Well, it was a work trip. If Princess Catherine\u2019s first solo trip since reentering public life after taking time away during her cancer treatment was less a jewels-and-tiaras royal tour than a study in suits on the ground, that\u2019s not an accident. It\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n
Rather than play the part of the symbolic royal during her two-day visit to Italy this week, Princess Catherine used the visit to quietly underscore the fact that even though she will one day live in Buckingham Palace, she is also doing a job.<\/p>\n
She can still wear a sparkling ballgown with the best of them (and does, when required) or wave from a balcony. But these days, she\u2019s more likely to be found in a blazer. And not a tweedy, hiking-in-Balmoral kind, but a sleek C-suite kind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0<\/strong>Are Queen Camilla and Melania Trump\u2019s coordinated looks fashion diplomacy?<\/a><\/p>\n Consider, for example, her whistle-stop tour through Reggio Emilia.<\/p>\n There to study the local approach to early childhood learning for the Royal Foundation Centre For Early Childhood, an initiative she introduced in 2021, she arrived in a cerulean blue pantsuit by London designer Edeline Lee.<\/p>\n Worn with a collarless white silk shirt and a pale blue Asprey bag, the look took the colour theory dressing of her grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II, and gave it an executive spin.<\/p>\n The next day, visiting various schools and making pasta, Princess Catherine modelled the same approach in a pinstriped taupe Blaze\u00a0Milano jacket worn over a long pleated cream skirt and matching T-shirt.<\/p>\n In each instance, the tailoring was precise, with a power shoulder. If anyone thinks that\u2019s coincidence, there are some ermine robes I can sell you.<\/p>\n After all, given Princess Catherine\u2019s position, the collective national intake of breath that greeted the news of her cancer diagnosis, and the attention paid to every move since, she\u00a0clearly knew that all eyes were going to be upon her \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0and not just in Italy, where she was swarmed on arrival.<\/p>\n She has proved herself adept at using visual language to make a statement, whether about family unity in the face of rumours via coordinated dressing, about sustainability by re-wearing pieces from her closet (including that pinstriped jacket) or about cross-border engagement through fashion.<\/p>\n For proof, simply check out the official Instagram account (@princeandprincessofwales), with its 17.2 million followers, where the images, including multiple posts from Reggio Emilia, offer their own narrative juice.<\/p>\n If Princess Catherine is wearing suits, it\u2019s not because she thinks they\u2019re trendy.<\/p>\n Suits are a collective totem, as much as any crown: of professionalism, management, competence, the office. Suits tell a story everyone can immediately see and understand.<\/p>\n