Vivienne Westwood: Kate Middleton Has A Problem With Eye Makeup

Just when we thought the entire world had fallen head-over-heels in love with the Duchess of Cambridge, Vivienne Westwood lets us know that she, for one, is not a fan.

As the Telegraph reported, the Sunday Times Magazine sat down with the British designer for an extensive interview, in which Westwood held nothing back.

She says that Catherine's fashion sense, which she initially deemed undeserving of a Vivienne Westwood wedding dress, "might be improving."

But it's not there yet. "It seems to me," the 70-year-old fashion icon stated, "that her image is 'ordinary woman.' Therefore, high-street shopper. And I just think she should be an extraordinary woman, wherever she gets her clothes from."

And her makeup is still hopeless:

"I think she's got a problem with eye make-up! The sharp line around her eyes makes her look hard. Either she should be smudgy or wear none."

Westwood hasn't been aboard the Kate Middleton train for some time now, telling the Telegraph back in February, "I have to wait until [Kate] kind of catches up a bit somewhere with style."

Westwood may be the most high-profile to condemn the Duchess' beauty choices, but she's certainly not the first.

After Ms. Middleton famously did her own wedding day makeup, beauty critics around the web threw in their two cents. The Daily Mail wasn't a fan of her excessive eyeliner, while the Telegraph thought her mascara to be heavy-handed.

Meanwhile, the blog Red Carpet Fashion Awards was critical of it all:

You tend to look flawless in full-length snapshots--but sadly the close-up headshots give away your dirty little secret: you're heavy-handed. That blush! That eyeliner! The horror! (Shame no one has the heart--or balls--to tell you.)

At least the slender Duchess of Cambridge can assuredly avoid another Westwood critique; the designer also told the Sunday Times Magazine, "I think you look a lot better if you are thin."

Well, thank goodness for that.

Read the rest at the Sunday Times Magazine, with subscription.

Comments

[relevancematters]

09:32 AM on 09/22/2011

All of us with deep-set eyes have problems with eye makeup. The standard is wide-eyed, with lots of lid. When you have eyes like that, you can smoke and smudge them and get the required effect. When you don't, you use liner, or your eyes disappear--especially in front of a camera. Miss Westwood has deplorable manners.

[marylou93063]

08:11 AM on 09/22/2011

refreshing young woman-

[marylou93063]

08:10 AM on 09/22/2011

Shut your mouth and leave Kate alone. She is a lovely freshing young woman.

[scholasticus]

10:13 PM on 09/21/2011

Raggedy Ann gives advice.

[jaynes]

03:57 AM on 08/27/2011

kate is a bore

[mawoff]

12:43 AM on 08/12/2011

Kate is gorgeous. I don't care what anyone says. William made the best choice. They are the perfect couple and I wish him a beautiful family and happiness. Enough with the catty comments. Some people are never happy. Especially when THEY are ugly!

[janedoe31]

09:14 AM on 08/11/2011

Kate is not a beauty queen....she is very pretty, but hardly beautiful (and that includes her sister Pipa). the media likes to shove & sell their opinion down our throats and eventually people start believe it if they hear it often enough.

Kate has a fresh look about her...very clean and natural, great smile. She is understated and which is a good thing. She is just at the learning stage in her new position...so I am sure we will see her find her comfort zone soon enough.

[ABXNOMORE]

01:24 PM on 08/12/2011

An objective voice of wisdom. So well said.

[Darek77]

05:50 PM on 08/20/2011

This is so true ! anyway westwood making great clothes
http://www.jfashion.co.uk/Vivienne-Westwood-84b.html

[LuluRose]

04:14 AM on 08/11/2011

Oh puh-lease, Westwood. She's fine. She throws on clothes and they look nice. I'm sure they're clean. And I like that her makeup makes her look "hard" because she probably is. I hope she burns that eyeliner with a lighter before applying it. She'd probably rather be mucking through fields and rowing crew with her hubby, than teetering around in a pleather corset and 30 - foot train made of styrofoam cups. She does what she wants. Good for her.

[Pasavo22]

11:14 PM on 08/10/2011

I have only seen Kate once in person and that was at a charity event up by Santa Barbara where William played polo and we had lunch and had a chance to meet Kate and William and chat etc. I found Kate to be extremely attactive and completely charming. She is thinner than I thought she would be but still I found her to be very attractive. They were fans of my music so we actually did have something to talk about, other than, "How are you enjoying Southern California?"

Her makeup looked fine to me!

[detailz1]

10:52 PM on 08/10/2011

All in all, there is only one opinion of her that really matters and he both proposed to her and married her! End of story!

[Liberal Independent]

05:00 PM on 08/11/2011

So true! However, the eyeliner could be a little more understated. Someone up-thread, LuluRose, mentioned it gave her a "hard" look, and I agree.

[peacekitten]

09:39 PM on 08/11/2011

she could stand to soften up her makeup a bit, because it really doesn't do her justice.  hopefully, she'll learn.

[mamacat]

10:03 PM on 08/10/2011

I can think of a lot of uncomplimentary things to say about the Duke and Duchess, but I do think that she is beautiful. No problem with the eye makeup.

[ZeroCoke]

10:39 PM on 08/10/2011

why did you even bother with such an empty compliment?

[KathyinCT]

11:49 PM on 08/10/2011

Maybe she was just trying to be civil.

try it -- you might like it!

[chedet]

09:18 PM on 08/10/2011

It's her face, let her put her makeup however she likes it. I don't think her makeup is bad. I don't understand these fashion people trying to impose their opinions on people.

[chedet]

09:14 PM on 08/10/2011

So what if Kate looks like ordinary women? That endears her to me more.

[goldengirl43]

09:05 PM on 08/10/2011

Get the impression these Brit fashion mavens just don't like the fact that Kate isn't one of their "blue-bloods".

[CynAnne]

08:55 PM on 08/10/2011

I prefer to use less eyeliner myself (especially in the day-time)...and black is the harshest color to use in the a.m. -maybe Kate should try browns and darker gray for the mornings. And her eyes are beautiful, no matter what liner she chooses. :)