Photo: Getty Images
2020
The academy provided all guests at the 2020 BAFTAs—one of the last major events before the pandemic sent the world into lockdown—with a sustainable dressing guide courtesy of the London College of Fashion. The Duchess of Cambridge acknowledged the theme by dipping into her Alexander McQueen archive, choosing to rewear a dress from her 2012 tour of Southeast Asia in honor of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. A custom design by Sarah Burton, its cream fabric is overlaid with a hibiscus flower print—a nod to Malaysia’s national flower, as Kate first wore the dress to meet the country’s own royal family. In terms of jewelry, the Duchess selected a mother-of-pearl necklace and earrings from Van Cleef & Arpels’s Magic Alhambra collection for the night.
Photo: Getty Images
2019
For the 2019 BAFTAs, the Duchess of Cambridge selected a one-shouldered Alexander McQueen gown with floral embellishments. She had appeared in a similar dress in a rose colorway for the then Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday a few months earlier. It’s her jewelry, however, that predictably garnered headlines. Kate chose a pair of drop earrings inherited from Diana, Princess of Wales, featuring diamonds and South Sea pearls. Poignantly, the late royal wore the jewels to her last official engagement—a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997.
