Duchess Kate throws a spotlight on designer Barbara Casasola

Is this one of Kate's most trend-wise fashion moves to date?

In what has got to be one of her most trend-wise fashion moves to date, the Duchess Of Cambridge attended the The Art Fund Prize for Museums and Galleries, in a dress by Brazil-born, London-based designer Barbara Casasola.

Paired with nude stiletto sandals, the off-shoulder white dress was undoubtedly more experimental than any of Kate’s usual go-to silhouettes, capturing SS16’s cold shoulder trend, and giving a welcome boost to the young designer label’s profile.

It is, at the same time, a classic Kate move in that she’s dressing diplomatically, choosing to wear one of Brazil’s coolest, classiest new designer names just weeks before the Rio Olympics start. Her sartorial message is subtle but clear – in choosing the dress by the Brazilian designer, who shows at London Fashion Week, Kate’s showing her support and turning our attention to the region in preparation for kick off on 5th August. Pretty clever, right?

Solange Knowles, Rita Ora, Gwyneth Paltrow and Alicia Vikander have all called on Casasola since her label’s launch in 2013, rating her super-flattering pleated dresses and her feminine tailored jumpsuits. The designer’s journey has been an interesting one. Born in Brazil, she studied at London’s Central Saint Martins before moving to Milan to work with Roberto Cavalli.

‘Cavalli was like a real school for me,’ she previously told Marie Claire Runway. ‘I think I really learned from Roberto was that you need to have a woman, and she needs to be real, and if she exists, if she’s there, and you design for her, your brand means something.’

‘Mr Cavalli is very quotable, when you work with him 12 hours a day, you could write a book! I knew before I started my label who I was designing for and I also knew that that woman needed certain things that are not out there.’

And now that woman is, perhaps, the most high profile woman in the world. Not bad, hey?