Skip to Content

New Engagements for Kate’s Calendar, LK Bennett Launches Bridal Collection

Hello and happy weekend to all, hopefully it’s an enjoyable one.  We begin today with new engagements added to Kate’s Calendar.

  • Monday, March 9 (15:15 local time/10:15am ET): William and Kate join the Queen and other royals for a Commonwealth Observance Day service at Westminster Abbey. The Day is “Britain’s largest annual inter-faith gathering… organised with the Royal Commonwealth Society. Among the 2,000-strong congregation will be more than 1,000 children from schools and youth groups.” (This is via Westminster Abbey.) The service is roughly an hour long and will include music, readings and hymns.
  • Friday, March 13th (11am local time/6am ET): William and Kate join other senior royals at St. Paul’s for a Service of Commemoration honoring those who served in Afghanistan. “The service will pay tribute to members of the Armed Forces past and present who served on operations in Afghanistan, and all those in the UK who worked to make the country a safer more stable place.” Following the service there will be a parade through the streets of London, a flyover and a reception at the GuildHall. “Members of the public will be able to watch the parade and from next week can visit the City of London police website for more information including timings and a map of the route.” The order of service may be seen here, there are also details here.
    • Obviously a solemn occasion, the service will be attended by senior political and governmental officials, as well as “members of the Armed Forces, veterans, the next of kin of deceased personnel, representatives of military and aid charities and organisations, and the UK’s NATO allies in Afghanistan from 2001 – 2014.”
    • During/following the parade there will be “… a flypast of aircraft used in the campaign, including Chinook, Apache and Sea King Helicopters, and Hercules and Tornado aircraft will fly over the parade and Cathedral in tribute.”
    • The service and parade will be aired live on BBC One starting at 10:30am London time.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Next on our hit parade, a look at LK Bennett’s spring collection. We begin with a frock that is arguably the most versatile of the label’s spring dress crop, the Marlene Fitted Dress ($395). This one can easily be dressed up or down, paired with a shrug, a jacket, almost anything. The colors from left to right: cyan blue, jelly bean pink and dark navy.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

The Mariana Fitted Dress comes in both black and blue; on the right, LKB’s Valorie Fitted dress ($425), shown in cyan.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

The Sophia Suit Dress in dark navy ($395) is described as “a wardrobe essential – note the cap sleeves, longer length and chic square neckline,” an apt characterization. On the right, the brand’s Maria Pleat Dress ($425) in light cream.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

Two softer styles from the retailer, the Azura Full Skirt Dress in an elegant creamy white, a piece that looks tailor made for the Duchess. On the right, the Occa 50’s Style Dress. (Currently these two frocks are shown only on the LKB UK site.)

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

Styles with a little personality include the Hannah Shift Dress ($345) in a delicate floral print, on the right we show the Largo Pencil Dress, almost all cotton with a touch of spandex for ease of movement.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

The Salmie dress ($525) is done in a wool/silk blend, with black bands at the waist and back, and “a cape-like effect.” It appears the aqua color is only available in the UK at this point.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

Below, the Luchia Racer Dress ($545) in a navy cotton/silk blend, along with the Wardour Lace Overlay Dress ($525) in jelly bean pink, also offered in sloane blue.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

Takeaways after grazing at LKB’s dress collection:

  • navy is the new black – the collection shows a number of basics in navy, a nice switch from basic black
  • the brand continues to excel when it comes to updated office dress styles

For spring/summer footwear the Sledge remains part of the brand’s collection of basics, although the color palette is not as broad; from left to right, the Sledge in Clay, in Kate’s taupe, and in black.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

There are loads of colorful styles coming into the stores, like the Jenna Bucket Bag and Alma Print Sandals.

LK Bennnet via Harper's Bazaar UK

LK Bennnet via Harper’s Bazaar UK

There are some fun footwear prints this spring. On the left, the Fern Patent Leather Point Toe Pump in black polka dots ($345), and the Florete Printed Leather Point Toe Heel ($345) in a paint spatter pattern.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

The Hazel Suede Almond Toe pump ($325) comes in the power pink shown below left as well as blue denim and black; the Flossie Suede D’Orsay heel ($325) is offered in blue denim suede, beige trench leather and citrus patent leather.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

LK Bennett has just launched its bridal collection, offering heels and handbags. Below, the Floey Embellished Suede Point Toe heel.

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

There is no shortage of glitter; from left to right: the Clemmie Glitter Slingback Platform ($375), the Fern Glitter Pointed Toe Pumps, and the Megan Glitter Suede Platform Sandal ($395).

