Catherine, Princess of Wales, steps back into the fashion spotlight
The fashion crowd in London is generally known for keeping cool. But Tuesday, the editors and designers at a ceremony for one of the industry's most prestigious local awards became palpably excited when Catherine, Princess of Wales, emerged to present this year's Queen Elizabeth II Award for Design to Patrick McDowell, 29, a Liverpool-born designer.
Dressed in an olive Victoria Beckham suit and a white silk pussy-bow blouse, Catherine walked with McDowell among mannequins and models wearing the designer's looks inside 180 the Strand, the central London building where the event took place. It was the second time the princess had presented the award, which was created by the British Fashion Council and the British royal family in 2018 to recognize the role London's fashion industry 'plays in society and diplomacy.'
The princess did not give public comments at the ceremony, but McDowell said that their private conversation touched on topics including a shared appreciation for craftsmanship and the designer's efforts to make collections in Britain and offer customers the option to repair or rework old garments.
McDowell added that, as Catherine toured the clothes on display, she took interest in a tailored sleeveless jacket called 'the Wales jacket.'
'She said, 'Why would you call it that?' with a big smile,' McDowell said. 'What a moment, to be sharing jokes with our future queen.'
Catherine's appearance at the event came as she has been stepping up the pace and profile of her public engagements after her cancer diagnosis and treatment last year. In January, she said her cancer was in remission; about a month later, the Sunday Times of London published an article that suggested that Kensington Palace would no longer be disclosing any details of her outfits to the news media.
During the awards ceremony, the princess also met with other young designers who were on hand to showcase their wares, including Conner Ives, an American working in London whose 'Protect the Dolls' T-shirt have spread widely on social media in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Ives was announced as the 2025 winner of the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund award, which came with a grant and an industry mentorship.
In past years, the Queen Elizabeth II Award for Design went to designers including Richard Quinn, S.S. Daley and Priya Ahluwalia. It has been presented in the past by other senior royals, including Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III and Princess Anne.
McDowell, whose namesake brand was introduced in 2018, is known for offering made-to-order evening and occasion wear designed in London using recycled textiles and new sustainable materials like sequins made of cellulose. Lady Gaga, Sarah Jessica Parker and Keira Knightley are among the label's notable fans.
Winning the Queen Elizabeth II Award was 'a wonderful pat on the back that provides a game-changing stamp of approval,' McDowell said, as well as an 'acknowledgment that working in a circular way is a way forward.'
'I'd love to make a piece for her,' McDowell added, referring to Catherine. 'It would be a dream come true.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
an hour ago
- News18
Halle Berry, Boyfriend Van Hunt Open Up On Wedding Plans: ‘We Want…'
Last Updated: On June 4, Halle Berry and Van Hunt made a joint appearance on an episode of Today with Jenna & Friends for the first time. Halle Berry's boyfriend, Van Hunt, is awaiting a 'yes" from the actress to put a ring on her finger. The couple has been dating for five years since September 2020. Now, Hunt, an American singer, has revealed that he has already proposed to Halle and is looking forward to her positive response. While Berry is also eager to get married to Hunt, her current hesitation stems from her past marriages. The Oscar-winning actress has shared that she wants her union to be a form of 'expression" and not compulsion. On June 4, Halle Berry and Van Hunt made a joint appearance on an episode of Today with Jenna & Friends for the first time. The pair spilled the beans on their marriage plans during a conversation with the host. 