“It’s Whistles, No-It’s Not Whistles! Or Is It?” + Updates

Despite Kate’s absence from the public eye we have tidbits to share, items to update and more. We begin with a quick roundup of recent tidbits:

• With deep gratitude to Leisa for her tenacity in chasing the story, we have verification from both Alberta Boot Company and R. Soles that Kate did not wear the Alberta Boots to the Stampede, she did wear the R. Soles Vegas Setter style. (More here.)
• The black jacket that remains one of our bigger UFOs (Unidentified Fashion Objects) may be a little older than previously thought. We are talking about the one worn by Kate over her blue Zara dress the day after her wedding. Commenter Nyla alerted us to a Pop Sugar story from November of 2009 showing Kate in the jacket.
• After posting the Pop Sugar photos on the WKW Faceboook page there were inquiries about the bag Kate is seen carrying. According to @Olympe the bag is Longchamps’ Legende, it is available in a variety of sizes on the Longchamps site.
• We never put up a link to the Aquascutum scarf worn by Kate in Canada, we thought we should do that. Below we show a photo from the Aquascutum site and the scarf itself, their Club Check in lambswool and angora, now on sale for £50 (originally it was £75) but not in the colorway worn by the Duchess, only the navy remains available.

• For those who may have seen our FB post or Tweets about Kate and William going to see Harry Potter, then Bridesmaid, it turns out they may have seen both films. Us magazine reports: “On Saturday, Prince William and Duchess Kate saw not one, but two feature films at their local branch of Cineworld in Llandudno Junction, which is about 35 miles outside Anglesey.”

Our other update for the day comes via our searches on eBay and a blog comment, we are talking about the “It’s Whistles, Wait-It’s Not Whistles” top worn by the Duchess in Los Angeles.

After reading that Whistles denied the top is one they sold I contacted the wonderful folks at Confashion, where we acquired our photo of the top, they affirm it is from Whistles. But then we received this comment on the blog from Connie:

“The top isn’t Whistles it is from a line call Whistle (no S!). It was sold at Anthropologie 2-3 years ago. The crocheters are discussing it on Ravelry and we’ve got closeups of a lot of the details thanks to a gal that owns the same piece.”

Ravelry is a site for knitters and crocheters, one must sign up to get on the site. (I tried but never received the follow-up email.) Connie’s comment made perfect sense until I saw these photos from an eBay auction for the top.

Via eBay UK Auction #250858861300 Ending 27 July 2011

From what I could see, it looks like there is an ‘s’ on the word Whistle(s) in the photo showing the label on the top.  I think the top is a Whistles piece and there is merely some confusion in the company’s communication department, certainly not unheard of, especially when faced with a crush of international media attention.

Next, a very brief overview of some recent eBay auctions, we think the hysteria is diminishing and prices are coming down in most categories.  For example, a previously worn BCBG Max Azria dress like the one worn by Kate to the Boodles Boxing Ball in 2006 sold for $102.50 USD on July 12th,and a blue Zara dress described as new without tags sold for $75 USD, also on July 12th.

There is a dress being offered that looks like a decent CopyKate of the blue Zara dress.  The auction has a Buy it Now price of $19.99.

Haibo on eBay

Shipping from Hong Kong is $8, and the seller has good feedback, so it may be a solid alternative to the ‘real deal’.  The same item is also being sold on the eBay UK site, here is the link. One seller that appears to be doing quite well with Kate merchandise is amyk201010, recently selling multiple versions of what looks like the Reiss Shola dress at $267 USD, several sizes of what looks like the blue Issa dress at $193 USD and several sizes in other Issa frocks $214 USD. (One note, nowhere in any of the completed amyk201010 auctions were the garments referred to by their designer names, the word “Issa’ isn’t in the title or descriptions, etc., so as always with eBay, it is a case of ‘buyer beware’.)

Some things aren’t selling at all, in some case I think it might be because the opening bid was just too high. Below, an auction for a DVF Lytton Clutch that opened at $395 received no bids by the time the auction ended Sunday, the bag didn’t sell.  One item that did sell at a *very* high price? A pair of the LK Bennett Maddox Wedge shoes, these went for $820 in an auction that ended last week.

Another pair of the Maddox Wedges sold last week at $399, but a pair currently offered at a Buy it Now price of $595 has no bidders.

A pair of shoes being marketed as “Kate Middleton wedding shoes… not available anywhere” is offered on the eBay UK site, with an opening bid of £2,000 (roughly $3200 at today’s exchange rate).

The shoes are purportedly created by Georgina Chapman (one of Marchesa’s co-founders and owners), the listing claims (among other things) these are one of “Only 2 pairs ever made….these and Kates!” It seems a rather odd listing, with multiple grammatical errors like the one in the previous sentence, hypothetically The Royal Mint commissioned these.

UPDATED 5.30.2012: Our pal Alex from Grazia UK filled us in on the shoes: “They were indeed made for the wedding, commissioned by the Royal Mint “ not by Kate herself “ and she obviously didn’t wear them in the end.” Grazia actually ran a contest in the run-up to the wedding, for more on that and the shoes, here is Grazia’s story from April 2012. Our thanks to Alex for the help on this!

By the way, the way one searches for items on eBay is very much impacted by the title one uses for Kate. Below, search results by term on the eBay US site.

• Duchess of Cambridge: 20 items
• Princess Catherine: 101 items
• Kate Middleton: 1595 items

Finally today, a note about a fabulous new site many will want to visit, A Petite Princess.  We love the site’s credo, “Because a Princess is a Princess no Matter how Small.”

A Petite Princess

The site will focus on ways to achieve Kate’s style for those on the petite side. Many readers know the struggles of trying to achieve a chic look when forced to shop in the children’s department because of size, this blog plans to address the challenge as it relates to replicating some of Kate’s looks.

A Petite Princess

Patricia has also started A Petite Princess Facebook Page, for those who are FB members, pop in and say hello, we think it is a brilliant idea, not everyone is 5′ 8″.

Finally today, a reminder we are only 10 days away from Kate’s expected appearance at the wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, although we expect her ensemble for the event to be very low key, she will want the bride to be the center of attention.