Duchess is slated for choosing 'wishy washy'

Posted by leahkarns on April 14th, 2016

Duchess is slated for choosing 'wishy washy', 'boring' and 'peculiar' outfits on the royal tour by a writer dubbed the Jackie Collins of India

A novelist and columnist dubbed the 'Jackie Collins of India' has slated the Duchess of Cambridge for her fashion choices on the royal tour.

Former model Shobhaa Rajadhyaksha, 68, wrote the scathing rant for the news website, NDTV sniping that the Duchess looked 'wishy washy' and 'boring' in gowns by the like of Temperley London and Jenny Packham.

However, Shobhaa said she was counting her blessings that the Duchess had so far skipped wearing a sari.

'Her waist is perfect for crinoline ball gowns from "Gone with the Wind". But a saree needs curves. A saree demands a derriere,' she said. 'Kate has none. Thank God, some misguided fashion guru has spared her and us so far.'

Kate's first outfit of the tour was branded the 'worst' of all by Shobhaa.

The Duchess blended Indian colour with British couture with an Alexander McQueen dress for her arrival at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Her red, paisley-themed outfit with a shirt split at the front over a black underskirt, borrowed heavily from Asian tradition,

But Shobhaa was less than impressed with India's first glimpse of the Duchess, saying: Excuse me - what was that? Those paisleys and what nots going all over the place.

'The bright red background which made Kate look rather pale, and the strange cuts and contours.'

Image: KissyProm

She said that a pastel day suit in linen would have been a much better choice.

Later that evening the mother-of-two donned a royal blue floor length gown with a boat neck by her favourite designer Jenny Packham.

In an effort to fuse British fashion with the style of her host nation, she had the dress hand beaded by artisans in India and Shobhaa admitted that the royal did look 'gorgeous'.

However, it was something of a backhanded compliment as while Shobhaa claimed the tall, slim Duchess could make anything look fabulous, the gown itself was anything but.

She said similar beaded dresses are available from a shopping street near the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel where the royal couple stayed

'It has always catered to Arab tourists and used local embroidery to create glam abayas that made sure the ladies stayed appropriately covered up.

'Perhaps Kate's stylist mixed up the destination. Honey, the Duchess was in Mumbai, not Abu Dhabi.'

She added that the 'peculiarly shaped and caped gown' aged the Duchess by 20 years, but she conceded that the Bollywood stars the royals rubbed shoulders 'dressed uniformly hideously'.

At least the flowing pink and green belted tunic dress by rising Mumbai-based designer Anita Dongre Kate wore to play cricket with children earlier in the day was young and fresh, according to Shobhaa, even if it wasn't the designer's 'most inspired look'.

The dress appeared to be a custom design based on a tunic dress shown at Lakme Fashion Week, which takes place in Mumbai.

The designer is inspired by India's traditional cloth-making and weaving techniques and she uses Benares silks and cottons, tie-die and the hand-painted silks of Jaipur.

And the detail and effort that go into her looks does not come cheap, with dresses selling for around £560 online.

Kate also won praise for the £1700 cream Emilia Wickstead dress she wore to meet young entrepreneurs the following morning.

Shobhaa said it was the kind of dress 'any "take me seriously" working female professional would opt for when she goes schmoozing with the boys to local pub during happy hours'.

She wasn't too offended by the Temperley nude and black patterned £3,000 skirt and top was by Alice Temperley, which the Duchess chose for a garden party at the British High Commissioner's residence in Delhi.

However, she said that the outfit would have been improved by being 'more flirty'.

The second Temperley London ensemble of the tour came in for much harsher criticism.

It appeared Kate had customised her £795 sea green lace dress, adding extra fabric to cover her decolletage and thighs for lunch with the Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi yesterday.

But Shobhaa was left cold by the results, saying that even the Indian Prime Minister's crisp white outfit made a bigger statement than Kate's 'boring' and 'wishy-washy aqua dress'.

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