Has Kate Middleton really influenced women?

Picture from The Daily Mail

Since Kate Middleton married Prince William and became the Duchess Of Cambridge, there is not a day spending without a paper somewhere in the world praising her (and her sister Philippa aka Pippa) for influencing street fashion. Praises go from her wedding dress to her court shoes.

The wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen was unanimously acclaimed. For having seen it on display at Buckingham Palace I can confess this dress is one of the most beautiful and delicate thing I have seen. Paradoxically, despite all the positive critics across the world, clothing stores that offered copies at a more reasonable price have not seen their sales boom. It appears that women, on their special day, want to keep their individuality and be unique.

Kate Middleton is worldly said to have contributed to the "return" of the nude tights. I am always surprised to read that. If I take my personal example, I have always worn them. I mean if I go to a formal event and my attire is of a light color, this seems pretty logical to me to wear nude tights. I cannot go tights-less because I would not look neat. I can not wear dark tights neither. Obviously my case is unique and before Kate's wedding, if I understand those articles clearly, I was perceived as someone old-fashioned for wearing nude tights. Oh well...Since the royal wedding, sales rose by 65 per cent.

The Middleton family, Kate, Pippa and their mother, Carole, are also considered to have launched a new trend when it comes to shoes (apart from contributing to make the L.K. Bennett Maddox wedges popular all around the world): the nude courts. Once again, for the same reasons as the nude tights, I wear nude courts. I have a particular affection for the Pigalle nude courts by Christian Louboutin.

Kate Middleton is not a traditional royal. Whereas late Princess Diana or younger royals like Charlotte Casiraghi, granddaughter of late Princess Grace of Monaco who are fashionistas and only wear designer items from head to toe, Kate has kept her shopping habits and keeps on shopping high street outfits. She has a preference for Zara, Topshop, L.K. Bennett and Jigsaw. She briefly worked for Jigsaw after graduating from college. Her high street style contributes to build a connection with every woman and build the image of a woman with simple tastes who has not changed. On a pure Public Relations level, I think she does a great job!

As a conclusion, I would not be as enthusiastic as most of the papers in the world. I do not think Kate Middleton has revolutionized or influenced a lot at a fashion level.

Les Journées Particulières LVMH 15 & 16 octobre 2011

Right after, visiting La Grande Epicerie and tasting absolutely everything and enjoying myself, I decided to go to Dior with my friend whereas I was supposed to get there on Sunday morning.

Once on the Avenue Montaigne, we realized that we might have made a mistake by not sticking to our original plan. There was a huge line contouring the Dior headquarters. Considering we only waited for an hour at La Grande Epicerie, we decided to give it a try and enter the line. We ended up waiting for...3 hours! Yes, you read it well. 3 full hours! Only fans could endure that. Thank God, we had lunch before at La Grande Epicerie. Most people in the line were starving and thirsty. After 2 hours and a half, we reached the Holy Grail. We were given invitations to get in but stayed outside for 30 minutes more. What made our waiting exceptional is that while waiting right at the door of the Dior headquarters we bumped into the Arnault family: Bernard Arnault, the father, and LVMH Chairman, Antoine Arnault, his son, an INSEAD graduate, in his early 30s, who is the Head of the Communication Department, and Delphine Arnault, his daughter, a London School of Economics graduate, Head of the HR department for the LVMH Group, Sidney Toledano, Head of Dior, John Galliano, and Fendi, and the French Minister of Culture, Frédéric Mitterrand.

Once inside, we felt like kids entering a toy store with our eyes wide open, amazed by everything we saw. The visit lasted an hour. We got in touch with different Dior collaborators and observed and learned some of the tricks to hand-make shoes, jewels, watches, dresses, etc. We learned a few tricks in make-up with two great Dior make-up artists.

At the exit, we were given goody bags (see my picture above).

I want to warmly thank the Arnault family for this wonderful day I spent thanks to them. I spent 10 hours in the Journées Particulières LVMH. Everything was perfectly organized. Visitors were well taken care of. Thank you for making our day. For making us dream.

Les Journées Particulières LVMH 15 & 16 octobre 2011

This weekend, in Paris and in some other cities in France and abroad, Antoine Arnault and his father, Bernard Arnault, Chairman of the French multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, decided to welcome visitors inside 25 of their houses and show the "behind the stage".

I decided to visit La Grande Epicerie and Dior. The reason why I chose to only focus on those two houses was very simple. I love gourmet food and taste exceptional food. I like to buy pastry, for example, at La Grande Epicerie on Saturdays. Every single bite is like heaven on Earth. La Grande Epicerie offered to its visitors to see and take part in bread-making, pastry making and gourmet food workshops led by its chefs. I was expecting to queue a few hours at every site so I decided to show up at La Grande Epicerie at 9.30 AM considering the visits were supposed to start at 10. When I got there, there was a sign indicating a 2-hour-wait. I did not get scared and started to wait. The weather was very nice with a beautiful blue sky and the temperature outside was clement. Visitors were all delighted to be there and chatting together. We were served tasty macarons to spend time and make our waiting a bit more pleasant. After just an hour, I was introduced inside the store and started the visit. We visited the below-ground production facilities (bread, pastry/desserts and catering). We observed the chefs and their staff working, we learned about their jobs, and taste. I ended up tasting over 15 different things!!! I cannot believe it myself! I had appetizers, main dish, desserts, drinks, cookies, cakes, bread, cheese, etc.

Since 1923, the ground floor of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche department store has been home to a vast grocery store called La Grande Epicerie de Paris. Over time, it has established itself as a true gourmet institution in the French capital. 25 cooks, 20 bread bakers and apprentices from across the globe work there.