:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-110168649-86de2cc3ffb14edaa84f639ddeee8140.jpg)
It’s the kind of story that feels like a fever dream now. Picture a damp March evening in 2002 at the St Andrews Bay Hotel in Scotland. A young, relatively unknown student named Catherine Middleton is backstage, about to walk a runway. She isn’t wearing a tiara or a Catherine Walker coat dress. Instead, she’s about to step out in a sheer, knitted slip that cost roughly £30 to make.
Fast forward to today, and that moment is cemented in history as the "big bang" of the modern British monarchy. People talk about Kate Middleton in the fashion show like it was a choreographed PR move, but the reality was a lot more chaotic. It was a student-run charity event called "Don’t Walk," and the "dress" wasn't even supposed to be a dress.
The Slip Dress That Changed Everything
Honestly, the garment itself was barely a garment. Designed by Charlotte Todd, a fashion student at the University of the West of England, the piece was actually intended to be a skirt. It was part of a project titled "The Art of Seduction"—which, in hindsight, is almost too on-the-nose.
Kate, being a good sport and apparently having a bit of a daring streak, decided to pull the skirt up over her bust. She wore it with a bandeau bikini and some very 2000s-era tight curls.
Why the Front Row Mattered
Prince William was there. He’d paid £200 for a front-row seat. At the time, they were just friends—flatmates, even—who hung out in the same social circles. But when Kate hit that runway, something shifted.
💡 You might also like: Is Randy Parton Still Alive? What Really Happened to Dolly’s Brother
Legend has it (and by legend, I mean reports from fellow students like Pat Duncan and Ben Duncan who were actually there) that William leaned over to his friend Fergus Boyd and whispered, "Wow, Kate’s hot."
It sounds like a line from a teen movie.
But it worked. That night at the after-party, the vibe between them allegedly turned romantic for the first time. It was the moment the "friend zone" was officially vacated.
Kate Middleton in the Fashion Show: Myths vs. Reality
There is a lot of revisionist history floating around about this night. Some people think it was a professional fashion show. It wasn't. It was the St Andrews University Charity Fashion Show, a scrappy, high-energy event run by undergraduates to raise money for local causes.
📖 Related: Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper: The Affair That Nearly Broke Hollywood
- The Price Tag: The dress didn't cost a fortune. Charlotte Todd spent about £30 on the materials. In 2011, however, that same piece of fabric sold at auction for a staggering £78,000 (roughly $125,000 at the time).
- The "Modesty" Factor: You’ll often hear that the palace tried to scrub these photos from the internet. While they definitely preferred her later, more "regal" looks, the fashion show photos are some of the most widely published images of her pre-royal life. They are a reminder that she was once just a 19-year-old girl having fun at uni.
- The Design: It wasn't "see-through" by accident. It was a sheer, knitted mesh. Kate knew exactly what she was wearing. It was a bold move for someone who was often described as quiet or shy by her classmates.
Beyond the Runway: A Subtle Evolution
If you look at the trajectory of her style, you can see how Kate Middleton in the fashion show served as a weird sort of catalyst. She went from that sheer slip to being the woman who crashed the Reiss website because she wore their "Shola" dress to meet the Obamas.
She hasn't walked a runway since she became a royal, but she basically turned every sidewalk into one. The "Kate Effect" is a very real economic phenomenon where brands see a 100% sell-out rate the second she steps out in their clothes.
What Kate Thinks About It Now
She’s actually a pretty good sport about the whole thing. In 2012, while attending a dinner for St Andrews, she chatted with some current students and joked, "I hope you weren't involved in the fashion show. You never know what you are going to be asked to wear!"
She knows the photo is out there. She knows it’s part of the lore.
👉 See also: What Really Happened With the Death of John Candy: A Legacy of Laughter and Heartbreak
Lessons from the Catwalk
If there’s an actionable takeaway from the story of Kate Middleton in the fashion show, it’s about the power of a single moment of confidence.
- Take the risk: Kate wasn't a professional model, but she owned that runway. That confidence is what actually caught William's eye, not just the outfit.
- Invest in the story, not the price: The dress was cheap, but the context made it priceless.
- Embrace the "glow-up": Everyone has an "awkward" or overly-experimental phase. Most of us just don't have ours auctioned for £78,000 later.
To really understand her style today, you have to look back at that night in 2002. It was the last time she was truly "just Kate" before becoming the most photographed woman in the world.
If you're looking to channel a bit of that St Andrews energy (perhaps without the sheer mesh), start by finding pieces that make you feel genuinely confident regardless of the "royal" rules. Look into the history of student-led charity events at your own alma mater—you might find they carry more weight than you think.
Finally, if you ever find yourself in a position where you're "just friends" with a Prince, maybe consider signing up for the local fashion show. You never know.