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Paul Ellis/PA Wire
Comic Relief Twitter
Willows Primary has been working with Place2Be since 2010. Here we see a ‘portrait’ of Kate made by students.
Rebecca English The Daily Mail/Mail Online Twitter Feed
The Willows Primary School on Manchester’s deprived Wythenshawe estate – which is used as a backdrop for the Channel 4 comedy drama Shameless – has been held up as a beacon of hope and is now rated by Ofsted as Outstanding.
M-PACT (Moving Parents And Children Together) is designed to provide support for children affected by parental drugs or alcohol abuse.
Comic Relief Twitter Feed
Kate made another speech today, one with significant import, following is a portion of the text:
But those who are addicted are not the only victims. I have been struck by the profound and deeply damaging impact it has on the children of affected parents.
“Last year, I asked The Royal Foundation, which I share with William and Harry, to see what could be done to help these children.
“In partnership with Comic Relief, our foundation commissioned a piece of research to explore this issue. Today, it gives me an enormous feeling of pride and excitement to launch a programme that will bring this research to life.
Kate did a solid job, you can view the entire speech here at ITN’s site. She also spoke with parents, administrators and others involved in today’s launch.
Comic Relief Twitter
Following the events inside the school Kate and John Bishop helped plant a tree.
Comic Relief
It looks like some of the children wanted to help plant the tree.
Comic Relief Twitter
Many readers will recall that the school’s was destroyed by an arson fire last month, three teenage boys were arrested for the crime. The school is hopeful they can raise enough money for replacement equipment, they have launched a Go Fund Me effort to help collect funds for this purpose.
Go Fund Me Willows Primary School
Click here to learn more or make a donation.
Kate arrived at the Wilmslow Train station wearing the UFO (Unidentified Fashion Object) previously seen at the March wedding of friends in Switzerland, Tuesday Porritt shared this photo on Twitter.
Tuesday Porritt Twitter Feed
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For flawless, ladylike dressing, look no further than fashion darling Erdem. The label’s signature Visconti-blooms work their way across a demure, fitted shift – its square neckline reminiscent of the 50’s classic. Unashamedly feminine; work this dress as an elegant alternative to the LBD.
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Erdem Sophia Dress in Visconti Bloom
Erdem/Lyst
Erdem Visconti Bloom Scarf
The Duchess wore her navy suede pumps and carried her Stuart Weitzman navy suede ‘Muse’ clutch from Russell and Bromley.
PA Wire
She also wore her Anoushka pearl drops and Asprey pendant.
Annoushka/Asprey
One of the day’s entertaining moments had to be when Kate was given a book, more from from Victoria Murphy of the Mirror:
Victoria Murphy, The Daily Mirror
Kate’s next engagement is tomorrow night, she attends an evening reception at the National Portrait Gallery in her role as Patron of the The Art Room.
LINKAGE:
- Place2Be’s website is here, the organization’s Facebook page can be see here
- Kate is also Patron of Action on Addiction, its website is here, Facebook page here,
- You can learn more about Comic Relief at its website here, the group’s Facebook page is here, its Google+ page is located here
- The 4:40-second speech Kate made at the school may be viewed here, The Telegraph’s story & video may be seen here
- The Daily Mail’s story by Rebecca English is here, Victoria Murphy’s story in The Mirror is here, and Victoria’s live blog of the event can be read here.
I almost never leave comments, but i did a few searching and wound up here Kate in Erdem for Manchester School Visit & Speech
Why the need to wear clothes which draw the eye away from the mid-section! She is pregnant! I don’t know why there are so many comments which praise her on her ability to “hide” the bump? C’mon, really?
Secondly, she always looks fab in her heels… but should she be wearing stilettos at this stage in pregnancy? From personal experience – they were the last thing I would want to wear. I felt off-balance and the extra weight in the front from carrying a baby would make them so uncomfortable! Ballet flats for me at that stage in the game! 🙂
Not a fan of this dress at all
Amen sister!
Awful – doesn’t do her any favours at all.
The print on this dress isn’t something I’d choose for myself, but it looks lovely on her. I’m starting to think we may not see the Duchess in actual maternity wear before she goes on hiatus from public duties!
I agree that she looks lovely… but did she change the shape of her eyebrows? they look straighter now, and I really don’t get the straight eyebrow trend?!
The Duchess looks amazing in these photos! Pregnancy really seems to suit her, it has taken at least 10 years off her face and she looks more like she did in college. I much prefer her hair this way (more natural) and overall she seems so much softer and approachable than I think I have ever seen her look.
As far as her dress and coat, I not only like them, but I love that she is choosing to buy “regular” dresses that can be tailored to her vs just shopping at maternity shops. This more than anything else she has done in the past demonstrates the importance and power of tailoring clothes to your body. It also is more frugal (as in less wasteful, not as in cheaper) in that she is building a wardrobe that she will be able to utilize post baby via simple tailoring. So many people buy cheap disposable clothing and throw it away as soon as it doesn’t fit, few people even consider going to a tailor to get things altered. This is so wasteful and major, massive Kudos to her for doing this consistently throughout her pregnancy.
