What does that NY article say? It says I have to login to view it?
I'll try to post the text here. The article deals with Catherine's style's influence on New York fashion.
Are the ‘RepliKates’ Ready to March?
by Ruthla Ferla
AS he lounged near a pool in Southampton, N.Y., last month, Wes Gordon had an epiphany. A group of young women gathered nearby were poring over an issue of People, its pages teeming with images of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Sheathed in trim-fitting dresses, her slender arms covered almost to the wrist, the duchess impressed them as a model of regal aplomb.
They could not seem to get enough of her, Mr. Gordon recalled. Not her slim dresses, nor her pumps, her J Brand jeans or see-through hose. But mostly they chattered about her sleeves. Those long sleeves were a touch, said the designer (who will show his spring line at the Hosfelt Gallery on Thursday) “that six months ago not one of those girls would have commented on.”
Catherine’s style — streamlined and seemly almost to a fault — resonates as well with scores of young women who aspire to a classically patrician look but who have, until recently, had few credible role models. To court them, Mr. Gordon said, designers must ask themselves, “How do I make elegance relevant to someone who’s young?
“To some degree,” he said, “Kate supplies the answer.”
Indeed, Kate’s influence will be felt on the runways on Thursday when New York Fashion Week begins, if not in any literal sense, then surely as a state of mind. “We are in a Kate moment,” said Ed Burstell, the managing director for Liberty of London. Mr. Burstell, who expects to see a pronounced “Kate effect” in New York this week, added that since her recent tours abroad, “everyone wants to look like her, to act like her, to be her.”
Or maybe just to dress her. Less impressed by her wardrobe than by her infectious mix of ebullience and propriety, Seventh Avenue designers as diverse as Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Peter Som and Tommy Hilfiger have acknowledged her widening influence.
“We are definitely returning to a time when we want things that are more timeless and polished, not looking a mess,” said Rachel Zoe, the Hollywood stylist turned fashion designer, whose fame once rested on her luxuriously disheveled approach to dress. The duchess represents a return to classicism, said Ms. Zoe, who will offer “Savile Row-style” tailoring and herringbone tweeds in her show next week, in a nod, however oblique, to American notions of British taste and refinement.
Jason Wu’s current concept of chic will entail “an old-school silhouette,” he said, shapely and controlled but voluminous at times, reminiscent of a princess in a fairy tale. A couple of years ago, the deliberately dissolute look of a model off duty was a strong inspiration, he said. “Now people are interested in looking ladylike.”
Mr. Wu, who first gained recognition when he dressed American royalty in the person of Michelle Obama, sees fashion becoming more refined and less aggressive, he said, as slashed jeans and biker jackets give way to demure dresses and blazers. “The duchess is part of that,” he said.
Mr. Hilfiger will make a subtle detour from his signature preppy style, introducing a more restrained and worldly look for spring. “We like our woman to be dressed up from head to toe,” said Mr. Hilfiger, who will parade Macintosh fabrics and Prince of Wales plaids on his catwalk. In a departure from his willfully incongruous pattern mix of last season, “we will be really very studied about how we’re putting our outfits together,” he said, to the point of offering matching shoes and bags — an apparent homage to Britain’s future queen.
Kate’s impact, he predicted, will be all but inescapable: “She will influence all markets.”
Indeed there is plenty to suggest that her influence is already widely felt in the mainstream, as moderate chains like Zara, Reiss, Talbots and Topshop cater to a taste for replicKates, as bloggers have called them: pert shirtwaists, lace sheaths and primly tailored coatdresses.
Nor are the affluent immune to her charms. “We are not necessarily going to see exact adaptations of what she is wearing,” said Ken Downing, the fashion director of Neiman Marcus, but she wields an impact just the same. “Dressing up is the new cool, and dressing down is old school,” he continued. “I attribute much of that to Kate.”
Despite her popularity, the duchess has detractors. Invoking her name to describe a collection can signal disdain. That seemed to be the case when, following a Valentino couture show in July, Giancarlo Giammetti, a former owner of the brand, pronounced the collection “very Kate Middleton,” a casually blistering reference to a line replete with discreetly scooped necklines and long sleeves, traditional touches that act like catnip on trend-averse socialites.
Kate’s advent is timely nonetheless. Her unflagging graciousness, guileless manner and nonthreatening good looks are viewed by admirers as a tonic, the sparkling antidote to excess. “There’s nothing trashy or vulgar about her,” said Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, which has featured the duchess several times. “She dresses her age and never looks out of place.”
Catherine is, in Mr. Burstell’s term, “the anti-Kardashian,” a bracing antithesis to the strident style and manner of many Hollywood celebrities, who “look so phony by comparison,” he said, “with their paid endorsements and brand-ambassador deals.” Diane Von Furstenberg, whose dresses the duchess has worn, said that she represents a craving for a proper alternative to the “housewives,” a reference to the popular television reality series.
Few would call Catherine adventurous, or even especially chic. “She is no Daphne Guinness,” Ms. Wintour allowed. As a standard-bearer of the status quo, she speaks to a conservative mind-set conspicuous on the runways of late. Particularly in a sluggish economy, “designers feel they have to be reactive, to provide consumers with less risk,” said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst with the NPD group, the consumer research firm. “When they see an influence like Kate, some of them will jump all over it, if only to validate what they are already doing.”
Still, there is something in the tale of a commoner who finally weds her prince that appeals to people’s inner Cinderella. And there are plenty of designers who will cater to their fantasies, parading frocks with princess seaming, billowing gowns and maybe even a saucy hat or two. “That fairy tale aspect of fashion is what appeals to Americans,” Ms. Zoe said. “Who doesn’t want to see the storybook come alive?”
Link just in case.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/f...unways-new-york-fashion-week.html?_r=1&src=tp
Moderators, feel free to move this if it belongs elsewhere. Since it deals with Catherine's fashion, I thought it would be a good article to place in this thread. Thanks and my apologies for any inconveniences.
Catherine's clothes are elegant, and pretty much perfect for her royal as the future Queen. But IMO she dresses way too old for her age and always managed to look boring. But I guess, being a member of the BRF, that's what she's aiming for. Even HM dresses nicer than Catherine most times. 
Clever advertising. Pull together various pieces of clothing you would normally see into a whole different wardrobe, jump on the bandwagon and affiliate it with Kate, and it sells. Or, considering the Kardashian girls' foray into fashion, should the line be called the "Kate Kollection?" 
Very nicely put!
