Inappropriate Outfits We Can't Believe Kate Middleton Wore

It's nothing unusual for celebrities to influence people into imitating their fashion choices, and the case isn't any different for the members of the British royal family either. From Princess Diana to Meghan Markle, royal women have always influenced fashion trends all over the world. However, one of the most influential of all is Catherine, Princess of Wales. Whether you believe it or not, the "Kate Effect" is very real and powerful when it comes to the fashion industry.

If you didn't already know, the "Kate Effect" is the phenomenon of clothes and accessories getting unbelievably popular and sold out almost immediately after Kate is seen donning them. Put differently, Kate Middleton is an "influencer" in every sense of the word. However, over her years in the public eye, the princess has been seen in what some have called inappropriate clothing choices — both as a commoner and a royal. Here are some of the most unbefitting outfits she has sported.

In 2002, Kate Middleton wore a sheer, black lace skirt as a dress for a charity fashion show held at St. Andrews University in Scotland, where the now-princess was pursuing her degree in art history at the time. Sporting nothing but a black, strapless brassiere and black underwear underneath the dress, Kate walked the runway with William, Prince of Wales, reportedly being present in the audience. The £30 (nearly $40) dress, created by then-fashion student Charlotte Todd, was sold at auction for £78,000 (over $102,000) in 2011 — the same year Kate and Prince William tied the knot in the most royal way possible.

Kate's college fashion show moment became a hot topic once again in December 2023, when actor Meg Bellamy reenacted it for the sixth season of Netflix's "The Crown." The dress wasn't exactly inappropriate or unusual for a fashion show, and Kate wasn't even an official royal back then, but it's something you probably didn't see coming if you came to know about it only after the show recreated the walk.

As it turns out, back in the early 2000s, when Kate Middleton and Prince William were already officially dating, the now-princess didn't really care much about what she wore out in public — and she definitely wasn't bothered about the paparazzi. In June 2005, for example, she was photographed roaming the streets in a white, strappy camisole and blue, low-waist jeans with a black belt supporting it. The belly-revealing outfit may have been alright for someone in their early 20s, but the person being discussed here was a soon-to-be royal at the time, so it was definitely a little out of place.

Kate was also often spotted wearing dresses with plunging necklines, skirts that revealed much of her legs, low-rise pants, and tall boots. It's probably safe to assume that her original clothing style was nothing like that of a royal. However, that clearly didn't stop Prince William from falling for or marrying her.

In 2008, Kate Middleton and a few of her friends arranged a fundraising roller skate disco night in London, hoping to raise $200,000 to fund a ward of a children's hospital. Although her noble intentions did hit the headlines, what actually turned out to be the talk of the town was the outfit she wore to the event. The outfit in question comprised a halter top covered with the sparkliest green sequins out there, yellow hotpants, bright pink socks, and of course, roller skates.

Shortly after the charity event took place, the Daily Mail reported that Kate's choice of clothing for the event was deemed "unladylike" by Buckingham Palace courtiers, and they were nothing short of "appalled." The outlet also claimed that the then-reigning Queen Elizabeth II found Kate "something of a show-off" at the time. That said, the outfit certainly was a little shocking, especially because Kate and the prince's courtship was already out in the open back then.

Nobody on earth may have found Kate Middleton's wedding dress "inappropriate," but a lawsuit filed against Alexander McQueen, the label behind the dress, certainly said otherwise. In 2016, Hertfordshire-based designer Christine Kendall sued McQueen, claiming the label's creative director, Sarah Burton, blatantly used elements of her ideas when designing Kate's wedding gown. As Kendall told The Sunday Times (via People), she shared her designs with Kate and the palace months before the 2011 royal wedding took place and was even responded to, with a promise that she'd be kept "in touch."

Speaking to The Sunday Times (via WWD) after the lawsuit had been filed, a McQueen representative stated, "Sarah Burton never saw any of Ms. Kendall's designs or sketches and did not know of Ms. Kendall before Ms. Kendall got in touch with us — some 13 months after the wedding. We do not know why Ms. Kendall has raised this again, but there are no if's, buts or maybes here: This claim is ridiculous."

With all that said, even the lawsuit couldn't change Kate's love for the luxury label. As a matter of fact, in 2018, the world witnessed her stunning in Alexander McQueen for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding as well.

Anyone who knows about the existence of the British royal family knows how much Queen Elizabeth II loved striking, bright colored attires. However, it wasn't exactly Her Majesty's preference for vibrant colors that inspired her clothing choices. In 2022, royal expert Daisy McAndrew revealed to Today, "[The queen is] quite small — so sometimes just quite difficult to spot — so her dressers ... decided some years ago that it would be helpful if she was brightly colored so that people could spot her easily."

