Bethan Holt is the “fashion news and features director at The Telegraph,” and she’s written a new book about the Duchess of Cambridge and her evolving style. While I rarely admit this, Kate’s style has evolved from the cuter sportswear and inexpensive party dresses she wore as a single woman, to the first years of her royal life when she didn’t know what she was doing sartorially, to the pregnancy years where she was cosplaying her late mother-in-law a lot, to the current version, where she’s cosplaying Meghan a lot. Her clothing has gotten much more expensive, and much of Kate’s style can and should be viewed through the prism of “who is she copying and cosplaying these days.” Bethan Holt doesn’t say it that way, of course. Holt gave an exclusive interview to Vanity Fair about Kate’s style and what goes into putting together Kate’s wardrobe. Some highlights:

The Issa engagement dress: “Would any dress have had the same effect? No. There was something about the Issa. It made Kate look glamorous yet respectful; she wasn’t trying to seem more mature than she was, but nor did the dress depict her as a slave to fashion.”

Kate’s glam team: “She’s found this circle of people that she obviously really trusts. If you go to anyone in that inner circle they don’t want to talk about their relationship with her because it is quite a sacred thing.”

Holt claims that Kate’s wardrobe is nearly entirely composed from off-the-rack outfits from high-street brands. “Diana was often telling a story with her clothes, and she had a big evolution of her own personal life. Whereas the queen, the whole point of her is to remain basically the same. The public mood now is much less towards wanting royals that are very distant in their palaces. People want to be able to relate, and I think the royals realize that clothing is a way that they can do it.”

What Kate no longer wears: “It feels like a gradual change, but there are certain things she no longer wears. She doesn’t wear those big wedges anymore, perhaps because it’s more of a younger thing or doesn’t look quite as current. She has started wearing many more trousers, which lots of women, when they become more professional and confident in themselves, experiment with. She’s adding in interesting new things that signal she’s getting a bit older, a bit more sophisticated, and a bit more senior. Like any of us, we hope in our careers that we become more senior as we get older. She’s becoming more senior in her career as a princess.

The snoozefest India tour: “I also think it’s the scrutiny that these outfits are under, and I’m sure they read some of the feedback as well. One of the outfits that I really remember from that India trip was a £50 dress from a brand called Glamorous, and it looked like the kind of thing that you could have bought at a market in India. But obviously it was from a British brand. Because it was very inexpensive, thus possibly not with the best labor standards, there was a bit of an uneasy feeling about that. She was always really good, on that India trip, at incorporating Indian patterns, but I think the whole conversation in fashion moved on. We talk about cultural appropriation so much more in fashion now. it’s called out a lot more, which is a really good thing…. By wearing pieces designed by Pakistani designers, it was a very safe bet that actually looked very brilliant.

Kate’s stylists half-ass their job too: “I interviewed the owner of the boutique where they source a lot of the clothes, and the trip was in October, but the owner of the boutique only heard from Natasha [Archer, Kate’s assistant] in September. It was a really quick turnaround. When I interviewed Anita [Dongre, a Mumbai-based designer], she said, “It was just those few weeks, and it was such a rush working on it constantly.” I had always thought that these things were really planned far in advance!… They’re kind of like swans, aren’t they? They just make everything look so easy while they’re scrambling to pull a wardrobe together.

How Kate will dress when she’s Queen: “It probably depends on when it is, but when you think back, she has a lot of these plain block-colored dresses. Most of them were made by Emilia Wickstead, and there’s a lavender one that she’s worn quite a few times. The one I’m thinking about recently hasn’t been identified, but it was a blue dress that she wore to meet the Ukrainian ambassador in London in October. What you can see coming through is this very defined silhouette, kind of taking a lesson from the queen, who has that colorful coat that she wears. Kate you can see doing it with a nipped-waist, knee-length dress in a block color. I can imagine her having a whole wardrobe of those, which she wheels out for different occasions.

[From Vanity Fair]

I feel like there’s some shady stuff in here, or at least “accidentally revealing the truth” stuff. “Nor did the dress depict her as a slave to fashion…” is particularly weird because Holt is trying to say that Kate is the biggest style influencer in the world or whatever, while simultaneously arguing that the silky Issa dress was not, in fact, all that stylish. And the stuff about how Kate’s style team is only planning ahead by a few weeks – lord, they’re as lazy as Kate. And Kate only began wearing proper trousers when Meghan did it. For those keeping track, Kate veers wildly between cosplaying Jecca Craig, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth, Carole Middleton and Meghan. She just adds buttons and doily lace to everything and there we go! Oh, and Kate’s wardrobe is half High Street and half bespoke designer now.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.