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The Duchess Shines in Shimmering Erdem Dress at Palace Reception

The Duchess donned a new dress from Erdem for tonight’s Buckingham Palace reception kicking off the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture.The Royal Family

The event was hosted by HM and Prince Philip. The Queen wore a dress by Stewart Parvin in fabric with metallic thread.The Royal Family

The Year of Culture will celebrate the 70th anniversary of India’s Independence through a year-long program of events and exhibitions. More about the project from the British Council:

2017 will see an incredible programme of cultural events and activities in India organised by the British Council, and a similar programme in the UK organised by the Government of India. We believe that by experiencing the most innovative and exciting creative work from both countries and exploring our joint history, people will want to know more about each other’s countries and build deeper connections.

The Royal Family

More from Richard Palmer’s story in The Express:

Guests at tonight’s reception included stars of stage and screen, fashion, food, literature and sport. Among them were Big Bang Theory star Kunal Nayyar and his model/actress wife Neha Kapur, British-Indian actress Ayesha Dharker, Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev, former England footballer Rio Ferdinand, sitar player Anoushka Shankar – daughter of the legendary Ravi Shankar – and her husband, director Joe Wright.

© Nunn Rota/Nunn Syndication/Polaris

Kate chatting with a guest; Rebecca Deacon, her private secretary, is at her side.© Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Here you see the Duke and Duchess looking at one of the items on display, a shawl woven by Gandhi on his loom as a gift for (then) Princess Elizabeth. © Pool / i-Images

More from Rebecca English’s Daily Mail story:

Laid out in the palace Picture Gallery was a display of priceless artefacts from the Royal Collection including a shawl woven by Gandhi on his loom as a wedding present for Princess Elizabeth in 1947.

The shawl has the words Jai Hind – Hail India- in the centre and was accompanied by a hand-written note from Ghandi, addressed to Lord Mountbatten, then Viceroy of India, which said: ‘The little thing is made out of doubled yarn of my own spinning…. please give the bride and the bridegroom this with my blessing with the wish that they would have a log and happy life of service of man…..Yours sincerely, MK ‘

Rebecca English, The Daily Mail

Rebecca English, The Daily Mail

It looked like a wonderful event to kick off the year’s partnership.The Royal Family

Buckingham Palace was awash in Indian motifs, including a peacock, the country’s national bird. Kate was in a cocktail dress by one of her favorite designers, Erdem.© Nunn Syndication, Polaris / PA Wire

She was in the ‘Rhona’ Metallic Floral Lace Dress.© PA Wire / Brown's Fashion / Brown's Fashion / Rebecca English, the Daily Mail

The piece is midi length with a round neck, pleated bodice, and skirt, semi-sheer raglan sleeves with a button cuff, self-belt, and hidden back zipper. The story of this frock is the fabric, a metallic lace in silver. In some photos, the fabric has a pink undertone.©PA Wire/Lyst Australia

Originally $2800, the frock was also worn by Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit in November of last year. A Tip of the Tiara to Betty Wales on the Facebook page for IDing the dress, and also to Penelope E., this is a dress she posted on the Facebook page several weeks ago as one she hoped Kate would wear.

Kate’s shoes also sparkled; it looked like she wore the Platinum ‘Cabrina’ lamé heels by Oscar de la Renta. The style featured a pointed toe, 4″ heel, scalloped sides and raised back. The shoe remains available online ($690) in some sizes at Oscar de la RentaOscar de la Renta/PA Wire/Oscar de la Renta

A closer view.©Yui Mok / WPA Rota/Nunn Syndication/Polaris

Kate’s hair was partially pulled back.© PA Wire /

The Palace says the earrings are by Anita Dongre, a designer worn during the India tour last spring.  We are still looking for more information on the earrings.© Polaris / Polaris / PA Wire

UPDATED: The earrings are from the designer’s Pinkcity line. More from The Times of India:

 I must add, I was ecstatic to see how absolutely stunning she looked in the handcrafted Pinkcity earrings we custom-designed for her. She said she loved them!

Will and Kate at UK-India Year of Culture exhibit

It turns out Ms. Dongre was at last night’s reception. Thank you to Jane R from the WKW Facebook page who let me know about the designer’s Instagram post mentioning the earrings.

Was so lovely meeting The Duchess of Cambridge this evening. We chatted about our mutual love for Rajasthan and she chose to wear a pair of @anitadongrepinkcity earrings crafted by @jet_gems

The jewelry line was launched in 2013, from the Jewellery Editor:

….combines traditional jewellery techniques with Anita Dongre’s modern aesthetic. Inspired by the traditional legend of the princess who must wait for the arrival of a pink flamingo before finding her prince, the collection is a metaphor for love and commitment.

