It dates from 2017, but this is the dress that everyone will copy this summer. Its cut, its material, its length: everything sticks to the desires of 2025. Ported only once by Kate Middleton, it resurfaces in trends, eight years later, and proves that even the most classic icons can hit hard.
It was in London, Victoria & Albert Museum. Kate Middleton attended the opening of an exhibition. One more cultural event? Not quite. That evening, the princess of Wales, faithful to her mid-long outfits, arrives in a dress that immediately reacts. Signed Gucci, cut in a rigid and structured tweed, it has a red, black and white graphic pattern, massive golden buttons, a wide neck and a contrasting border. An unexpected mixture for a royal figure. And yet, the whole is clear, elegant, perfectly calibrated. At his feet, shiny black pumps. By hand, a red pocket. Nothing more. The visual shock comes from elsewhere: the dress is shorter than anything it has worn so far.
The image goes around the networks. Fans of the monarchy raise an eyebrow. The stylists get carried away. We comment, we zoom, we scrutinize. At the time, the hem above the knee was detonated in the very framed cloakroom of the princess. It is not a miniskirt, but it approaches it. And for good reason: in the royal family, there is an unwritten rule, but always respected. The dresses stop under the knee, never above.
Today, in 2025, this famous length returns in full light. On the catwalks as in the street, the short dress – but not micro – is everywhere. It rejuvenates a silhouette. She clears the leg without showing everything. She plays with the idea of the sexy without overplaying it.
In short, a detail which alone is enough to make it the most modern piece of the princess’s dressing room, but above all a piece that we rediscover today as a model to follow.
