Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 24-30 June

1. a) She attended a friend's wedding wearing this Beulah London dress and b) a repeated Jane Corbett hat. Can't say there's much I like from Beulah London - not my style, I guess - but they do good things for the victims of human trafficking, so they're fine by me.

Photos: Beulah London/Jane Corbett

Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 10-18 June

1. Visiting Nottingham alongside the Queen and Prince William, 13 June, in an array of repeats.
2. Watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with students from The Art Room, 15 June.
3. Trooping the Colour, 16 June.
4. A whole day of cuteness, 17 June, first visiting a camping excursion for kids and then watching polo with a few of the most adorable members of the royal family (I’m referring of course to Lupo and Savannah). (And Harry.)
5. Garter Day, 18 June, repeating her 2011 Trooping the Colour coat.

Photos: Getty Images/Daylife/Reuters/FameFlynet/Daily Mail

Royal Fashion Awards: Garter Day 2012

It's one of the fanciest days of the year for the Windsors: Garter Day, the annual service for the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry in England. Between the feathered Knights and Ladies of the Garter and their hatted loved ones, we have lots to admire, so let's get started:

Best in Earrings

Queen Elizabeth

The Queen gets the best deal. She gets the fanciest robe (or mantle) - so fancy she needs two pages to carry it - and she wears the best earrings every year. Funnily enough, I tweeted just on Saturday a request for these very earrings, the Crown rubies. I even said pretty please, and it did the trick. Gor-ge-ous, and that's not even coming from a ruby lover.

Best in Other Jewels

The Duchess of Cornwall

And now I'm officially in seventh heaven, because Camilla wore one of my favorite pieces from her jewel box: this amazing pink choker. I'll just be over here, dead. Wake me when someone puts a tiara on.

Best in Repeats

The Countess of Wessex

Left to Right: The Countess of Wessex, the Duchess of Cambridge

There were plenty of repeats among the ladies observing the ceremony today, but these two wore the most recognizable ones: Sophie in her outfit from Mike and Zara's wedding, and Kate in her coat from last year's Trooping the Colour. I like them both, but I'm digging Sophie's new hat a little more than Kate's. Must be that rakish pirate angle.

Best in Blue

The Duchess of Gloucester

Birgitte Gloucester here stood out in the sea of neutrals in her fresh blue, and she looked ever so lovely. Note that she too is bringing some necklace eye candy for us, bless her heart.

Best in Proud Mums

Viscountess Linley

L to R: Viscountess Linley, Lady Sarah Chatto

Viscountess Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto were present today because their sons, Charles Armstrong-Jones and Arthur Chatto, served as the Queen's pages (that's them in the photo with the Queen above). Lady Sarah broke her streak of attending major royal events in her black and white New Look chic...and I wish she hadn't, though I applaud her brooch effort and her non-fascinator hat. This one goes to Serena Linley.

Best in Knights and Ladies

The Princess Royal

L to R: The Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex

L to R: The Princess Royal, the Duke of Gloucester, Princess Alexandra, the Duke of Kent

Here we are, last but never least, the rest of the royal members of the Order of the Garter. Princess Anne tickled my fancy the most this year. She just seemed especially chuffed to be wearing a feather bigger than yours.

Who makes your best dressed list at Garter Day this year?

Photos: WPA Pool/Getty/Zimbio/Daily Mail

Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 27 May-5 June

1. Attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace, 29 May, repeating her Emilia Wickstead dress from the sovereigns' jubilee lunch and adding a Jane Corbett hat.
2. a) At the Thames River Pageant, 3 June, in b) Alexander McQueen with a Lock & Co. hat.
3. a) Attending the Diamond Jubilee Concert, 4 June, in b) a Whistles dress with a McQueen jacket.
4. The Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, 5 June, in McQueen again with a Jane Taylor hat. Much as I loved how she rocked the red at the Thames pageant, this final elegant turn is my favorite jubilee appearance from Kate. Which one did you like best?

Photos: PA/Getty Images/Daylife/Reuters

Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 25-31 December

Here's what Catherine wore from 25-31 December:

1. First church service of the day, 25 December. That's a lotta churchin' in a day. I suppose you better be game for a double-header church service if you're going to sign up for life as the wife of the future head of the Church of England.
2. a-d) Christmas service, 25 December, in a Jane Corbett hat, Mascaró shoes, new Kiki McDonough earrings (green amethyst with diamonds) and a coat by an independent British designer, who I don't think has been found out yet. I love that she used an independent designer, but I wish they would've stated the name. I mean, McQueen would still be McQueen with or without Kate - let's make some new fashion careers while we're at it! Talk about your economic stimulus. But, I digress...back to the outfit. This is, as I said, a bit of hat déjà vu from Remembrance Day, but I like it better with this sort of coat.

Photos: Zimbio/Daily Mail/Grazia

Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 13-19 November

Here's what Catherine wore from 13-19 November:

1. Remembrance Sunday, 13 November, which we discussed last week.
2. a) Out shopping, in b) a skirt from Mulberry, working the "schoolgirl gone beatnik" look.