'I put out the proposal, and it is still on hold, as you can see. It is just out there floating. You know, maybe you can encourage her," said Hunt. To this, Halle Berry disclosed that her previous marriages had shaped her idea of love. The Monster's Ball actress said, 'Well, I have been married three times. Van has been married once, and so no, we do not feel like we have to get married to validate our love in any way. We do not." View this post on Instagram A post shared by TODAY with Jenna & Friends (@jennaandfriends) Despite not being ready at the moment, Halle Berry wishes to start a new life with Van Hunt 'soon". Speaking on the matter, she revealed, 'I think we will get married just because, out of the people I have been married to, this is the person I should have married." Halle Berry added, 'I feel like I should, we should get married, but it is not because we feel like we have to. I think it is something that we would like to do just because we want that expression." Before falling in love with Van Hunt, Halle Berry was married to French actor Olivier Martinez, They parted ways in 2015. Before that, the 58-year-old was in a relationship with former MLB player David Justice and singer/actor Eric Benet. First Published:
News18
2 hours ago
- News18
Pankaj Tripathi On Avoiding Repetition In Acting: 'When You Do Lot Of Work…'
Last Updated: Pankaj Tripathi, recently seen in Criminal Justice Season 4, said that while he has his own unique style, he always strives to bring something different to every role he plays. Pankaj Tripathi is undoubtedly one of the most talented actors in Bollywood. He was recently seen in Criminal Justice season 4, in which he returned as the beloved Madhav Mishra. in a recent interview, the actor opened up about how he avoids repetition in acting, and does not agree that all his roles are similar. He compared his work to paintings by the same artist, stating that they are similar due to the style, but has subtle differences up close. Pankaj Tripathi said that he strives to being those subtle distinctions to each character he plays. While speaking with Hindustan Times, Pankaj Tripathi said, 'There is a problem in our Hindi film industry that in the days of struggle, there is no work. There were 2-3-year periods between 2004 and 2012 when I did not even face a camera. I could not shoot. After that, I got some small roles, and slowly, I became bigger. A lot of offers came my way. Jab bhookh zyada lagi ho to over-eating karna sambhav hai (When you are famished, there is a possibility of over-eating). So, I overate. I did a lot of work. That creates the challenge of keeping things different. You try, that's all you can do." However, he said not all his roles are similar. Using the example of an artist, he explained that 10 paintings by the same artist will appear similar from a distance because the artist has a unique style. However, upon closer inspection, one can notice subtle differences in each piece. 'That is my effort too, to bring that minor difference. The important thing is to work less. But when you do a lot of work, my effort is not to lose my touch that the audience likes, but the characters still feel different," he said. About Criminal Justice 4 Pankaj Tripathi returned as the beloved Madhav Mishra in Criminal Justice Season 4. The new season has been streaming since May 22 on JioHotstar. Besides Pankaj Tripathi, the cast includes Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Surveen Chawla, Mita Vashisht, Asha Negi, Shweta Basu Prasad, Khushboo Atre, and Barkha Singh in key roles. The show is an official adaptation of the 2008 British television series of the same name. First Published:
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
Housefull 5 Movie Review: Akshay Kumar's Film Is Utterly Absurd
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Housefull 5, the latest installment in the franchise, struggles with absurd humor. Housefull 5, written by producer Sajid Nadiadwala and co-scripted and directed by Tarun Mansukhani. Set on a luxury cruise ship, it runs into rough waters never to find a way out of the deep end. New Delhi: There is no gain saying that a line separates the purely absurdist from the utterly absurd and it is anything but thin. But the makers of this thriller-comedy, the fifth instalment of the Housefull franchise, do not have the foggiest clue that fatuously fluffy isn't the same as freakily funny, and that daft isn't the same as droll. The film is much more of the former than the latter. Housefull 5, written by producer Sajid Nadiadwala and co-scripted and directed by Tarun Mansukhani (known as much for the successful Dostana as the disastrous Drive), set on a luxury cruise ship, it runs into rough waters never to find a way out of the deep end. Relying on gags that often drag on for way too long, Housefull 5 dangles between the outright asinine and the abjectly over-the-top. Unsurprisingly, as always, the women assembled here – Jacqueliene Fernandez, Sonam Bajwa, Nargis Fakhri, Chitrangada Singh, and Soundarya Sharma – are playthings pulled out of the woodwork for the dance numbers and for