The palace won’t say where Kate’s latest outfit is from – and it’s sparked some theories

Kate's never been shy about being a style icon, so what's changed?

Whenever the a member of the royal family steps out in public all eyes are firmly on one thing – what they're wearing. Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and the rest of the clan are true influencers, shaping trends and causing pieces to sell out. The palace has always helped to facilitate this. Among the information it provides to the press whenever the royals attend an engagement will be the details of their outfits. This is how publications are able to tell you what brand Kate or Meghan is wearing the moment they're photographed. It's rare that we wouldn't find out where an outfit was from, but that's what happened yesterday. Kate Middleton visited Sunshine House Children and Young People’s Health and Development Centre in London yesterday wearing a black polka-dot shirt and cropped wide-leg trousers. It was a classic Kate look – but Kensington Palace wouldn't confirm where the pieces were from.

"Why would they want to ditch the practice of naming her outfit?" royal correspondent Richard Palmer asked on Twitter.

In another tweet he guessed that the clothes were by an affordable brand and that Palace didn't want to fuel comparisons between Kate and her sister-in-law Meghan's wardrobe.

Kensington Palace’s new reluctance to identify Kate’s outfits when she is wearing high street clothes follows a series of stories in some publications comparing the cost and proportion of UK items worn by her and Meghan.

— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) September 20, 2019

Some fans meanwhile suggested that it was to take the focus off Kate's style, especially after the launch of Meghan's capsule clothing collection last week. We'll probably never know but it'll be interesting to see whether the palace goes back to sharing this kind of info.