I agree, however, when you are extremely rich like the Duchess than it is easier to buy nice clothes and tailor them. We probably won’t see her in maternity wear since she can afford to have custom peices made for her. I don’t think she is being less wasteful, in fact, i think she is having custom peices made which she will not tailor after pregnancy, therefore being way more wasteful. She is probably only making them for the pregnancy, but who knows, time will tell. A normal pregnant woman can’t do this. Must be nice to be so rich….
Thank you for such a great post and as always explaining in great detail the event of the day. I really appreciate the fact that even though this is “technically” a fashion blog (well maybe that’s an overstatement, but I hope you know what I mean) you still inform us of the issues she is passionate about! If I didn’t believe Catherine was doing such great charity work I wouldn’t be such a fan, even though her fashion sense is great 🙂 Speaking of, I absolutely love this dress! She is very lucky to have such a great figure and I love that she isn’t wearing large maternity clothes or skin tight ones either. I really hope her visit and patronage will truly help this cause. Thanks again!
I think she looked lovely. The pattern on the dress is so playful & sweet. And she is WORKING those heels. She looks so incredibly lovely! xo Lulu
Kate looked wonderful today. I loved the photo of her walking off the train, in the stylish UFO coat, carrying her Longchamp. Nicely done!
My gentle suggestion to the Duchess, and I say this with much kindness, is to please hire a hairdresser on days when she is giving a speech. Her words were really moving, but all I could focus on was the constant twitching of her head as she looked up from her speech, in order to move her bangs out of her eyes. It was, admittedly, very distracting.
Susan, thank you for whatever you did for us who read your blog on the RSS feed! Last week, the new posts were truncated, but today this came up fully!
I also had a similar reaction to Kate’s hair. I also noticed that ever since her pregnancy was announced, her hair is no longer professionally styled for events–I think the only exception was the sports awards presentation.
This could be due to multiple reasons, perhaps to the long hours sitting in the chair for blowouts, or even to the chemicals in hairspray and hair products. I am obviously speculating, but the Duchess has always been conscious of her health, fitness and beauty regimen (vegetable-derived hair dyes) and she could be thinking carefully about protecting herself and her kiddo and avoiding non-natural products. Or maybe she’s growing out her swoop. 😉
Huh, I was suprised that the dress is silk. It looks like polyester in the pictures, my first reaction was that it looked a bit inexpensive. But maybe it’s just a trick of the camera and looks better in person. The print is great!
Lovely as usual – both Kate and your recap. Thank you!
She just looks beautiful. I am loving her maternity style, she is being very careful in how much she is showing her new figure publically. Although I did appreciate the more classic maternity style top we saw in the moses basket pictures. Seems as though she is following protocol publically, almost protecting her baby as much as she can, and keeping it a little more fun but still classic privately. I hope to model my maternity wardrobe after hers!
Unfortunately this is my least favorite outfit of all. Don’t know why. It’s just an unattractive dress IMO.
I like the colors of the dress, and the print is fine. Not fond of the sleeve length. A couple of inches shorter would be better, I think.
Outstanding. She looks wonderful! I’m not a huge fan of wild prints but I think it is great in still photos. The print in the video showed a pronounced pregnant waddle! My how things change in a little bit of time!
Your description makes it sound as though John Bishop is an employee of Comic Relief. He’s actually a well-known stand-up comic in the UK (though I wouldn’t expect from outside the UK to know that as his humour is pretty British).
Hello Nicky, and thanks for the input. I knew who he was but wrote the paragraph poorly, happy to update the post. 🙂
Beautiful, beautiful dress – most appropriate …the more I see it, the more I like it. Excellent choice!!
Also I LOVE the pale-pink coat – WOW!
Oh, I love this! The Duchess carries prints quite well, and this one is no exception. The busy print (and I mean that in a good way) looks just right with the clean lines, trim cut and vented skirt. The way the print is arranged, with the red down the center, does a nice job of subtly highlighting the baby bump. And the accessories are lovely. I do wish she’d pulled her hair back at least on top, though. The models look great with the clean hair look letting the print shine.
I feel like this will be a lovely frock to have tailored later after her pregnancy. The print was lovely and appropriate for the school setting, and I am so glad she accessorized with navy instead of black—it really made the rest of the colors “pop”. The coat she was wearing this morning is gorgeous, and I would love to purchase it for myself if we ever identify it. The dress also looked loose enough to accomodate her belly as it grows. I am SO glad that the duchess hasn’t resorted to wearing those huge tent dresses AND that she hasn’t worn super tight clothing the way some hollywood starlets do.
I knew this was an Erdem dress the instant I saw it on another site. Unfortunately, I am just not a big fan of Erdem’s fussy prints, with one or two exceptions, though I usually like the lines of the typical Erdem sheath dress. The item I really love is that as-yet-unidentified pale pink coat, which has quite sleek and elegant lines. I’d love to know who made it. Possibly it’s a custom (or bespoke) piece.
The Duchess is suddenly starting to look quite pregnant. Funny how that can happen within a very short period of time.
Oh, groan, Kate can wear clothes in normal sizes as maternity wear and then have them tailored to her usual trim self later on…
I love the bright colourful pattern – just right for visiting children – and am delighted to see a garment which again accommodates maternity, along with some extra length for elegance, as with the coat she was shown wearing earlier in the day.
And when the wind blew from behind there was at least a straight skirt in the outfit so no disaster there. This time. Thanks for another great post.