That said, in 2012, Kate Middleton outshined the queen during her very own Diamond Jubilee, a national event marking 60 years on the throne. While Queen Elizabeth II herself opted for a white outfit for the day, Kate sported a screaming red Alexander McQueen dress that attracted quite a lot of attention, to say the least. The dress offended many, with a writer at the Daily Mail going as far as to say, "It says something when even Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice were more appropriately attired than the usually immaculate Kate. I blame her family. Not the Royals, but the Middletons." While the remark aimed at Kate's family was undoubtedly disrespectful, it might have been avoided if Kate happened to choose to wear a more toned-down hue for the highly-publicized occasion.

During their 2012 visit to the Solomon Islands in Oceania, Kate Middleton and Prince William attended a dinner sporting what they thought were the traditional Solomon Islands outfits they were meant, and probably requested, to wear. However, the patterned shirt and the floral dress the couple donned soon received harsh criticism when it was discovered that they were actually from the Cook Islands, which is a completely different country.

Later, according to Express, Clarence House, a royal residence in London, noted in a statement, "We saw [the clothes] weren't the same design of the traditional clothes we were told would be gifted, so we checked with the Solomon Islands government to ensure the right ones were worn. We were reassured the clothes were correct, and so the Duke and Duchess wore them to the event. It was not learned until later in the evening that the clothes weren't from the islands."

In early 2016, Kate Middleton and Prince William took their two children to the French Alps for a skiing holiday and shared photos from the same on their official X, formerly known as Twitter, account. Although Kate's outfit in the photos could, in no way, seem inappropriate to the average eye, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) begged to differ. That's because the Restelli Guanti gloves the princess was seen wearing were made with real possum fur. Shortly after the photos were shared, the director of PETA U.K., Mimi Bekhechi, spoke to E! News. "If the gloves are indeed made of real fur, we'll be contacting Kate, who we imagine is unaware that possums killed for their fur are often caught in bone-crushing steel-jaw traps," she said.

Given that there are all sorts of faux fur clothing available on the market nowadays, Kate's choice was definitely unethical. It was also a little surprising because the royal family has always been vocal against animal cruelty. For example, dogs in royal kennels haven't undergone painful tail docking or ear cropping surgeries since the reign of Queen Victoria, the great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II. Years before her death in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II herself stopped wearing garments made with real fur, and Prince William and King Charles III have been fighting against illegal wildlife trade since 2014. As a matter of fact, in early 2024, the queen consort, Camilla, announced that she'd stop buying clothes made of real fur.

When it came to royal women wearing skirts or dresses, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly always wanted the garment in question to be knee length or longer. However, back in 2016, Kate Middleton broke that rule and wore a shorter-than-"ideal" dress when attending the celebrations of the then-queen's 90th birthday.

The dress being discussed was a pale blue Catherine Walker coat dress adorned with beautiful, white lace work. The princess paired the dress with a white hat and nude shoes with high heels. While the dress did entirely cover the upper portion of Kate's body, it left her knees uncovered. Exposed knees may not be a huge issue, but respecting the queen's rules and preferences on her birthday and choosing an outfit accordingly could have been a nice gesture. With all that said, thanks to the dress — inappropriate or not – Kate's killer legs had the internet buzzing.

In March 2023, when economic depression had become a serious issue in Britain and inflation was at its peak, Kate Middleton attended the Commonwealth Day Service wearing a £3,000 (nearly $4,000) suit designed by Erdem. The suit comprised a jacket and a skirt made of the same navy blue fabric with small flowers printed on it. Although Kate looked absolutely gorgeous in the outfit, its price point had the princess lambasted by the public.

According to The Kit, a Daily Mail article — which discussed what Kate, Queen Camilla, and Sophie, Duchess Of Edinburgh, donned for the event — had a comment section filled with harsh remarks against Kate and the royal family. One person noted, "3000 pounds for a dress while the rest of us struggle. I think it is time to get rid of these freeloaders," whereas another comment read, in part, "What a waste of taxpayer money."

When attending the 2023 Order of the Garter Service, Kate Middleton donned a white dress covered with black polka dots, and it enraged the public, for good reason. Once the photos from the ceremony were released, it didn't take netizens much time to point out that the dress bore a strong resemblance to another one Kate sported for the 2022 Royal Ascot. The polka dots on the dress she wore in 2022 were brown and bigger, but it was created by the same designer that made the dress she wore in 2023. With both of the dresses being designed by Alessandra Rich and looking extremely similar, Kate's second purchase was deemed unnecessary and callous by many.

The 2023 dress was priced at over £1,000 (more than $1,300), and economically, it was a tough time for the United Kingdom, so the criticism Kate faced didn't come out of the blue. Speaking to Express, style expert Molly Elizabeth Agnew noted, "It's hard to think of a viable reason why anyone, including a princess, would buy a dress so identical to one she wore only last year, especially from the same fashion house," adding, "When so many in the UK are struggling monetarily, it can come across as somewhat out of touch."