and over again the last couple of weeks, but I simply love that she isn't afraid to wear items she has worn before.  She's very real in that sense.

And now, before I throw her under the bus and destroy all that fashion credibility I just built up, let's admire some of her recent fashion choices.  Ooh and aah where appropriate.

Ok, so here we go ... One of those emails I got this week was a great one from Christina, alerting me to a SERIOUS FASHION TRAGEDY.  Sadly involving none other than Princess Kate (yes, I know we're supposed to call her the Duchess of Cambridge, but that's boring, so I'm sticking with Princess Kate).  I'm really just so sad that it's hard for me to get angry, so give me a minute to work up to it.  This is what we're dealing with:

Arthur Edwards / Reuters

I've done a lot of research, aided a lot by Christina, to try to determine whether this coat was maybe designed with a permanent tack of sorts at the bottom.  We've been able to determine that her coat is a Ted Baker "Jinan" trench, but it's a design from either 2007 or 2008, which makes it really tough to find a complete description from the time it was sold, or other pictures that show the back.

But this much is clear:  It sure as hell looks like her coat is tacked.

Let's break it down like this:  Even if it isn't tacked, and the coat was designed for the bottom of that inverted pleat to be sewn closed, this is still disastrous.  While she's being heralded as "Britain's most influential fashion icon," all those idiots out there - who don't even realize that something might be wrong when the bottom of their own vent or pleat is stuck closed - only need to look at this picture to think:  "Hey, this must be right!  My coat is just like Kate's!"

Great.

Also, while scouring hundreds of pictures of her in search of another back view of the coat, I found this one:

Michael Dunless / Daily Mail via AP

Notice the Longchamps she's carrying?  Yeah, that's strike two, there.  You've got one more, Kate.  One more.

Whew, I need a drink.  Happy Friday!