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

The Palma Glitter Knit Strappy Sandal ($375) and coordinating Flo Glitter Clutch ($345).

LK Bennett

LK Bennett

The Erica Glitter Peep Toe Wedge ($360) also coordinates with the Flo clutch shown above. To see the complete lineup of shoes in the bridal collection, click here.

For those not near an LK Bennett store, Nordstrom does carry a selection of the label’s footwear. This includes a few pieces I didn’t see on the LK Bennett site, like the Elsa Espadrille ($195) and the Priya Wedge ($275).

Nordstrom

Nordstrom

There are also shoe colors that I believe are exclusive to Nordstrom in the USA.  For example, Nordstrom has the Irene Pointy-Tie Pump in red, while the LK Bennett US site does not; both Nordstrom and LK Bennett have the shoe in black patent; in the US the pink marshmallow color is available only at LK Bennett.

Nordstrom/Nordstrom/LK Bennett

Nordstrom/Nordstrom/LK Bennett

It’s always fun to look at spring styles, it makes spring’s arrival seem just a teeny bit closer.

We will see you in a few days!

LINKAGE:

Pin It

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Paige

Sunday 8th of March 2015

I so hope she wears at least one, head to toe new outfit! She will definitely wear a hat to at least one diverge events but I really want to see a gorgeous maternity dress, and if necessary an open coat so we can see the dress. I would also like to see her in red, either a print or floral. I have liked that she has started wearing more patterns but, it is time for colour a other than blue/green/black/purple. Great combos but she just hasn't embraced this pregnancy like she did with George and I actually think her HG was worse with this pregnancy and she just doesn't feel as well overall!

Mary

Monday 2nd of March 2015

I like this collection a lot; I agree, though, that it isn't all that dramatic.

I have a question about the Luchia Racer polka dot dress for those more knowledgeable than I. I notice at the waist that there is no attempt made to match the dots, and when I noticed this I heard a distant, ghostly shriek from my home economics teacher (long ago gathered to the sewing room in the sky.)

Is this standard? It's clearly not a bargain brand.

admin

Monday 2nd of March 2015

Mine is shrieking as well. Sometimes the lack of a matched print at the seam doesn't bother me, but in this case, for some reason it did. A belt would certainly help minimize the impact, but I'm not sure it is called for in terms of the silhouette and the place where the seam sits on the body.

The Way We Were

Monday 2nd of March 2015

Looking forward to seeing kate in public again and am anxious to see what she'll be wearing. :)

Admin, is it a honest mistake in the pictures under "mariana fitted dresses" in black? as I see it more like "maria dress" in cream right below. I do like this one. :)

As a pear shaped girl, i used to buy dresses, a lot of them. But they aren't really practical to me especially those sheathes without sleeves. :( My official is set to 68 degrees all year long and we live in a very very casual environment where people don't even wear dresses at parties.

I started a huge project (to clean up my closets) a couple of days ago and began to realize how much money i have been throwing away. Oh well, part of the growing pains as woman, right?

Nancy

Sunday 1st of March 2015

I'm wondering if Sophie might give the polka dots a try. It made me think of her as soon as I saw it. I won't be surprised at all if we see Kate in one of the basic dresses. They are safe and appropriate and look to be her style.

ElizaMo

Sunday 1st of March 2015

So our girl is out on the 9th, 11th and 13th -- a busy Mum-to-be! Glad to see there are two sit-down events for her.

That's an impressive run-through of the LKB spring choices. The Marlene fitted dress looks an ideal working outfit -- just right for the office never mind officiating royal mum.

I like the Mariana dress too, though they are beginning to look a bit production-line LKB. The floral pattern is a tad fussy for me but I like the abstract pencil dress and those contrast collars are clever and neat.

I' m not struck by the longer hemlines and I'd run a mile from outsize polka dots. The shoes are lovely and practical for Kate's purposes-- but, oh no, here come those sledges again -- groan!!

I'd love to see those floral courts get an airing but it would take a bigger risk-taker than Kate to carry them off. It's a small miracle to my mind that Kate can remain so patiently conservative while all around fall prey to flights of designer folly.

Lili

Sunday 1st of March 2015

If I'm remembering correctly, she actually wore a pair of floral pumps on the Canada trip, her first official visit abroad. They weren't brightly colored -- they harmonized with a gray Catherine Walker dress -- but they were unusual. We've never seen them again.

However, she's worn twice those rather unusual pale-pink dressy sandals from LKB, the ones with the bows. Who knows? She just might decide to take a few risks once she's delivered baby #2 and is back in fighting trim.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.