Kate Middleton's Casual Style: How to Dress Like an Off-Duty Duchess

As a big admirer of Kate’s fashion sense, what I think she does really well is she creates “uniforms.”

What I mean by that is she’ll find an outfit combination that works for her, for example, a pussy-bow blouse, a nice pair of tailored trousers, and some sensible heels, and then she’ll recreate that combination with different pieces.

I think this is a fantastic way to approach dressing and fashion - finding basic silhouettes and combinations that work for you, and from there, building on it and switching the pieces out to sort of expand on the look.

1. Culottes

First up, Kate loves a pair of culottes. Culottes are pants that aren’t full length; they normally hit about mid-calf. They’re also quite wide-cut, so they’re not skinny pants.

She’s very smart about this because culottes are very flattering. Normally they come in at the waist, which gives you some waist definition, and they flare out like a skirt would, so they are generally quite flattering pants for multiple body types.

Kate wears culottes in dressed-up situations, but she also wears them casually. And when wearing them in her casual looks, she almost always pairs her favorite pair of white sneakers with them. 

What Kate usually does with this outfit combination is have the culottes and the sneakers, and then she’ll switch out the tops. So sometimes she’ll wear a more traditional button-up blouse and other times a more casual top with the outfit.

One of my favorite outfits that Kate has ever worn is this super casual one with her beige culottes, and white sneakers, and then she has a beautiful Broderie Anglaise white button-down shirt. That Broderie Anglaise brings a really pretty texture to the outfit.

When she wears a casual top with her culottes, she likes to go for a peplum top. A peplum top is when there is a frill around the waist. Again, it is a very flattering top because it draws attention to the waist.

This outfit is pretty easy to recreate. I’ve got on some white culotte pants, white sneakers, and a beautiful black blouse with a small frill peplum at the bottom.

I don’t think the neckline or the bust line of this blouse is something that Kate would wear, but that’s the fun thing about it - you can take inspiration from what Kate’s wearing and sort of tweak it with your own personal style.

2. Coat

The next outfit that is easy to recreate is this casual look that Kate has worn when out shopping, just in her day-to-day life.

She’s gone for a simple pair of blue denim jeans, some classic loafers, popped on a turtleneck, a coat, and her crossbody bag. I love that she’s gone for a blue turtleneck underneath a blue coat.

I’ve recreated this with the items that I have in my closet. I’m a pink girl, so I have a pink turtleneck on under my pink coat, then I’ve gone for some classic black skinny jeans and some black ballet flats (as I don’t own any loafers).

I think that monochrome outfits like this are so chic. When I think of monochrome outfits, I immediately picture head-to-toe in one color. That is really cool and it’s definitely a look, but I love that Kate has gone subtle with the monochrome in this outfit.

The blue turtleneck with the blue coat is simple and really elevates her casual look.

3. Striped top

Kate loves a striped top, and as she should, because horizontal stripes are very flattering and very timeless.

Kate will normally wear a long-sleeved stripe top with a simple pair of jeans and, of course, her white sneakers.

The great thing about an outfit like this is it is just so simple and yet looks very put together, especially if you accessorize it right. Here I’ve added a leather bag and some chic sunnies.

You can also create different looks depending on the striped top that you go for. One option is to go for some big, bold stripes in red or maybe navy; those are both really lovely classic colors.

4. Midi dress

The next casual look of Kates, I like to call her off-duty, going to the Polo match look. Kate is such a big fan of a midi-length dress and they immediately add an air of sophistication. 

Kate also wears a lot of floral and wrap midi-length dresses, and there is no denying that there is something about a midi-length dress that just looks very elegant.

I feel like I am still in the phase of my life where I like to wear a lot of mini-length dresses, and Kate wore a lot of mini-length in her 20s too, but she has matured into wearing longer ones.

To recreate her look, I have this lovely linen dress and paired it with some white strappy sandals that have a small heel. I popped on my favorite pair of sunglasses to finish the look.

Kate Middleton's off-duty style

There we have some different ways you can achieve Kate Middleton’s off-duty looks. She always looks elegant and graceful, just like a Princess should. If you want to see more of Kate’s style, check out this lookbook I made of Duchess-inspired work outfits.