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Kate Brings Back Green Catherine Walker for Chelsea Flower Show

The Duchess was in her green Catherine Walker coatdress for today’s engagement at the Royal Chelsea Flower Show.Kate Middleton Green Catherine Walker Coatdress Coat Dress Chelsea Flower Show 2016

HM wore pieces by Angela Kelly for her 51st visit to the Flower Show.

The Royal Family

The Royal Family

It’s the first trip to the show for William and Kate.  Kate Middleton Green Catherine Walker Coatdress Coat Dress Chelsea Flower Show 2016

Harry has previously attended the event; below you see Kate and her brother-in-law looking at an English rose exhibit. Prince Harry Kate Middleton Green Catherine Walker Coatdress Coat Dress Chelsea Flower Show 2016

There was no shortage of royals at the event. Sophie of Wessex wore a floral print by Alexander McQueen

Sophie Wessesx Chelsea Flower Show 2016

Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice arrived with their boyfriends and close friend Holly Branson. Emily Nash, Hello! (@EmyNash)

Also at the Flower Show this afternoon (but not seen in photos here), the Duke of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and the Gloucesters.  

This year there were many special displays/exhibits/events related to the Queen’s 90th birthday. Below, a profile of HM.Guernsey Flowers Twitter (@GuernseyFlowers)

This angle shows the Queen, Royal Patron of the Flower Show, looking at the camera from the other side of the display. 

The Royal Family

The Royal Family

Emily Nash of Hello! shared this photo of the three royals peering into an exhibit. Emily Nash, Hello! (@EmyNash)

The displays are created by a broad array of exhibitors and vendors.Kate Middleton Green Catherine Walker Coatdress Coat Dress Chelsea Flower Show 2016

The trio viewed the new Princess Charlotte Chrysanthemum.  Rebecca English The Daily Mail & Mail Online (@RE_DailyMail)

Perhaps more properly referred to as ’Rossano Charlotte,’ the flower is distinguished by the light green tips you see on the pink petals. 

Royal Photographer Mark Stewart Twitter (@RegalEyes)

Royal Photographer Mark Stewart Twitter (@RegalEyes)

It was created by Deliflor, the largest breeder of chrysanthemums in the world. Princess Charlotte flowers will help raise funds for EACH (East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices).

Deliflor and Beekenkamp Plants, a sister company, are donating 50% of royalties from plant sales to EACH. The timing is ideal in terms of publicity for EACH, more on this below. If in the UK the plants are available at some Waitrose stores; the company told me customers planning on making a special trip to buy this item should call first in case the store has sold out, the specific product line number at Waitrose is 487743. (Store contact info is here.) Deliflor tells me the mums will be available in the US. If interested in buying the flower you can try contacting your local nursery; Deliflor also said that for specific info, contacting their office in Colombia is a good idea; that email is jl@deliflor.net.   

Another highlight today: the Field of Poppies. 5000 Poppies RHS Chelsea Flower Show Facebook

The tribute features featuring 320,000+ individually crocheted poppies. Kensington Palace

This shot by Something Different shows the scope of the project.

Chelsea Flower 5000 Poppies Panorama View via Something Different Twitter May 23 2016

Something Different Twitter (@FSDifferent)

Here you can see the individually crocheted poppies.RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Here’s how things looked just a few days ago.

Knitting for Victory Chelsea Flower Show

Knitting for Victory Chelsea Flower Show

The 5000 Poppies story is remarkable: two Melbourne-area fiber artists started making some poppies with no expectation they would ever be involved in something of this magnitude.

Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight set out to crochet a humble 120 poppies to “plant” at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne Australia for Remembrance Day in 2013 in honour of their fathers Wal Beasley (14/32nd Battalion – Australian Imperial Forces) and Stan Knight (Queen’s Own West Kent Regiment – British Army).

It was this simple tribute of love and honour that sparked a massive community outpouring with an estimated 50,000 plus contributors to the project and hundreds of smaller localised installations throughout Australia, New Zealand and beyond.

Knitting for Victory Chelsea Flower Show Facebook Page

The person responsible for creating the exhibit’s look is designer Phillip Johnson, a previous “Best Show Garden” winner. He figured out a way to turn 300,000+ of these….RHS Chelsea Facebook

Into the red carpet and surrounding “flowers” that a group of Chelsea Pensioners visited this morning.RH Chelsea

You can see more at the Flower Show site here.

There are also non-floral intensive exhibitors. Below, the Moloh stand at the shows.Sybil Dancer Twitter

The floral explosion isn’t limited to the actual Flower Show; retailers, restaurants, all manner of entities and organizations get in on the fun. 

