Kate in Purple Issa Dress

Back to Issa for Kate. The purple dress she wore to a concert in Ottowa last night, was very similar to the navy dress worn back in November at her engagement announcement.

photos via Daily Mail

Let's start with the positives. I'm giving Kate a big gold star for wearing something other than white or navy (or a combination of both). Purple is a really flattering color and she certainly is glowing. Kate chose black accessories - on the whole I'm glad because it would have been very bad if she tried to go all matchy with purple accessories. Very, very bad. That being said, this ensemble is a perfect example of why it would be so much more fun and interesting for all of us if Kate understood how to accessorize. The beauty of these Issa dresses is that they are so simple and sophisticated and BEG to accessorize interestingly - a strappy shoe, a chunky bracelet, a statement necklace. She is a young, beautiful woman who accessorizes like a woman twice her age. Observe:

Now, I realize Olivia Palermo is probably the most stylish person on the planet, but who better to turn to for inspiration? Maybe Kate just feels she needs to be super conservative, and maybe she does need to be. Perhaps being more interesting would open her up to too much criticism. Playing it safe means everyone can just say - "She looks nice" or "She looks beautiful", because she does. She just doesn't look very interesting.