It didn’t take long for the world to realise just how much of a style-setter Princess Charlotte would prove to be. Within minutes of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge appearing on the steps of the Lindo Wing with their 10-hour-old daughter a year ago tomorrow, the makers of the £68 shawl she was draped in were flooded with requests from parents eager to purchase a similar style. “It was within a few minutes we noticed on our website that the shawl was starting to sell," Gillian Taylor, director at the Nottingham-based company G.H. Hurt & Sons recalls of that iconic day, which saw 100,000 people visit their website from over 183 countries. “We sold a lot initially in America, Australia, Canada and are still selling some now.”

Although we have only seen the Princess a handful of times since in carefully stage-managed official portraits, each has provoked a similar reaction amongst retailers. Such is the so-called ‘Princess Charlotte effect’ that experts at Brand Finance have predicted that she’ll be worth more than £3 billion to the UK economy across her lifetime.

For the brands the Duchess of Cambridge chooses to dress her little girl in the impact is immediate and tangible. “Princess Charlotte wearing two of our floral dresses has had a huge impact on our brand,” Margarita Pato, who started Spanish childrenswear label M&H with her mother and brother tells The Telegraph. “It’s especially important for medium sized brands like us - we only have five stores in Spain.” Whilst the dresses Charlotte appeared in were already sold out when the pictures broke (“we only offer ten per store of each dress otherwise all the girls will be in the same outfit”), the halo effect has left the brand planning to launch an ecommerce site which will ship to the UK, Europe and the USA.

Kate is clearly at pains to minimise the frenzy that surrounds each picture of Princess Charlotte. She’s dressed her daughter in near-identical outfits - those M&H floral dresses with pink cardigans - in three of the seven times she’s been seen. But a poll released last week claimed that 1 in every 5 parents say they consider Princess Charlotte to be a major style icon for their children - and the shopping statistics back it up. After the image of Princess Charlotte wearing pink booties on a family skiing holiday was released in March, kids retailer My1styears.com experienced a 97% increase in sales of a similar style. “Demand for items Princess Charlotte wears will surge massively on our site,” explains a representative from online childrenswear shop Alex and Alexa. “We saw an increase in customers searching for pale pink cardigans and floral dresses after the first shots of Princess Charlotte were released last year and this grew again after the release this month of the adorable shot of The Queen with her grandchildren.”

In the last public photograph of Princess Charlotte ahead of her first birthday - sitting on the knee of Great Granny to celebrate The Queen’s own special birthday - it’s telling that she paired her M&H dress with a cardigan by another Spanish label, Pepa & Co. "We had a huge uplift in traffic to our website following the release of the Royal portraits and we have almost sold out of this particular style from that season," explains founder of Pepa & Co, Pepa Gonzalez. "The royals have not only created demand in England for this traditional Spanish style, but around the world. I have received an order from South Korea!"

Prince George and his famous sister have been dressed in predominantly Spanish childrenswear labels, including Amaia Kids and Fina Ejerique. Although this has largely been credited to the fact the children's nanny Turrion Borrallo is from Palencia in Northern Spain, it’s perhaps also because the classic Spanish childrenswear aesthetic suits the Royal family.

“Culturally the Spanish have always dressed children up at the weekends in a very classical fashion; traditional Sunday best styles and beautiful fabrics without a hint of fad or trend,” editor-in-chief of Smallish Magazine Estelle Lee says of the newfound interest in Spanish childrenswear amongst the UK’s elite parents. “Here, there seems to be a backlash against the vulgarity of dressing children as mini-mes, in eye-watering designer wear that can only be dry cleaned. So recently there has been an influx of brands importing the Spanish aesthetic: tasteful, keeping childrenswear simple and age appropriate. Parents want to keep their children looking as though they've just tumbled out of Enid Blytons faraway tree. Which is exactly as it should be.”

Gonzalez - who started a South Kensington based kidswear boutique specialising in Spanish labels - agrees. “We believe the Duchess of Cambridge is drawn to Spanish childrenswear because of their elegant and slightly more formal yet timeless design," she tells The Telegraph. "The style is much more classic for children with peter Pan collar shirts, soft colours, floral prints. We keep the essence of timeless clothing for children and enjoy seeing our children look like children." Spanish childrenswear also tends to be more affordable than designer kidswear labels, which is likely an important factor for the Duchess of Cambridge who has been careful to wear attainable, high street brands. The most expensive dress at M&H is a purse-friendly £22.

And whilst some might feel the Spanish retro style is making the little Royals appear old-fashioned, British luxury childrenswear designer Rachel Riley explains it’s more about an appropriate formality. “In the stamp portrait the Queen is wearing a formal dress and Charles and William are wearing suits, so it’s appropriate for Prince George, even though he’s two, to wear a formal outfit,” she says. “Shorts and a shirt is appropriate for his age - he wouldn’t wear a mini suit and he wouldn’t wear anything too casual because everyone else is looking formal.”

So if we had to make a prediction about what Princess Charlotte will be wearing in the official portrait of her released tomorrow on her first birthday? Something Spanish, retro in feel - and guaranteed to sell-out.

source: telegraph