Kate Middleton Pregnancy Watch – The Kate Effect dresses up fashion PR as news
KATE Middleton Pregnancy Watch Day 37 – The Kate Effect helps you win with the Duchess of Cambridge:
Victoria Ward (Telegraph): “The ‘Kate Effect’ overstated due to Duchess’s thriftiness”
Overstated. By whom?
But some now suggest that the phenomenon has been overstated because of the thrifty 30-year-old’s penchant for wearing styles that have long sold out.
Roland Mouret, the designer, who has worked with the Duchess, said that business was more likely to be boosted by US reality television stars. “The kind of people who like Kate’s style are not the kind to rush out and copy her dress,” he told the February edition of Vogue. You don’t see hundreds of women running around looking like her. To be honest, we’re more likely to get orders on a dress that Kim Kardashian’s worn.”…
Jane Shepherdson, CEO of Whistles, said the same of a cream blouse also chosen for an official engagement portrait, which was more than two years old. “It didn’t do anything for sales,” she said. “We do short runs. By the time you see pictures of Kate, we’ve probably sold out anyway.” Shepherdson has described the Duchess as “a great advert, but no more than that”…
Andy Rogers, brand director at Reiss, admitted that while the Duchess raised the profile of the brand, they did not sell “zillions” of that white dress [she wore for her engament photos] because it was an old style.
In earlier news the Kate Effect has been held responsible for all manner of wonder:
“How the ‘Duchess of Cambridge effect’ is helping British fashion in US – Kate’s patronage of LK Bennett has propelled the UK brand into the fashion big league – and a Manhattan flagship store” – The Guardian, March 30, 2011
“But, undoubtedly, Reiss is the retailer which steals the crown for The Kate Effect. At one point its £159 cream silk Nannette dress, worn for Kate and William’s official engagement photograph, sold at the incredible rate of one-per-minute online” – Daily Mail , March 14, 2012
How many were sold? We don’t know. It’s like those newspaper polls that deliver the percentiles (99% agree that cheese is made of moon!) without the number of voters.
But it’s at the Telegraph, where the Kate Effect has been felt the most:
‘Kate effect’ boosts Princes’ charity by £4.2m – She has already been credited with changing the fortunes of fashion houses whose clothes she wears, and now the Duchess of Cambridge has shown the “Kate effect” works just as well on charitable giving” – Telegraph, July 17, 2012
The Duchess of Cambridge effect is a well-known phenomenon in fashion, with the clothes and shoes that she wears selling out within hours of her being seen in them. It seems her influence has now even reached the world of medicine. It has emerged that a cosmetic surgery company has been advertising its liposuction with the line: “Get a waist like Kate.” – Telegraph, June 19, 2012
The so-called ‘Duchess effect’ has previously boosted sales of Burberry trench-coats, Issa dresses and even spaniels like her own puppy Lupo – with sales soaring immediately after she is spotted in – or with – them. – DT, July 1, 2012
Duchess of Cambridge’s Orla Kiely dresscoat sparks shopping frenzy. The Orla Kiely dresscoat worn by the Duchess of Cambridge sold out ”within minutes” of her public appearance today, a spokeswoman for the label said – DT, Feb 21, 2012
The Telegraph just needs to lead with Kate on its cover every day to win big!
Posted: 7th, January 2013 | In: The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
