Week in Review: The Duchess of Cambridge, 12-18 June

Here's what Catherine wore from 12-18 June:

1. Attending Prince Philip's birthday service, 12 June, a) on Kate with Jane Corbett fascinator and LK Bennett shoes, b) the Zara dress underneath, c) the first appearance of the Jane Troughton coat, and d) her earrings.

Some of you said this was a bit of a blue overdose, with the blue brocade coat over the blue dress and topped with a blue fascinator. And while I won't disagree with you on that, I'm not docking her for it. My reasons are threefold: 1) she wore a color, and I'll take it, 2) she's not wearing the coat in exactly the same way she did when she first wore it, and you know how annoyed I get when people repeat the exact same outfit - mixing it up is good for the soul, and 3) she resisted the bridesmaid urge to stick blue shoes with the thing, so we know that she did in fact exercise some Smurf restraint. I threw the earrings in there too; lots of people are suspecting she's wearing a pair that used to belong to Diana - pretty generic earring form to have a definite identification on that, but it's a definite possibility.

2. Prince Philip's birthday dinner, 12 June, a) the best view, b) the full view, behind Zara, c) the dress from Stella McCartney, and d) the dress as worn by Madonna.

THIS IS SO SAD. I mean, she wears something with color and it's shiny and it's Stella Freaking McCartney and it's...this. With all due apologies to Kate's army of admirers, somebody has to call it: we've got her first official Hot Mess on our hands. I'd say we need to give it another outing with better lighting and better photography, but sadly that outing can obviously not be anything involving such strenuous activities as, uh, sitting without this thing getting creased to bugger and back. (Also: I strongly object to the choice of black pumps - court shoes, if you please - with this. Give me a little metallic strappy number and we'll talk.)

3. Garter Day, 13 June, a) on Kate with a Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat, and b) from Katherine Hooker.

I love that she's not just sticking with Philip Treacy as her main hat boyfriend, by the way. Clearly that strategy isn't working out so well for Beatrice and Eugenie, so a little variety is just what the milliner ordered.  With regards to the rest of it, I stand by my original assessment of this outfit: aging? Yes. Timeless/princessish/eminently appropriate? Also yes. Of this week, I'd have to declare this one my favorite.

Do you have a favorite this week?

Photos: Daylife/Getty/Robin Bell/Daily Mail/Katherine Hooker/Zara