The Duchess of Cambridge's smart attire at the Remembrance ceremony at the Cenotaph this past weekend sparked a Twitter debate among royal bloggers, royal reporters and royal watchers. This time, they weren't discussing what Catherine was wearing. Instead they were arguing about whether they should be discussing her clothes on such a solemn occasion.
The controversy was apparently ignited when multifaceted blogger Heaven, who runs several royal fashion blogs (including
Swedish Royal Fashion and
Princess Marie's Closet), quickly tweeted an identification for Catherine's coat and then dashed off to church. As she later shared, she then received a very unkind (putting it mildly) direct message for having focused on fashion while the solemn ceremony honoring war heroes was still taking place.
There are dozens and dozens of royal fashion bloggers (and hundreds of general fashion bloggers) who work to identify what someone is wearing, regardless of when or where the high-profile person is wearing it. In the case of royal coverage, I have seen many Twitter conversations between royal reporters and royal photographers asking royal bloggers to provide information about an outfit. This is especially true when the respective royal household has not provided such information, as is frequently the case.
On this occasion, however, a rather routine Tweet became a lightning rod. Many accused Heaven of being insensitive to the occasion while some even questioned her own patriotism. Others stood up for her both as a blogger and as a fellow human being. A few even jokingly wondered what Kate will wear to her own funeral.
There are thousands, perhaps millions, of blog readers out there who want to know every detail of every royal outfit. Bloggers like Heaven have a wide range of resources and personal knowledge that fill these readers' demands. Other readers out there could care less to distinguish between a new chartreuse gown or an altered kelly green gown.
Is it always appropriate to talk about fashion when our royal ladies are trying to direct our attention to issues like mental health, child abuse, homelessness, etc.? Perhaps not, but is it harmful? Is it deserving of scorn? Certainly not. In this blogger's opinion, we should all focus on maintaining a civil and supportive community.
When even the wildly popular Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog felt compelled today to remind readers of "The Windsors at Remembrance Ceremonies" post that this blog openly states that it is "frivolous," I think that the conversation has crossed the bounds. Fortunately, most of the readers responded with their usual light-hearted, conversational comments and no one seemed to be upset about discussing coats instead of casualties.
Royal fashion bloggers will blog about fashion. Whenever. Wherever. They are providing a desired service not only to their readers but also to those professional journalists who get paid to follow the royals around. If you don't like what they write, don't read them. If you don't like what they tweet, don't follow them. There are plenty of other royal blogs out there to spend your time with, but stop with the snarky, rude or nasty comments.
As my college class president once said, "It's mean to be mean." So, just be nice, okay?
Now, go enjoy some royal blogs....
