Royal Watch News

Duchess Catherine urged to recycle

Feb 19, 2013, 12:02 GMT

Duchess Catherine

Duchess Catherine has been urged to wear the same outfits 'over and again'.

The British royal - who is set to return to royal duties with an official visit to charity Action on Addiction today (19.02.13) - has been advised to recycle her outfits by legendary British designer Dame Vivienne Westwood.

Speaking at London Fashion Week, she told the Daily Mail newspaper: 'I think it would be great if she wore the same clothes over and again, because that's very good for the environment and it would send out a very nice message.

'If you're going to all that trouble to get an outfit that suits you, then you should keep on wearing it.

'I mean you don't have to have a red outfit one day and then something almost the same in blue the next.'

Despite Vivienne's comments the Duchess of Cambridge has been known to recycle her clothing, and has even been dubbed 'thrifty' for re-wearing both designer and high street pieces, in particular her favourite court shoes from L.K. Bennett.

The duchess has also come under fire from Hilary Mantel, 60, a double Booker Prize winning author.

In a British Museum lecture, Hilary called the duchess - who is currently pregnant - a 'shop window mannequin'.

She said: 'Kate seems to have been selected for her role of princess because she was irreproachable: as painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character.

'She appears precision-made, machine-made.'

Referring to the Catherine's recent bout of morning sickness, she added: 'Once she gets over being sick, the press will find that she is radiant. They will find that this young woman's life until now was nothing, her only point and purpose being to give birth.'

A spokesperson for the author insisted the lecture was not a criticism but a 'remarkably sympathetic' piece about royal women as victims.