Kate Calendar Updates, Alexander McQueen & Roksanda Ilincic Resort Collections, More

We are back following a catastrophic system failure technical hiccup (ahem) here at Planet Kate, things are back up and running ever-so-smoothly.

Next week is a busy one for Kate and William. Below, a cursory look at the upcoming schedule:

• Tuesday, July 1: Kate visits Blessed Sacrament School in Islington. More from Action on Addiction: “Along with Place2Be, we are delighted our Patron, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, will be visiting The Blessed Sacrament School in Islington on Tuesday 1st July to see the progress of M-PACT Plus, a school based project to address addiction in families, which Her Royal Highness launched with John Bishop in Manchester in 2013.” Below we see the Duchess and Mr. Bishop in photos from our post last year on the launch of the M-Pact Plus program.

• Thursday, July 3: The Earl and Countess of Strathearn will be at the Order of the Thistle in Scotland. The event is at St. Giles Cathedral, in Edinburgh. Some may recall William’s installation into the Order in 2012. Kate wore a bespoke Emilia Wickstead dress. UPDATE: Reports now say Kate will *not* be in attendance.

• Saturday, July 5: Prince William, Prince Harry & the Duchess are at Harewood House, near Leeds in Yorkshire, to launch the Tour de France. According to a story in BikeBiz.com “The Royals will meet the riders as they line up at the steps of Harewood House for the Ceremonial Start, and will officially get the race underway.”

It is the time of year when we see designs from the Resort 2015 (or Pre-spring 2015) collections. In almost all instances the images are released via the fashion house, with a very few designers, like Chanel, staging formal presentations. We begin our overview with a look at designs from Alexander McQueen.

Both leather and vinyl are part of the season’s collection.

Notable in the collection: the splashes of exuberant color. While not unheard of, such lush, saturated jewel tones are not the norm at Alexander McQueen.

As noted on the WKW Facebook page, it isn’t difficult to envision the Duchess in certain pieces, while others are clearly not styles we’ll expect to see her sporting.

As many are no doubt aware it is the sale season for spring merchandise, as retailers make space for pre-fall collections. That means pieces we have seen on the Duchess, or used to create a bespoke piece, are on sale. Below the “New Math” graphic we used to show elements of the custom coat dress worn to the Blenheim War Memorial in New Zealand. Below left, the Utility Peplum Coat Dress is discounted by 60% (originally $3875, now $1549), the Utility Coat Dress is also marked down 60%, from $3995 to $1599.

For those not up for quite this level of investment dressing there are items at all price points in the McQueen ‘Sale’ section.

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There are several news tidbits regarding another Kate favorite, Roksanda Ilincic.  The label’s new flagship store has opened in Mayfair.

The designer is also re-branding herself using simply her first name. For a solid story with an overview of Ms. Ilincic’s growth and success, this Metro UK piece is a good read.

We move to an overview of styles from the Roksanda Resort 2015 collection.

Ms. Ilincic referenced the collection as being a celebration of color, evident throughout the varying pieces, including the colorblocked styles.

It is in the dresses crafted of more unusual fibers, like the PVC threads in the cocktail styles shown below, where we see possibilities for the Duchess. The additional draped fabric on the two outside looks make them too fussy for Kate, but the four in the center aren’t out of the realm of possibility, especially with the bespoke touches available to Kate.

More from British Vogue’s review:

….dresses that Ilincic did in hand-woven PVC, which are as weighty as chain mail, but much more spectacular than that up close. “Hard and soft, masculine and feminine, sporty and formal,” Ilincic said. “It’s always about the juxtaposition.”

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In the ‘moldy oldies’ category (news that is isn’t ‘new’ in the journalistic sense) we want to share a story that not everyone may have seen, Kate’s private visit to the Treehouse Hospice. As part of Children’s Hospice Week that wrapped up last Friday in the UK, photos were released of the Duchess visiting the EACH (East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices) facility.

EACH shared a statement from the Duchess on its website:

Around the clock support is crucial for children receiving palliative care.  They and their families often need help every hour of every day, both in hospices and at home. As Patron of EACH, I have seen first-hand this remarkable and varied work and just how vital the support of staff and volunteers can be to the families of children with life limiting conditions.

You might recall her first public visit to the Treehouse back in March of 2012, that is when the facility was officially opened. Our thanks to EACH and Nick Davis Photography for sharing the photos of Kate’s visit to the Treehouse.

A visit to the EACH website offers even more information about the organization’s work, and the Children’s Hospice Week site is also a fount of education. You can read the entire news release about Kate’s involvement by clicking here.

The Duchess was in a dress dating back to at least 2002. It is the ‘Duenne’ by Diane von Furstenberg, a classic wrap style in ‘ pink paisley’ print.

Kate wore the dress to a party at Saint Andrews in 2002, and again in 2005 for dinner with Prince William; a photo from the latter occasion may be seen here. More recently the frock was worn during the 2012 Jubilee Tour as Kate and William were leaving Sabah, as seen in this photo from the Kate Middleton Style blog.

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We leave you with a photo from our friend Pascale at StyleRocks, the customizable jewelry company. The company is a good friend to us here at WKW, with more-than-generous prizes for giveaways. Susan R., the winner of our most recent giveaway, emailed Pascale this week with word she has received her necklace. More importantly, StyleRocks is generous on multiple charitable fronts, including donations to EACH. That makes it fun to share exciting news: below we see actress Cate Blanchett with Pascale at an event in Sydney, Australia last night.

Both women are wearing necklaces from the Russian Rings collection, inscribed with their children’s names. (These are samples from the collection, not the actual pieces being worn above.)

It is always a delight to see good things happening to good people.