Kate Middleton attends a royal reception for Olympic and Paralympic athletes in custom Alice by Temperley

Kate Middleton Alice by Temperley Royal Reception For Team GB Olympic And Paralympic Medalists
Photography by John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Kate Middleton Alice by Temperley Royal Reception For Team GB Olympic And Paralympic Medalists
Photography by John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images

See our full gallery of all of Kate Middleton’s outfits! »

When we heard that Kate Middleton would be attending royal reception at Buckingham Palace to honour the Team GB Olympic and Paralympic medalists, we assumed the duchess would wear something blue—and when it was further revealed that the athletes would be wearing their formal Team GB attire, we added “designed by Stella McCartney” to our guess. After all, Kate Middleton wore the same blue Stella McCartney dress to two Olympic engagements back in July and she’s quite fond of matching her outfits to the occasion. But! We were wrong: instead of Olympic blue, Kate celebrated in a black and cream Alice by Temperley dress. While the duchess doesn’t often wear black (we had actually thought there were royal rules about when the colour was appropriate) the dress complemented the all-black Team GB attire of the other guests and allowed Kate to stand out—without taking the spotlight. Another thing to note about the dress is that it’s completely custom. Alice By Temperley is one of Kate’s favourite brands and it seems she’s mixed together a few elements from different dresses to create this one—with the colour scheme being very close to the original Temperley London dress she had customized for her Southeast Asia tour. Also part of the outfit were Kate’s black suede Jimmy Choo pumps and a diamond bracelet that matched the lacework on her dress quite well.

More Celebrity