Photo Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, poses in Norfolk, England, for the centenary issue of British Vogue. Credit Josh Olins/British Vogue, via Associated Press
Two weeks after being photographed in front of the Taj Mahal, following in the footsteps of her mother-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Cambridge has struck another similar pose: as the cover girl of British Vogue.
The duchess, Catherine, may be one of the most p hotographed women in the world, whose every clothing choice is chronicled and dissected (and spurs a thousand sales). But until this week, when she was unveiled as the star of Vogue's centenary edition, which went on sale on Thursday, the duchess had never before posed for a glossy magazine shoot.
"To be able to publish a photographic shoot with H.R.H. the Duchess of Cambridge has been one of my greatest ambitions for the magazine," said Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue.
Diana appeared on the cover of British Vogue four times. Unlike the princess, however, who famou sly embraced risky fashion statements and high-profile industry friends as a means of self-expression and even defiant transformation — a Vogue portrait of her in a ball gown and diamond tiara, by Patrick Demarchelier in 1990, is a case in point — the duchess's 10-page spread made it emphatically clear that for her, power dressing is not a regal priority. In fact, the shoot for the June 2016 issue bears all the hallmarks of the same subtle, and meticulously managed, messaging around her public image that has been underway since her marriage to Prince William in 2011: that the future queen is emphatically, accessibly, normal.
Photo An image of Princess Diana taken by Patrick Demarchelier in 1990 is part of the "Vogue 100: A Century of Style" exhibit at National Portrait Gallery in London. Credit Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images
Photographed in January by Josh Olins near Anmer Hall, the family's retreat in Norfolk, England, and styled by the British Vogue fashion director Lucinda Chambers, the duchess is depicted as an ordinary country wife and mother who prefers the simpler things in life.
In the cover photograph, the 34-year-old is wearing almost imperceptible makeup, a white fitted shirt and double-breasted suede coat from Burberry, and a forest green fedora from the vintage store Beyond Retro — the kind of clothes she might wear to the supermarket or on a school run.
In a second photograph, she is wearing a classic striped Breton T-shirt from the French brand Petit Bateau that costs 35 pounds, or about $50. Other items include a pair of '70s-style flared denim dungarees by AG Jeans, navy knee-high boots from the British fast-fashion brand Dune, and a checked shirt by the London-based Cabbages & Roses.
"She didn't want to be dressed as a fashion plate and was not keen to be shot in gala gowns and tiaras," Ms. Shulman wrote in the accompanying article, adding that the shoot had been inspired by what the duchess "likes to wear when she is off-duty — jeans, shirts, T-shirts."
"The same as the rest of us," she added.
The duchess, Ms. Shulman said, even arrived at the shoot at the wheel of her Land Rover four-wheel-drive in a parka and with curlers still in her hair.
"The duchess had never taken part in a photography shoot like this before," a spokeswoman from Kensington Palace said this week. � ��She hopes that people appreciate the portraits with the sense of relaxed fun with which they were taken."
Thus far, some have and some have not.
Predictably, the cover and accompanying photographs have become a social media sensation in recent days, unleashing mixed reactions, with those who believe royalty should represent an ideal pitted against those who support the populist, new-look duchess.
"There is nothing 'fashion' or even aspirational about the shot," said Liz Jones, a journalist at The Daily Mail, adding that the former Kate Middleton had been "transformed from a statuesque beauty into a parody of Meryl Streep in 'Out Of Africa.' "
Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, where two of the images have been installed as part of a "Vogue 100: Century of Style" exhibition that is now on display, said, "Josh has captured the duchess exactly as she is full of life, with a great sense of humor, thoughtful and intelligent, and in fact, very beautiful." (The Vogue shoot was commissioned jointly by the magazine and the gallery.)
Photo Two new portraits of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, taken in the Norfolk countryside by the British photographer Josh Olins. Credit Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Jonathan Jones, an art critic at The Guardian, disagreed, however. He wrote an outraged (and much-read) column about the fact that two of the photographs were on display at the National Portrait Gallery.
"In a modern Britain that prides itself on its artists, galleries and aesthetic daring, it is absurd that a public gallery lets itself be a servant of royalty," he wrote.
"She is assumed to have some kind of special relationship with art because she studied art history at university. She's certainly chosen a historically important painting from the family art vault for her home," he continued. "So how does this inform her 'portraits' in Vogue? Not at all. These are just slight and silly pictures that only a flatterer would call art."
According to Bronwyn Cosgrave, the author of "Made for Each Other: Fashion and the Academy Awards" and a former features editor of British Vogue: "The role of a royal is often to promote fashion, and Catherine has always done it in her own way. But one of the great things about Vogue is the superior level of styling, and when I look at those images I don't see a stylist's hand. And that's very likely to be down to the fact she did not want to be styled."
"It's time for her to embrace fashion," she continued. "We know she's no profligate pretender. She's an admirable woman who has plenty of admirers and who has more than passed the test. But those bland photos beyond the cover are a bit of a letdown. When it's your big moment in Vogue, you need to loosen up."
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