The Fashionomist: Paying Royalties

The Fashionomist is quite amused by the number of Kate Middleton items that have splashed the market since the future Princess announced her engagement to Prince William late last year. It all began innocently enough: the Kate dress, the Kate engagement ring, the Kate hair (forgive The Fashionomist for calling a future royal by her first name, but at the rate we have become saturated with Kate news, The Fashionomist feels a friendly first name policy is quite all right). Yet the royalty crazed have become bombarded with Kate-mania: The Kate stamp! The Kate coin! The Kate dinnerware set! The Kate doll! Fancy yourself some tea? Steep yourself a cup with a teabag imprinted with Kate's picture on it (with a cup covered in Kate visages, no less). A fan of the needle arts, perchance? Save your fragile index finger from accidental pricks with the Kate thimble. Have a plain old mouse pad? Why not snazz it up with a Kate imprinted one? (http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-slideshow-10-ugliest-prince-william-and-kate-middleton-products-for-sal/P0/)

[Lest the gentle reader misunderstand, The Fashionomist is a fan of Kate Middleton's sartorial choices, as shall be expanded below (with the exception of that infamous sheer dress - it simply does not stoke The Fashionomist's tastes). A better dressed world is something to cheer for. And, dear reader, you can bet your specially issued Kate memorabilia The Fashionomist will watch the April nuptials.]

It's not just kitsch collectors who have fallen under the Kate spell - fashion is abuzz over the signature Kate look. This is a woman, after all, who not only has quite a chic sense of style but reportedly seduced her prince charming wearing a sheer dress (worth $104,860 to boot). Anything Kate wears is rushing out of stock. Couple the trendiness of being Kate's fashion mate and her classic pieces, and you have a making of a fashion upheaval. A basic khaki colored Burberry trench coat flew off shelves last week after our dear Katie stepped out in it. That blue dress Kate wore to her engagement announcement famously sold out within hours. And the girl can pull off hats that put Sunday church ladies to shame, bringing brisk business to her milliner (only in Britain would a person have their own milliner), Vivien Sheriff. The Americans are late to the game, but the Brits have been Kate-maniacs for some time now - a 2007 dress she wore to a party gave Topshop some hefty profits. Below, outfits that have brought on a case of the Kate frenzy.

(Designers listed from top of section: Issa; Penelope Chilvers [boots]; Burberry; Temperley; Luisa Spagnoli [dress] and Aquatalia [boots]; Reiss [dress] and Links of London [earrings]; all hats - Vivien Sheriff. Available:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1365950/Kate-Middletons-fashion-impact-Burberry-trench-coat-wore-sold-day.html?ito=feeds-newsxml_)

Trendsetting - yes, there is an economics to it. Many a famed person has played up to the fact that they are well-known and could sell anything ugly to a celeb-crazed public. Princess Diana was one of the world's most famous trendsetters, and now her daughter-in-law is fast becoming one. With the ability to broadcast images of what Ms. Middleton is wearing instantly, consumers are able to get instant images of what is "popular" and "cool" - important indicators of preference that drive supply and demand for a good. Designers of many of Kate's ensembles have been quite clever with this fact, releasing only a limited supply of a product, jacking prices up, and sitting pretty while the cash rolls in. Even still, mass production and fast fashion has made it easy for the commoner to copy Kate's clothing, creating a whole new niche market. Kate has the power to bring about fights between grown women in stores, create waiting lists that go on for ages, and cause websites to crash. Given that Kate is now an international figure, she has the ability to also promote British design, giving our brothers and sister's across the pond quite the bump in business (much the way Michelle Obama has here in the States). If Diana is any indication, Kate will have a tremendous impact on fashionomics for quite some time.