Duchess Kate will attend the 2018 BAFTAs, but will she wear all-black for Time’s Up?
February 9, 2018
In 2016, people were really mad at Prince William. William had, at that point, been BAFTA president for six years. And he had only made it to the BAFTAs once at that point in his presidency. In 2016, he skipped the BAFTAs for the second year in a row. I remember one of the times he skipped, he and Kate managed to get away for a luxurious Mustique vacation, fly back into London in time for BAFTA weekend, and yet neither of them showed their faces for any of the events, including the annual pre-BAFTA dinner held AT KENSINGTON PALACE. Like, William would have just had to walk a few yards to do an event and he was too lazy to do that. There were calls for Work-Shy Will to give up the honorary BAFTA presidency to someone who would – at the very least – show up for the British Academy’s biggest night.
Magically, just when the criticism of William and Kate’s work-shy ways was reaching a crescendo, they begrudgingly announced they would attend the 2017 BAFTAs. William had to make a pissy issue out of inviting Kate as his date – like, there were “concerns” that the Duchess of Doily Dresses would steal the thunder of all of the nominated actresses. In the end, Kate wore a boring and twee McQueen dress and no thunder was stolen. Will and Kate also skipped the pre-BAFTA dinner at the palace AGAIN last year, which even the American trade papers noted as “odd.”
Now we’re in a brand new year and William and Kate have some competition. Not any old competition either – an American actress is joining the family! So of course Will and Kate were extra-keen to confirm that OF COURSE they will attend this year’s BAFTAs, held on February 18th. I can’t believe the BAFTA president is going to attend the BAFTAs two years in a row! It’s a work-shy miracle! In any case, this year’s drama is about whether Kate will attempt to wear all-black, because apparently Time’s Up has asked BAFTA attendees to do another “blackout” like they did at the Golden Globes.
Picking an outfit for Bafta is difficult enough for any woman. The Duchess of Cambridge will this year face a trickier dilemma than ever: to make a political statement in black or risk being the only woman in the room wearing colour. The Duchess, who will attend this year’s Bafta ceremony with the Duke, will be left in a diplomatic minefield, as actresses prepare to wear black dresses in support of the Time’s Up movement.
A letter circulated to female nominees urges them to follow the example of the Golden Globes, to leave a room full of women in all-black as a “strong, unifying and simple statement”.
The Duchess, who wore a patterned black evening gown to the ceremony last year, is not in the habit of public protest, in keeping with the Royal Family’s policy of avoiding anything which could be construed as a political statement. Kensington Palace last night declined to comment on the Duchess’ decision, ahead of the ceremony on February 18th.
Considering Kate has issues choosing the right color story for particular events – #NeverForget the hot pink coat at the 9/11 Memorial – I would say she’ll probably take pains to NOT wear black this time. Wearing color will have the added bonus of making her stand out in a sea of black, which is what she wants anyway. My prediction: she’ll wear a new, customized/bespoke Jenny Packham with a lot of lace. It will either be in light blue or cream. And she’ll probably drop $20K on it and never wear it again.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN.
