Although the Princess of Wales was forced to miss her friend Lady Melissa Percy's wedding with Thomas van Straubenzee in 2013, while she was pregnant with her eldest child, Prince George, her sister Pippa Middleton made a glamorous appearance.
Pictured arriving at St Michael's Parish Church in Alnwick, Pippa showcased a more risque style than we're used to seeing her wear today.
While she's become an international style muse for her ethereal midi dresses and her low-key British Sloane Ranger aesthetic, Carole and Michael Middleton's daughter had previously leaned into fashion trends. For her 2013 wedding guest look, she put an elegant spin on the bandage, bodycon dress that defined the era by adding a peplum detail that highlighted her svelte waist.
© PA Images via Getty ImagesHer white, knee-length dress was made wedding-appropriate thanks to its black paint-splash pattern. Completing her look, Pippa wore her hair in an effortless low ponytail and accessorised with a black fascinator, classic ebony heels and a small clutch bag.
Night out fashion
© GettyPippa's fashion has long been a subject of interest, after news broke that her sister Kate was dating Prince William.
Not only was the world suddenly interested in where the potential future queen was shopping, but also in what brands her seemingly more playful younger sister was endorsing. Nothing was more exciting than the rare photos of the sisters enjoying a midnight roller disco in London in 2004, where Pippa wore a sequin dress, or her yellow mini dress for a solo outing in 2009.
Interest piqued at the royal wedding in 2011, where Pippa acted as a bridesmaid in a figure-skimming white Alexander McQueen dress that was designed to "just blend in", but had the opposite effect.
© GettyPrince William's humble sister-in-law later told Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show: "We saw it as just a family wedding. We all took on the roles as any family would. Even walking through the Abbey, I didn't see the TV cameras, so to me it was just performing in front of a lot of people, not necessarily the whole world."
Speaking of the focus on her bridesmaid dress, she added: "It was completely unexpected. The plan was not for it to be a significant dress and to just blend in with the train."
Shedding the image
© Getty ImagesPippa went on to marry James Matthews in 2017 and now remains largely out of the spotlight with their three children, Arthur, born in 2018, Grace, born in 2021, and Rose, born in 2022.
But it wasn't easy to shed her wrongfully labelled "party girl" image, she confessed. "People see me as someone privileged who has used my position to advantage; that I don't really work, that I am a socialite - that word really irritates me - and that I'm a party girl without any substance," she told the Daily Mail.
"I have had a few years of being in the public eye and I have developed something of a thick skin. But managing it all on my own has been quite hard."
