Decision Delayed on Kate’s Malta Trip & Is It Goodbye to Skinny Jeans?

An announcement has been delayed regarding Kate’s planned trip to Malta this weekend, where the Duchess is scheduled to represent the Queen at the country’s celebrations of 50 years of Independence.

Kate’s schedule continues to be impacted by illness accompanying her second pregnancy; she is being treated at Kensington Palace for hyperemesis gravidarum. The Palace was to announce a decision this afternoon explaining whether or not Kate would be able to make the trip, and if not, who would replace her. It was early evening (London time) before the Palace alerted reporters that there was no decision. Richard Palmer explained that Kate and William will make a decision this evening.

The Daily Mail’s Rebecca English noted Kate’s interest in the trip.

The British High Commissioner, Robert Luke, used Twitter to thank those awaiting a decision.

The weekend’s celebrations are sure to be spectacular.

We will let you know what the decision is tomorrow.

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Next, the latest on a style Kate wears frequently: skinny jeans. From Bloomberg Business News:

Three years ago, clothing merchants tried to snuff out the trend with an innovation called flares. Women kept right on buying their skinnies. Now, chains from mass market Gap Inc. (GPS) to luxury-leaning Bloomingdale’s are trying again with looser styles.

This time, the industry may pull it off, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group Inc.

“Women basically said, ‘I’m not wearing tight jeans — I’m done with them,’” he said.

Kate fashion followers really don’t need a reminder about the Duchess’s fondness for the style, but we’ll share a few images anyway. Below we see Kate visiting the Olympic Park of 2012, at a SportsAid workshop October of 2013, and again in 2012 as the Olympic Torch reached Buckingham Palace.

A snippet of PopSugar’s report on today’s Gucci runway show at Milan Fashion Week:

Ultra-wide cropped denim trousers made us wonder if Creative Director Frida Giannini is not-so-subtly hinting that we should pack away our skinny jeans for good.

Kate in her skinnies as she was about to go whitewater rafting in New Zealand this April.

Back to the Bloomberg story:

After years of squeezing themselves into skinny jeans, many women are ready for comfort, said Wendy Liebmann, who runs WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based research firm.

The “trend fits the size of the American shopper,” she said. “It is much more forgiving for most or many women.”

While a craze for colored denim temporarily lifted the business, that trend’s “newness” has evaporated, she said.

Will the change in style take hold in the UK? Here’s Glamour UK’s reaction :

So will the trend for ditching denim make it across the pond? With sportswear-influenced styles still on the catwalk and on the high street, we can totally see it happening….

Hmmmm. I don’t see Kate giving up a key element of her go-to casual look, do you? You can read the Bloomberg story in its entirety here.

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We continue our preview of next spring’s styles from designers Kate has worn.

Matthew Williamson’s spring collection offered multiple options for the Duchess, although most would require a tiny tweak here and there. From the Women’s Wear Daily review:

The designer’s aim was to evoke lush, exotic summer and he did so with light silks, floral lace, embellished suede and a Balinese hibiscus motif that came as a print or picked out in embroidery or sequins.

The color palette was inspired by summer days and nights… Diaphanous evening dresses — many of them halter-necks – came in sunset hues of peacock blue or rosy orange.

The Duchess wore Matthew Williamson to a Tusk Trust benefit in April of 2012. Kate and William joined others at the premiere of the film African Cats.

From British Vogue’s story about Mr. Williamson’s collection:

This was him going back to his Seventies styling, using the colours that feel so “him” (hot pinks, red, yellow, azure, neon-paradise shades) and unwavering from his woman.

It is a rich, lush look with many pieces in hues that would work well with Kate’s coloring.

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We take a quick look at Amanda Wakeley, a designer we’ve not seen the Duchess wear lately. From the Women’s Wear Daily (subscription required) brief review:

Amanda Wakeley’s chic, focused collection – done entirely in white – showed off the designer’s deft cutting and draping. A handkerchief-hem skirt in sporty mesh swung as the model walked, while a wrap dress, resembling a glamorous martial arts robe, skimmed the body and struck a masculine-feminine note.

A refresher on Kate’s Amanda Wakeley styles. Below left she is seen wearing the designer’s midnight blue silk suit for a visit to Darwen Academy in April of 2011, the couple’s final joint engagement before their wedding. On the right Kate wears an elegant gown for an In Kind Direct dinner in October 2011, from the designer’s fall/winter 2006-2007 collection.

Kate has also worn Amanda Wakeley’s Sculpted Felt dress in two different colors: below left Kate wears the ‘oatmeal’ version of the frock for an September 2011 engagement at Royal Marsden Hospital. In April 2012 we saw the the ‘gunmetal’ color worn to a reception at the Imperial War Museum.

We’ll see you tomorrow with word on the Malta trip.