By Chiara Atik
Six months have passed, but the royal wedding is still setting trends. This time it's not Duchess Kate's lace Alexander McQueen wedding gown that's inspiring soon-to-be brides, but rather the angora knit bolero she wore at the evening wedding reception.
Middleton wore the bolero over her Alexander McQueen evening gown, her second wedding outfit of the day. The dress was probably sleeveless, but was never photographed without the 3/4-cropped sweater. At the time, the choice may have seemed overly demure, but now that the weather is turning colder, winter brides (and their wedding helpers) are rushing to copy the look, including stylist Clare Mukherjee, who wrote about the phenomenon for the Huffington Post.
"[I was faced with] the onslaught of requests for angora boleros from my brides-to-be," Mukherjee wrote. "I had to ask myself the dreaded question, do they even exist?!"
Women who once may have opted for jackets and wraps now desperately want a soft bolero to be a stylish and practical way to make sleeveless dresses work in cooler weather.
"We're always looking for visual inspiration," says TODAY style correspondent Bobbie Thomas. "For brides who want a practical way to keep warm or covered for other reasons, Kate was a model example of how to wear a shrug in a modern way."
U.K. retail store Monsoon has a similar angora bolero, which, according to customers who reviewed it on the site, is "very Kate Middleton." USA brides who wish to appropriate Middleton's look get the Monsoon version shipped for around $60, plus $15 in shipping. It's not exactly cheap -- but looking like a princess rarely is.
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