The dress Duchess Kate wore for the first official family photographs with Prince George sold out within two hours and is now going into reproduction.
Kate posed for her dad's shot in a $72 fuchsia Jolene dress by maternity brand Seraphine with Prince William, their baby Prince George, and dog Lupo. The photographs were taken by Michael Middleton in the garden of her family's home in Bucklebury, England.
Kate has previously worn the same style in a blossom print as well as a Renata polka dot dress and a white Colette maxi skirt by the London label.
“We already felt very honored that she wore a number of our dresses, but to be part of the official family picture was beyond our wildest dream; we were shocked,” Seraphine’s founder Cecile Reinaud told TODAY.com, adding that “we partied late into the night in the office.”
Kate's other dresses sold out quickly, too, spurring the brand’s sales to increase by more than 100 percent in July.
Seraphine has boutiques in West London and is sold through stores in the United States, but Reinald said the “Kate effect” is “really an online and international phenomenon.”
“We see a lot of Americans and Australians interested in buying the dress; people from countries that really love the royal family.”
The short-sleeved fuchsia frock was supposed to be retired for the English winter, but, when the brand's stock sold out within two hours of the photographs’ release on Monday, the brand decided to produce “a couple thousand” more of them.
Besides, “customers would be very angry if they couldn’t get it,” Reinauld said, adding that callers have begged their staff to check harder and see if there aren’t any left.
Those on the pre-order list will have to wait until mid-September to receive their dresses.