People are saying Kate Middleton is trying to save the British high street

Not all heroes wear capes, some wear Boden, apparently. Seeing as the majority of clothes worn by Kate Middleton since the beginning of lockdown has been by British designers or labels.

For example, she donned an M&S dress for a school assembly, wore British label Suzannah twice and for her recent visit to South Wales, she wore a floral Emilia Wickstead dress (you can see the rest of her Zoom outfits here).

Now some people are saying that by championing a lot of home-grown talent, she is doing her bit to save the British high-street as well as smaller designers, especially as they have struggled a lot through the pandemic.

Warehouse and Oasis went into administration before being bought up by Boohoo, whilst Cath Kidston, Monsoon, Debenhams and Laura Ashley all announced they were restructuring or going into administration.

A photo posted by on

And now in a further blow to the high street, it seems that Jigsaw could be at risk too, a brand that is close to the Duchess' heart.

Of course, Kate has always made an effort to dress British, whether at home or abroad, but she could very well have made a conscious choice to do so even more during these though times.

Let's hope the Kate effect stays strong.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Contributing Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK. She writes about catwalk trends and the latest high street and Instagram sartorial must-haves. She also helms the Women Who Win franchise.

She has worked in fashion for over 10 years, contributing to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Good Housekeeping, and Stylist.