Kate Middleton’s love affair with the high street

Despite her Duchess of Cambridge title, Kate Middleton‘s a self-confessed bargain hunter.

Sure, she might wear designer labels like Issa and Temperley, but she’s also a sucker for the high street. Favouring classic stores like Reiss, Whistles and LK Bennett alongside more fashion forward options like Zara and Warehouse – where she shopped for her honeymoon a few weeks ago – Kate’s style is something us ordinary folk can totally relate to.

How much of an impact, then, does she have on the sales of her favourite stores and pieces? Let’s do a little digging.

When Kate wore her off-white Nannette wrap dress from Reiss in her official engagement photos, the retailer rushed to reissue its AW09 dress just one month later, such was the hysteria surrounding the style. Naturally, it sold out again almost immediately.

Similarly, when Kate wore her Whistles blouse for her engagement photos – y’know, the other ones – the store re-released it at £30 more than it was originally priced in 2008, only for it to sell out in record time.

But Kate’s style doesn’t just impact on the pieces she owns and wears – it impacts on any piece remotely similar to something she’s worn.

Take her Burberry trench coat, for example. The princess stepped out rocking one of the British label’s iconic cover-ups in the rain back in February this year, and women the world over went crazy to get their hands on a similar design. George at Asda reported its online sales of classic camel macs to rise by 300% following Kate’s appearance – and that’s just a supermarket store.

So what are we saying? If you’re a high street store and Kate wears you, you’re sorted. Sometimes it pays to be a princess.