Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, in Whistles for Portrait Unveiling

Whether you actually like the first official portrait of Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is irrelevant to this specific discussion, which is that K-Middy wore a high street dress to the unveiling of the thing. Seriously. It was from Whistles in fact, and a dress she has worn before, albiet underneath a coat. Amazing. Oh, and it is from the Fall 2011 collection. That's like nearly two years old. And fashion years are like dogs years. Only worse. Just saying.

It needs to be said that I am a fan of a portrait in general. Always have been. It is the most poetic way to see into someone's soul, in my opinion. And it has long been a tradition with the royals to have these commissioned at key stages of their lives. Kate's first is now. And it looks, um, fine? I will definitely go and see it at the National Portrait Gallery when I am next in London. But then I spend half my time in London at the NPG anyway. So.

But I like the dress. It is exactly the sort of dress you can keep in your wardrobe and trot it out in various guises over the years. Swap out the belt, as she has done. Add a top layer. Shorten the skirt. Any number of things one can do with it. And, in fact it seems to work well for an early maternity dress too. Since of course now Kate is into her fourth month of pregnancy.

Lots of commentators said you can see the beginnings of a bump. I sure can't. So good for Kate. Nicely played for an occasion that was supposed to be private and then she agreed to let the cameras in since she had been out of the public eye for so long. Good girl. Give us what we want.