Countless fashion houses all over the world are clamoring to dress up Princess Kate a form of free advertisement for their garments. But one particular London brand, Issa, reveals that the so-called "Kate Effect" does not always mean a good thing, saying that the phenomenon was what drove their business to chaos.
Much like anybody in the British Royal Family, Kate's wardrobe is highly scrutinized and followed. From her knack of wearing her pieces over and over again to her sensible fashion style that effectively mixes high street and luxury brands, people always want to know what or who the Duchess of Cambridge is wearing. Labels, on the other hand, benefits from this unwavering interest which could potentially turn into sales for them.
Unfortunately for Issa, where the sapphire blue wrap dress that Kate wore on her engagement announcement with Prince William is from, has too much publicity to keep up with. The fashion house's founder and designer Daniella Helayel recently sat down with The Daily Mail and got candid how the "Kate-effect" backfired on their brand.
By the time of the engagement announcement in 2010, Issa was already struggling financially. So the free ad from the future queen was a welcomed development. But given their limited resources and the sudden overwhelming interest on the brand was too much to take in. "It was all very exciting. We didn't have a TV at the studio, and this was pre-Instagram, but we soon knew Kate was wearing Issa because at four o'clock the phones began ringing and didn't stop. It was bonkers," Helayel said.
The surprising boom in business prompted the company to reshuffle their personnel which resulted to Camilla Al-Fayed buying some shares and effectively becoming the new President. Interestingly, Al-Fayed is the sister of Dodi Al-Fayed, Princess Diana's last boyfriend and was with her during the unfortunate car crash the took both of their lives in 1997.
"In the beginning it was good-Camilla was very organized. However, in 2012 a new C.E.O. was hired and things started moving in a different direction, which didn't work for me," Helayel continued.Two years after the "Kate Effect" hit Issa, Helayel decided to leave the company. Now, she is gearing up to launch a brand new label called Dhela.
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