sporadic and ineffectual shots at desultory humour. Housefull 5 opens with a gruesome murder committed by a masked killer on a cruise ship that has set sail to celebrate the 100th birthday of the UK's seventh richest business tycoon. More homicides follow but the identity of the masked killer remains a mystery until a pair of suspended British-Indian cops reach the ship to investigate the crimes and are followed by the Interpol chief, also an Indian, a beedi-smoking one at that. It is a free for all out here and the film loses no opportunity to snuff out any semblance of logic that might be trying to peep out of the cacophony and give the proceedings a veneer of genuine zaniness. Housefull 5 is madcap all right but its pull-no-punches and respect-no-limits humour works against its own well-being. If that suggests that at least a segment of the franchise's committed constituency will not have 'a jolly good time' watching the antics of a bunch of imposters, intruders, and investigators on a liner that careens into unending chaos. Not one, not two, but three men claiming to be Jolly, the purported inheritor of the dead entrepreneur's fortune, and their 'wives' surface and lay claim to the wealth that Ranjeet Dobriyal (Ranjeet) amassed and is waiting to be inherited by his rightful heir. Jalabuddin alias Jolly (Riteish Deshmukh) appears on the scene in the company of Zara (Sonam Bajwa), followed by Jalbhushan alias Jolly (Abhishek Bachchan) with Sasikala (Jacqueline Fernandez) in tow, and Julius alias Jolly (Akshay Kumar) with Kaanchi (Nargis Fakhri). The guests are welcomed with growing exasperation and confusion by members of Dobriyal's ragtag 'board of directors': Maya (Chitrangada Singh), Bedi (Dino Morea), Dev (Fardeen Khan), the magnate's son from his second wife, and Shiraz (Shreyas Talpade). As the murders multiply and the interlopers run riot, nobody is above suspicion. And as the rigmarole turns wilder and wackier, and sillier and nuttier, the film loses its way completely, giving the audience many an occasion to laugh at the sheer tomfoolery unfolding on the screen. But even as all the baloney balloons out of control and makes a mockery of moviemaking, it is not always difficult to see why the non-stop nonsense might just find enough takers not to ever go out of vogue. If what you see on the screen is not up your street, you could direct your attention to the frequent laboured references that Housefull 5 makes not only to the earlier films of the series that began 15 years ago but also to elements drawn from other contemporaneous lores created around Hindi movies and film star careers. Akshay Kumar's character encounters no end of trouble again with monkeys (as he did in the first Housefull) and a macaw (like in Housefull 4, a film that had little to recommend itself to a discerning audience and yet made a fair amount of money at the box 0ffice). Boman Irani is conspicuous by his absence in Housefull 5 but his Batuk Patel is very much in the mix, with Johny Lever stepping into his shoes in the guise of the cruise ship's loquacious and lax security officer. Nikitin Dheer dons the garb of the ship's burly captain and a nod is duly made to the actor's Chennai Express persona, Thangabali. Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff play the mis-christened Bhiddu and Baba respectively. The crazy cops find their way to the ship to look for the killer on the prowl. An instrumental remix of Nayak nahin khalnayak hoon main number plays on the soundtrack every time Dutt is on the screen. At one point, someone replaces khalnayak with nalayak, which is exactly the word that springs to mind as one tries to process and tide over the film's crude and largely misdirected attempts to tickle our funny bones. And, finally, Nana Patekar, as the Interpol chief, is given all the headroom that he needs to embody his Marathi manoos moorings, with the persistent accompaniment of Fugdi fu blaring away as he appears and sets the cat among the pigeons. Having established his credentials as a man who knows too much and yet not enough, he goes on to teach the men and women on the cruise ship the moves that characterise the folk-dance form. Everybody joins in and seems to be having fun. But what about those that have paid to watch this spectacle of inanity? If only Housefull 5 wasn't so full of unalloyed bilge, it would not have come across as the kind of unbridled celebration of the ludicrous that it does. Let us make no bones: we did not sign up for this. Housefull 5 – this critic has watched only one of the two versions out in the multiplexes – is a defiantly flaky comedy that is undermined by hopelessly flaccid plotting.