Tomorrow, the Duchess visits the new Ronald McDonald House at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. We’ll see you then.

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Udita

Friday 17th of March 2017

Lovely post, she looks lovely! Can you correct the spelling of Gandhi? It's misspelt as Ghandi

Mary G.

Thursday 2nd of March 2017

I really like this look. Although it's not the word I would usually use for something with this much sparkle, I find it to be a very simple dress -- nothing extreme about it. I would dearly love a closeup look at the fabric. I bet it's amazing when you see it in person instead of just in pictures.

Claire

Thursday 2nd of March 2017

Hmmm. Kate looks nice, however when was it fashionable to match your shoes to your outfift? I don't like the matchy-matchy theme.

Lavender

Wednesday 1st of March 2017

This is glittery, lacy, is a decent length & is what some call 'Beulah-esque' - which means I wish it was in my wardrobe! I'm glad she left her knees at home, there are no embarrassing photos, it suits her & she appears to be dressed much the same as anyone else there in overall-style - not over-dressed, like turning up for a reception & people are in lumberjack shirts and/or jeans. I thought at first that the colour/style was because the attendees were Indian; I noticed that when she wore the stunning dark blue evening dress/wrap covered with glitter in India, that most of the women there were dressed in shades of beige & blush, and the room was decorated with drapes in this colour scheme too & not much sparkle was about. I thought she deliberately dressed down but I changed my mind when I saw the Queen wearing a strong purple. Her Maj wore mostly pastel sparkly dresses when younger, she's branched out a lot more in old age, in her daywear too. Kate's hair looked gorgeous, she is young enough to be my daughter & I still have long hair, nobody worries about Indian or Middle-Eastern women having long hair either or if they have lots of children when sporting it. I always thought Diana's short hair didn't suit the ballgowns that she wore in the early years, it was too modern for the voluminous fabrics. At least you can do something that suits (the wearer) with length, you can't make it longer when dressing up.

Allyson

Wednesday 1st of March 2017

What struck me the most about this look is timeless. Close your eyes and you could picture Diana in this dress, even a young Margaret. As a royal, her photos will be archived for long after we're gone and revisited many, many times between and after. I think it's wonderful when she embraces fashion-forward trends just like everyone else. However, for special events like these, I think that the idea is to capture something that will not just stand out for the test of time, but in ways still be relevant years, decades later. I think that is something that Catherine is very mindful of in general. We see it in how she dresses her children and the outfits she picks for royal engagements. It's a practiced image that sets her apart from other Royal ladies (not that their sartorial choices are any less important or poorly made. I just feel that this seems to be an English tradition more than anything) additionally; it doesn't make her the center of attention for the engagement (especially when the engagements are meant to bring awareness to social issues, the people present and people being honored, remembrances, and so forth.) I love that she always picks one (sometimes two, but small things) that makes her look shine; be it shoes, handbag, hairstyle or jewelry, there's a wink of her true nature in those choices.

I agree with many other commenters about her hair. She has beautiful healthy hair. There shouldn't be a mandate on when one cuts their hair and at what point styles become too young. I'm 39 and I have pink and purple hair. I'm no princess, and I'm certainly not young. But it makes me happy and looks perfectly fine (even as it fades, ugh, whyyyyy does it fade so quickly?) As long as Catherine is happy, why should she change it? I'd flaunt that hair all day if I could :)

Overall, I am very impressed with the look. I do prefer the appearance when it comes across as blush as opposed to the white, but she looks comfortable and beautiful either way. I can see these shoes becoming her new Jimmy Choo (I believe it's the Lance) silver sandal. The heel and cut are a bit more modern, and in colder months, the toe is closed and more appropriate. I don't necessarily think they look heavy, as other commenters, but could concede that in comparison to the nature of the dress they could come across that way. Either way, I'm still exceptionally happy with the look. The silver threading is a means to match the beautiful embroidery on the traditional Indian designs worn, without outright taking over the look. Just another way Catherine is great at making her sartorial choices symbolic (I believe the Queen is also quite adept at the same nods of symbolism and loved her look last night as well!) I'm anxiously awaiting what we see in Paris now!

Lavender

Wednesday 1st of March 2017

The silver threading in her shoes is to match the dress - it isn't blush or white, it is actually silver, but the yellow lights make the colour look warmer. (your hair sounds very interesting, you have years left yet, I'm 58 & still with purple hair, a deep blackcurrant; somewhat toned down now though, the brighter violets & magenta's are in my happy-memories-drawer along with my leather trousers & pirate boots, lol) :)

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