Final Dress Poll Results & Kate’s Pantyhose Brand…?

We have results from our “Kate’s Favorite Dress” poll, with 4355 votes tallied the frock you selected as your favorite of all daytime dresses worn by Kate in the last year is:

Canadian Heritage

The Erdem Cecile was your number one choice, most will remember it was worn for William and Kate’s arrival in Canada on the first day of last summer’s North American tour. The dress is described as “stone with navy lace overlay, a bateau neckline, scoop back, and sheer three-quarter sleeves.”

Here is a look at the actual voting.

©2012 WhatKateWore.com

One of the more fascinating aspects of the poll was the designers whose dresses were chosen – Kate has worn multiple garments by each of the 5 designers shown in the poll. I’m not surprised, as the Duchess has shown herself to be comfortable relying upon a select group of designers, I was struck by the fact all dresses in this final poll are from labels she wears with such frequency.

The second most popular frock is Kate’s Reiss Shola dress, worn for the meeting with The President and Mrs. Obama in May of last year.

White House Flickr/Reiss

Many thanks to everyone who voted in any or all of the polls, they have been loads of fun to put together. Seeing how you felt via your votes and reading your comments has been the best part of the process, I often gain more insight from comments than I do from online research. Here are a few, beginning with Vicki, she made a stellar observation about Kate’s hair in the final dress poll:

Fascinating. Please note the hairstyles in the above 6 photos. Only 2 of them have her “signature” hair.

From Misty, a thought about Kate looking lovely regardless of what she is wearing:

“…looking at what was the least favorite, i still catch myself going “WOWWW she’s gorgeous in that!!!!”

A good point from The Way We Were:

Sounds like Erdem and Issa truly are the best brands for the future queen. I notice that several of her looks voted as ‘most favorite’ are from either brand.

At least one reader found it impossible to make a choice, here is what Cathie shared about the Suits, Separates & Dresses Part 2 poll:

I’m not voting. I can’t. I have way too many that would be criminal to choose from. Love your posts as always!

The ‘takeaway’ from the comments here and on the WKW FB page leads me to believe we should do the following:

1. Take a break from polls for a few weeks;
2. Do one on Kate’s overall ‘best look’ (for lack of a more elegantly phrased descriptor);
3. Leave shoes out of the equation and consider doing one on handbags.

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We also wanted to share a tidbit on yet another story about what we refer to as the ‘Great Pantyhose Debate,’ the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece on the topic last week. Here is snippet from that article, “Hose Regains a Toehold“:

Pantyhose occupy a dicey place in the world of fashion.The dainty intimates are on the rise thanks to Kate Middleton’s penchant for them. Couple that with ultra-fashion-forward stars like Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Jessie J wearing sheer black hosiery, and you have a burgeoning trend.

From the PEEK Brooklyn description for a style called the ‘Jade 20’:

These nude “pantyhose” are a favorite of the Dutchess of Cambridge and are the hottest trend in Hosiery to cross the pond since the invention of NYLON.

PEEK seems comfortable very closely aligning the Matignon brand with the Duchess.

They are sold out of the ‘Jade Sheer 20 Denier’ tights (Jade is the style name, not color), they are available for $24 at Fresh Pair, where they are described as “Favored hosiery brand of Her Royal Highness Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge”. I included the following photo in an effort to show the sheen the hose have, something many noticed on Kate at times this summer.

Philippe Matignon at FreshPair.com

Philippe Matignon itself is far more discreet, making no claims whatsoever about Kate on its new US website. Here is the Matignon page for the Jade 20 tights (pantyhose), the company prices them at $24 per pair.

Philippe Matignon

From a description of the hose:

“Give your legs a touch of color with a sophisticated glossy finish. These luxurious hose are ideal for those occasions when you want a refined look with a touch of stand-out style. Lycra has been added to the fabric to give it extra smoothness and durability

The most notable fact discovered while learning about the brand tonight? Matignon offers a non-slip style in their ultra sheer (my term) 8 denier weight, the Cool Summer Weight Non-Slip Tights.

Philippe Matignon

That is music to the ears for those of us who have tried to track down the non-slip hose that is also elegant, I very much thought it a non-starter, it’s lovely knowing there is an option available in the US now.

I have not yet been able to verify if Kate has actually worn this brand or not. It is the first time I have seen stores mentioning a specific brand they say Kate wears/has worn, newspaper stories (and this blog) have talked about Wolford, Pretty Polly & John Lewis, but not this brand. I have an inquiry to Philippe Matignon, if we learn anything definitive I will update the post.