Kate Middleton just wore the most surprising designer

We’re loving her new look

kate middleton

We’re loving her new look

The Duchess of Cambridge is a big champion of UK designers, sporting their outfits whenever she has an official engagement.

She wore an Alexander McQueen dress to her sister Pippa’s wedding, and a Temperley London gown to a National Portrait Gallery fundraiser.

Heck, she’s even a fan of the high street, wearing £45 Monsoon wedges and Superga trainers on a regular basis.

So we were a bit taken aback when she wore this surprising designer for a visit to the V&A exhibition in London.

You see, there’s nothing more British than that museum, however in a drastic departure from her usual go-to designers, Kate opted for a Gucci dress.

That’s right, the bold Italian luxury house behind Emma Stone and Katy Perry’s yellow floral dress.

kate middleton gucci

Rex Features

Shop now: Tweed dress with Web for £1790 from Gucci

Now the Duchess did opt for one of the more demure designs, a pretty tweed dress embellished with gold buttons and Gucci's signature blue and red trim - which is still available to buy FYI.

She accessorised it simply with a red clutch bag and black pumps and we love it. A new look for Kate? Watch this space...

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.