Clik here to view.
£175 dress from high street label Reiss sells out worldwide after Kate is pictured wearing it to meet the Obamas
Reiss, an understated, privately owned British label of 40 years' standing, has been catapulted into the limelight by a new phenomenon in fashion: the Duchess of Cambridge effect.
Within hours of the new duchess being photographed chatting to Michelle Obama at Buckingham Palace this week in a beige bandage-style Shola outfit by the British high street label, the dress – which retails for £175 – had sold out worldwide. Unprecedented traffic caused the website to crash twice before the end of the day.
"I have been in the business for 40 years, and I've never seen anything like this reaction," said founder David Reiss, "and not just in the UK, but overseas".
Profit from sales of the Shola dress are capped by the fact only 1,000 were produced, but "you can't put a monetary value on this kind of brand awareness and excitement. As a brand we've always been understated – maybe even too discreet about who we are. This has given us an incredible platform without straying from who we are as a brand."
The duchess shops at Reiss without prior appointment, paying full price, David Reiss confirmed. "I am sure she would never accept gifts, and we would never offer them." The first inkling the label had of this week's publicity was on Tuesday morning, when buying director Andy Rogers saw on Twitter that Jane Bruton, the editor of Grazia, had posted a link to the dress.
"As soon as the picture came up on the news my assistant recognised the dress. She checked the website and 30 seconds later we had the link up on Twitter," said Bruton.
This is the second time the label has been championed by the duchess. In official engagement portraits taken by Mario Testino she wore a draped cream Nanette dress, bought for £159 from the store's autumn 2010 collection, which fuelled a spike in sales at the label.
This week's effect has been far more dramatic for several reasons. The positive reaction to her Alexander McQueen wedding dress has sent the duchess's fashion stock soaring. The connection with the Obamas, combined with the afterglow of the royal wedding, ensured that this week's photograph was widely broadcast on American media, as well as in Britain. And while the Nanette dress had been bought several months earlier and was no longer available when the engagement photos were released, the Shola dress was still available in stores and on the website when the Duchess wore it this week.
"Kate is the most watchable woman in the world right now," Reiss said. "We've had celebrities wearing our clothes before – Beyoncé wore our leather jacket when she came to London – but nobody else has had an effect like this.
"The royal family is held in respect throughout the world, but [until Kate] there had been no one since Diana who had really won the public's affection. And this week there was the added association with the first lady, which is huge for us in terms of an American audience."
The duchess has shown a preference for the more upmarket end of high street fashion. In the second of her engagement photos she wore a £95 cream blouse by Whistles. This has been welcomed by the fashion industry, in which mid-market retailers are often squeezed out of airspace between the attention-grabbing prices of the value sector and the catwalk theatrics of designer fashion.
"When the headlines are about how Kate impresses the world in a £175 dress, that draws people's attention to the fact that £175 is a good price for a quality product," said Reiss, who believes "a backlash against cheap fashion" is overdue.
"The middle high street brands are having a hard time in the recession," agreed Bruton, "so this is a very positive statement, showcasing a well-priced British brand to a global audience. Michelle Obama did something similar for J Crew in the States. Reiss is very much becoming Kate's fail-safe go-to label. It's obvious that she feels confident in it."
While Reiss basks in the spotlight, ripples of the Duchess effect are being felt by other retailers. When a £165 pair of LK Bennett wedges made an appearance on the Buckingham Palace lawn as part of the duchess's going-away outfit, sales surged.
According to LK Bennett's brand director, Mark Lukas, there is now "an international waiting list" for the updated Maddox style.
Kate Bostock, executive director of general merchandise at Marks & Spencer, reports that sales of wedge shoes increased by 70% in the days following those going-away photos. In fashion, the newly minted princess is already a force to be reckoned with.