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As little girls many of us have heard, "Someday my prince will come," or "You will kiss many frogs before you find your prince." Our imaginary play may have included dressing up as a princess or being rescued by our Prince Charming on a white steed. The movies we watched, such as those created by Disney, often portrayed a young woman, who after a life of hardship, was rescued by a wonderful man...who happened to be...you guessed it, a prince! If a prince was not included in this romantic formula, the idea of somehow someway becoming a princess was almost always included. It seems that our friend across the pond, Kate Middleton, took these messages very seriously.
During the weeks before the wedding, magazines, blogs, and shows were capturing the history of romance between the royal couple and fueling the exciting anticipation of the impending nuptials. Vendors, peddling everything from commemorative pins to bumper stickers, used this golden opportunity to line their pockets. Middleton mania had begun.
Under the watchful eye of the paparazzi, Kate's every move was monitored. Of particular interest to the world were her fashion choices. From the scandalous mesh get-up that she wore in a fashion show to the white bikini she sported on vacation, Middleton's style was under 24-hour scrutiny. This magnified examination eventually shifted to imitation.
Walk through any major department store or view the many shopping channels, and you will find Middleton's influence on the fashion industry. Online stores across the world report the popularity of Middleton's mock royal blue engagement dress. These influences are even found closer to home. Just today, I saw yet another woman wearing a faux sapphire and diamond ring.
So what are the psychological reasons that drive us to buy something that Kate wears? On the most basic level, if we like how something looks on her, it may look good on us, so we buy. Upon further examination, we repeatedly are presented with Kate's choices. We eventually find these items, which are now familiar, more attractive. We then hear that what she has chosen is "elegant" "sophisticated" or "beautiful", we decide that maybe that is indeed true, and we purchase. Then we move to the internal motivations, which require us to examine associations, attributions, and assumptions.
Kate Middleton has now become associated with a glamorous life, if we want a piece of this we can buy something that she has. Through our purchase our outgroup, the Royal family, has become our ingroup.
On an even deeper level, the lure of Kate is that she is much like the rest of us, "common." We can relate to her life even if it has been full of privilege. Upon consideration of her exterior, she is a fresh faced woman that we might see walking down the street. She is attractive, but not so much so that we can't see ourselves in her exterior. Her clothing is sporty and accessible, not fussy and unattainable. She is also likeable, educated, sassy (e.g. taking out "obey" in her vows, telling the world the Prince was "lucky" to be with her), and down-to-earth (e.g. she applied her own makeup on her wedding day). Even with all this "common" ness she was able to marry a prince, and if she can nab a prince, we postulate, so can we. Purchasing her clothing and accessories is a symbolic way of readying the self, specifically our exterior, for a possible fairytale of our own.
Kate's dress choices in the days surrounding her wedding were just the beginning of the influence she will have on the fashion world. Let us hope, with the progressing weeks, that the ripples that she makes in the world extend far beyond the closet.
