"Kate effect"

Princess Kate triggers hype around Viennese designer

The "Kate effect" has struck again! Everyone wants the Princess of Wales' brown blazer - and it was creatively penned by an Austrian designer.(Bild: APA/AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Princess Kate has done it again! The wife of Prince William has lived up to her reputation as "Fashion Queen" and has created a real hype around the Vienna-based designer Petar Petrov.

Earlier this week, Kate visited the National Portrait Gallery in London with a school class. But while the Princess of Wales had a lot of fun with the children, her fans were mainly looking at her outfit.

Blazer sells out in a flash
Kate wore gray fabric trousers with a pinstripe pattern and a dark gray turtleneck sweater that day. But it was the chocolate-brown blazer in particular that fashion fans loved.

Princess Kate wore a blazer by designer Petar Petrov at the beginning of the week - and triggered a real fashion hype!(Bild: APA/AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Within a few hours, the piece called "The Founder" by designer Petar Petrov, which is available for 1390 euros, was sold out.

But Kate fans are in luck: many sizes are now available again in the online store!

"Wonderful surprise"
"It was a wonderful surprise to see Kate Middleton in our blazer," said a delighted Petar Petrov, who was born in Ukraine, grew up in Bulgaria and came to Vienna at the end of the 1990s to study, where he now lives and works, in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper. 

"We are particularly fascinated by how her understated styling has attracted so much attention - proof that less is sometimes more," Petrov continued.

Princess Kate visited the National Portrait Gallery in London with a school class on Tuesday.(Bild: APA/AFP/JUSTIN TALLIS)

A spokesperson for the designer also confirmed to the Daily Mail that they were delighted to see the great interest in the piece from the fall/winter collection after Kate's appearance and had therefore restocked the blazer in several sizes.

Kate celebrated as a "fashion icon"
Kate had already caused a similar stir with her looks in the past. British media eventually gave this phenomenon the resounding name "Kate effect". 

Kate's cool business look was also the number one topic online. Royal fans raved about Kate's status as a "fashion icon". "The 'Kate effect' is only getting bigger with time," cheered one fan, while another enthusiastically revealed that it actually "only took two hours" for Petar Petrov's blazer to sell out.

Focus more on themes, not fashion
The palace had repeatedly released details of Kate's outfits in the past. However, with the Princess of Wales gradually returning to work after her cancer and chemotherapy, this is now set to come to an end. 

A palace source told the Sunday Times just a few days ago that they are now more concerned than ever that the focus of Kate's appearances is on the "issues, the people", not what the 43-year-old is wearing.