So even though Kate Middleton wore Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen at her wedding (let’s hope this means sleeves are coming back – you know how hard it was for me to find a dress that covered my shoulders?), the newly minted Duchess of Cambridge has been seen wearing not couture, but clothes from stores that many women can afford. For example, prior to the wedding, she was seen shopping at Banana Republic. The day after her wedding, she was seen in an $89 (US) dress from Zara. Could this mean that “mall stores” like Zara and Banana Republic, often panned by fashionistas, now be considered an “it” place to shop?
Kate Middleton enters the Goring Hotel in London the day before her wedding to Prince William. Kate has been known to wear clothing from mainstream stores such as Banana Republic and Zara.
Famous people have long been known to unintentionally make brands, whether already well-known or not, more popular. In 2008, for example, Michelle Obama, unintentionally plugged J.Crew on David Letterman. J.Crew quickly responded by promoting the actual outfit worn by Mrs. Obama on the show. This was done to a lesser extent in April, when Banana Republic tweeted about Kate Middleton’s shopping trip (likely because we do not know what exactly she bought). However, we do know that anything can become iconic if someone famous enough wears it.
High profiled individuals shopping at “mall stores” isn’t without criticism from anti-sweatshop activists and environmentalists, of course. Some even say that the clothes are boring (but boring is very subjective. One can make something very plain-looking look stylish just by adding accessories). However, one must also remember about accessibility – not all of us live in large cities where we can easily buy from independent designers or vintage shops nor do we have the money to buy high end designers. Clothes from Zara and Top Shop makes the rich and famous more “real” to us. And not to mention, bring in more business for the companies.
Image courtesy of Piotr Adamski/Shutterstock
