Kate Middleton poses for British Vogue

International Desk: The British edition of Vogue celebrated its centenary issue with something of a royal coup Saturday, revealing it had landed the Duchess of Cambridge’s first-ever magazine cover shoot. The magazine’s June issues features seven new photographs of the 34-year-old royal taken by British photographer Josh Olins in January in the Norfolk countryside where the Cambridges live.

 

The striking pictures are the result of a unique collaboration between the magazine and Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, which will display two of the portraits in its exhibition Vogue 100: A Century of Style. A keen photographer herself, the duchess is patron of the National Portrait Gallery and will view the exhibition on Wednesday.

 

By choosing British Vogue for her first-ever cover Kate is following in famous footsteps. Princess Diana famously graced the cover of the magazine four times. Her final cover, taken by photographer Patrick Demarchelier, was in 1997, the year of her death. Another Vogue cover shot of the late princess in black and white and wearing a tiara, also taken by Demarchelier, features in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition as well.

 

Kate’s cover shoot is set to be equally memorable. Styled by one of the magazine’s senior style directors Lucinda Chambers, Olins’s shoot captured the duchess at her most natural. Smiling radiantly and with minimal makeup, she looks entirely at ease in the Norfolk countryside.

 

“This was the duchess’s first sitting for a magazine and she was a joy to work with, a natural,” said Olins, who was chosen by the magazine, the National Portrait Gallery, and Kensington Palace. The British-born, New York-based photographer works regularly for Vogue and has shot campaigns for leading fashion houses including Calvin Klein and Louis Vuitton.

 

A source at the magazine said that Kate worked closely with the editor and style director on the shoot eschewing glamour for country chic when it came to the wardrobe. On the cover she is seen wearing a Burberry trench coat and a £293 white jacquard shirt by the same fashion house. The fetching green hat, provided by the fashion team, is by vintage store Beyond Retro. In another of the series of pictures Kate is photographed resting against a wooden gate in front of a stone farm building in a pair of Burberry £695 stretch boot cut trousers and a £35 striped black and red jersey top by Petit Bateau. The picture was the last to be taken during the day.

 

According to Alexandra Shulman, the magazine’s editor in chief, who was on the shoot: “The Duchess watched how Josh worked with the light and asked a lot of questions. It was her choice to shoot that picture where she is leaning over the gate because the late afternoon sun was particularly beautiful.”

 

In the picture the couple’s Landrover Defender can just be seen. While William’s security team drives a fleet of luxury Discovery Landrovers the Duchess prefers to drive around in the less-conspicuous Defender.

 

Shulman said that the shoot took place all day, “in a field somewhere down several tracks. There were some farm buildings available for the crew and to use as a dressing room. We were very lucky with the weather and had bright sun for most of the time.”

 

According to a spokesman at Kensington Palace, Wednesday will be “the first time” Kate has seen the images suggesting she did not have final approval over the portfolio of images which do not appear to have been heavily airbrushed.

 

Source: Agencies

 

risingbd/Dhaka/May 01, 2016/A K Azad