She also paid a private visit to an art therapy charity at a school in London - she's been making these secret visits as she decides which charities she'll use her royal weight to support - wearing a sweater and jeans, which apparently disappointed the kids who felt she "didn't look like a princess". (I hear ya, kids. I'd demand a tiara, myself.) Sounds like a basic miscommunication to me - she must have thought she was just going to slip in and out relatively unnoticed, while the school lined all the kids up like it was a legit royal visit. A simple mistake, and yet something tells me that's the last we'll hear of her trying the dressed down approach!

Photos: Getty Images/Daylife/Xposurephotos.com/Popsugar

Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 6-12 November

Here's what Catherine wore from 6-12 November:

1. a) Attending a dinner for the National Memorial Arboretum Appeal, 10 November, in a custom version of this (b) Jenny Packham gown and (c) a pair of earrings which have been identified as silver with "crystal paste stones" by Beaut Jewellery who supplied this design to Jenny Packham. I won't lie and say I wasn't disappointed to learn she didn't have a new set of diamonds in her jewel box, but they sparkled on video nevertheless, and they're a great Deco-esque design. As for the toga dress, I think it's great but I wish she'd done her hair up (it was only sort of half up on the one side) because I think there's too much going on with the flutter sleeve and the asymmetrical neckline plus all the hair. In other words: an utterly typical assessment from one who is permanently on Team Updo.
2. a) At a meeting for the Prince's Charities Forum, 11 November, in a b) blazer from Zara. Basic wool blazer with an interesting detail: I like it. Can't really make out what she had on underneath, though.

Outside our regular time frame, but no doubt this is fresh on everyone's minds:

1. At the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph with fellow royal family members (top row includes the Duchess of Cornwall, the Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne's husband Vice Admiral Tim Laurence; bottom row is Princess Alexandra of Kent and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester), 13 November, wearing a Diane von Furstenberg coat and Jane Corbett hat. Not a huge fan of the forward tilt on Kate's hat or of Sophie's choice to repeat the flamboyant gray hat she wore to Monaco's royal wedding for this particular event; however, it doesn't matter. That's just not what this event is about. 

Members of the royal family that lay wreaths at the Cenotaph. (Front: the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Second: the Duke of York and the Princess Royal. Third: the Duke of Cambridge and the Prince of Wales. Fourth: the Duke of Kent and the Earl of Wessex.)

Photos: Paul Rogers/Daily Mail/Just Jared/British Monarchy Flickr/Zara/Getty Images/Daylife

Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 12-18 June

Here's what Catherine wore from 12-18 June:

1. Attending Prince Philip's birthday service, 12 June, a) on Kate with Jane Corbett fascinator and LK Bennett shoes, b) the Zara dress underneath, c) the first appearance of the Jane Troughton coat, and d) her earrings.

Some of you said this was a bit of a blue overdose, with the blue brocade coat over the blue dress and topped with a blue fascinator. And while I won't disagree with you on that, I'm not docking her for it. My reasons are threefold: 1) she wore a color, and I'll take it, 2) she's not wearing the coat in exactly the same way she did when she first wore it, and you know how annoyed I get when people repeat the exact same outfit - mixing it up is good for the soul, and 3) she resisted the bridesmaid urge to stick blue shoes with the thing, so we know that she did in fact exercise some Smurf restraint. I threw the earrings in there too; lots of people are suspecting she's wearing a pair that used to belong to Diana - pretty generic earring form to have a definite identification on that, but it's a definite possibility.

2. Prince Philip's birthday dinner, 12 June, a) the best view, b) the full view, behind Zara, c) the dress from Stella McCartney, and d) the dress as worn by Madonna.

THIS IS SO SAD. I mean, she wears something with color and it's shiny and it's Stella Freaking McCartney and it's...this. With all due apologies to Kate's army of admirers, somebody has to call it: we've got her first official Hot Mess on our hands. I'd say we need to give it another outing with better lighting and better photography, but sadly that outing can obviously not be anything involving such strenuous activities as, uh, sitting without this thing getting creased to bugger and back. (Also: I strongly object to the choice of black pumps - court shoes, if you please - with this. Give me a little metallic strappy number and we'll talk.)

3. Garter Day, 13 June, a) on Kate with a Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat, and b) from Katherine Hooker.

I love that she's not just sticking with Philip Treacy as her main hat boyfriend, by the way. Clearly that strategy isn't working out so well for Beatrice and Eugenie, so a little variety is just what the milliner ordered.  With regards to the rest of it, I stand by my original assessment of this outfit: aging? Yes. Timeless/princessish/eminently appropriate? Also yes. Of this week, I'd have to declare this one my favorite.

Do you have a favorite this week?

Photos: Daylife/Getty/Robin Bell/Daily Mail/Katherine Hooker/Zara