In plans timed to coincide with the Flower Show Catherine Walker is showing its collection outside in a series of florally influenced ‘pop-up runways’.  More from People magazine:

May 25, across three locations on King’s Road (a favorite shopping destination of Kate’s and her sister, Pippa Middleton), nine models will parade down the busy high street wearing exquisite evening dresses from the house’s Spring/Summer 2016 collection, teamed with elaborate and unique floral head pieces (made from real flowers!) and theatrical makeup, all inspired by the English country garden. 

Now to what Kate wore for her first visit to the Flower Show. Many recognized the piece right away, the Catherine Walker coat-dress was initially seen at engagements in Canberra during the 2014 royal tour.

The bespoke piece was created with elements from the Evelyn dress and Lara coat, as shown below (from our 2014 post); we refer to these as “new math” fashion equations.Catherine Walker/Catherine Walker/i-Images

These two photos by Rebecca English show the back of Kate’s coat, as well as offering a glimpse of how her hair was styled.Rebecca English, The Daily Mail & Mail Online

An oft-raised question here (and in many fashion blogs about celebrities) involves Kate’s handbags: “What does she have in there?”©Kate Green/WPA-Pool/Splash News

It looks like one of the things she carried today in her LK Bennett Nina clutch was a tissue or hankie. It’s possible she was dealing with allergies; that’s probably quite a challenge at an event like this one.LK Bennett/Splash News/LK Bennett

While Kate uses the bag as a clutch, it does have a snake chain one can use to carry it; the chain has a 24″ drop.

The Duchess was in what has become her ‘go-to’ shoe style, the Fern by LK Bennett.©Splash News/LK Bennett

She wore her leaf-shaped Lauren earrings by Kiki McDonough.© Splash News/Splash News

A closer look at the product.

Kiki McDonough

Kiki McDonough

As well as her Cartier watch.

Many thanks to Emily Nash of Hello! and Rebecca English from The Daily Mail, they generously shared photos and video today allowing us to get this published without an interminable wait for photos.

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As mentioned above, the timing is outstanding for any additional focus on EACH; Children’s Hospice Week officially began today. The Duchess sent a letter in support of Children’s Hospice Week. 

Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace

One other newsbyte today, word that NBC will start broadcasting Royal Ascot next year. More from the network’s news release:

NBC’s Sports Network will present live coverage of the mid-June event for five consecutive days (Tuesday-Saturday), for at least 15 hours each year. All coverage will be streamed on NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs.

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Hannah

Tuesday 27th of February 2018

Does anyone happen to know where Beatrice's skirt is from?

Lavender

Friday 27th of May 2016

I didn't like this in New Zealand - the reason why was because she confided she was hot, yet didn't take it off to reveal that lovely dark green & white floral tea-dress beneath!!! She has worn it since but I took little notice; is it really a 'coat-dress' - designed to be worn all day with no day-wear underneath? Normally, day-wear won't take another day-weight garment underneath without looking 'bunched'. On this occasion, I think the block colour & green in particular was to stop competing with flowers, green being a good choice there. I love the line & flair - the chunky belt cuts her longer body up well & legs then look good. (I can't wear big chunky belts as I am short-waist which I didn't like in my trendy youth, they dig into my ribs/hips). I do think a summer dress would have done as it was warm though? As Kate has liked black/white prints since her teens this would have stood out well - maybe the new print Cezanne dress photoed in around London? Talking about London - has anyone any info on the light blue maxi skirt she wore in Kensington Park?

KateZena

Friday 27th of May 2016

I love this coat dress on Kate! It's such a beautiful shade of green and it fits her so beautifully.

My favorite part of this whole post is the post about the poppies. I always look forward to the post about the poppies every May as each year the Royals seem to do something different (the glass ones from last year!) but this year I love the poppies even more as it puts fiber arts like knitting, weaving and crochet into the lime light! I crochet myself and I love how intricate and different each of those poppies are. If they sell these poppies like they did the glass ones, it really IS getting a unique, very personal gift.

hazel

Wednesday 25th of May 2016

My friend and I were speaking about Kate's clothes and I predicted what she would wear to the flower show and the opening of the playground. Im not saying i'm psychic lol i'm saying that her clothes are so predictable. Its like Kate has a book on how to be royal and she's following it word for word.Consider how she dresses George and Charlotte and then look at the other royal children, it's like she is stuck in a time zone and is scared to think beyond that.

Margaret

Wednesday 25th of May 2016

While I really like this colour on Kate and think it is ideal for the occasion the neckline of this outfit makes me feel uncomfortable. It is so very high and buttoned up looking. Showing a little bit of skin would in my opinion improve this outfit immeasurably. Kate seems to be following the Queen's lead in wearing bright easily seen block colours when out in public. They suit her with her colouring and she certainly is visible - a necessity I guess for many royal events.

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