Kate Middleton’s baby bump is dressed up in baby-blue Emilia Wickstead

Kate Middleton’s busy week continues with her third engagement in almost as many days. The Duchess of Cambridge attended a reception at the National Portrait Gallery for The Art Room, a charity that helps young people increase their self-esteem through art, of which Kate is a patron. Meaning: Kate made another speech, saying that she is a “firm believer in the power of art to make a difference.”

Style-wise, today’s outfit was certainly one of the most layer-free looks we’ve seen on the Duchess since she announced her pregnancy. Kate wore a sleeveless pale-blue dress by Emilia Wickstead, which had enough structure in its empire waist to provide some baby bump camouflage. (Question: Do you think the choice to wear pale-blue is a subliminal hint at Baby Cambridge’s sex?) Kate matched the soft colour of the dress with dove-grey suede Rupert Sanderson heels and accessorized with pale-blue drop earrings.

Today’s look also included a different approach to hair and makeup. While Kate Middleton does favour half-up hairstyles, the pulled back pieces were criss-crossed at the back for an almost-braided effect. Kate’s makeup had an added burst of colour with a pretty pink swipe of blush and it could just be the colour of her dress reflecting, but in some pictures it looks as though her eyeshadow has a blue tinge to it. How veryon-trend for spring, Kate!

Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textileindustry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true haute couture house in Paris. The Haute house was the name established by government for the fashion houses that met the standards of industry. They have to adhere to standards such as: keeping at least 20 employees engaged in making the clothes, showing two collections per year at fashion shows, and presenting a certain number of patterns to costumers.

The fashion industry is a product of the modern age. Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at fixed prices.