Last night Kate made her first official solo engagement, stepping in on behalf of Prince Charles, who was in Saudi Arabia paying respects to that royal family following the death of the Crown Prince.

Paul Burns/Clarence House/PA Wire

The event was a small dinner for In Kind Direct, an organization that takes surplus goods and redistributes them to appropriate charities. From an In Kind Direct news release:

We were delighted that the Duchess was able to step in at such short notice after our founder was unexpectedly called away. The Duchess hosted a very special evening with absolute professionalism and charm.

Kate was stunning in an aqua Amanda Wakeley gown.

Our thanks to @MrsRegalEyes on Twitter, along with Duchess of Cambridge Style and WKW Facebook friend Leila Tannaz for identifying and confirming it was a Wakeley piece. The dress is from the designer’s fall/winter 2006-2007 collection. Here you can see how Kate changed the waistline of her dress, raising the belt/waistline significantly from that seen on the runway gown.

Kate sparkled from head to toe, reprising her Jimmy Choo Vamp shoes ($750 USD), first seen at this summer’s BAFTA gala in Los Angeles, (more here), as well as the glittering diamond bracelet and earrings we have seen previously.

Jimmy Choo/Zimbio via Diana’s Jewels

A closer look at the earrings and bracelet.

From the Telegraph’s story:

A palace aide said: ”The Duchess had a little bit of time beforehand to prepare for the engagement – it all went very well.

‘She was so pleased that her first solo engagement was for the Prince of Wales, who has shown her so much support over the years.”

Kate wore her hair half up and half down, an elegant look ideal for the setting and gown.

One note about Kate’s hair, there were multiple reports she was wearing hair extensions; the Daily Mail corrected its initial story to say the Palace confirmed what they called extensions was, in fact, a 3″-4″ scar from surgery she had as a child.

It was interesting to see feedback to the ensemble, some Facebook friends felt the dress wasn’t the proper look for the occasion, that the bare shoulders may have been inappropriate. I didn’t have that reaction, and the dress made sense for the event. Anyone else have thoughts on the issue?

Regardless, it looks like Kate was quite comfortable stepping into what had to be an intimidating function, her first appearance on behalf of the royal family without William at her side looks to have been a success.

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Also today, we know everyone is interested in the London Sole contest winner, here we go. We used Random.org to select from 1448 comments totaling 3101 entries:

Number 2390 corresponded on the spread sheet to:

WhatKateWore.com

And that spread sheet? Oh. My. Word.

WhatKateWore.com

To be honest, the volume of entries surprised even your trusty scribe! It was loads of fun and best of all…. this isn’t the end of our giveaways. We’ll be sharing an equally spectacular one in November.