Princess Leonor wearing a blazer by Sézane (EUROPA PRESS) and Kate Middleton wearing a Temple of Heaven blazer by Cassandra Goad (GETTY IMAGES)

The 2024 Princess of Asturias Awards have put the finishing touch to a very important year in which the figure of Felipe VI has begun to be left behind and Princess Leonor has been crowned as the master of ceremonies of the event. On October 25, all eyes were focused on the heir to the throne while she broadcast her speech and occupied a new position relieved by her father: from now on she will be in charge of closing the event.

However, the most analyzed of the evening was undoubtedly its styling. In a year in which the granddaughter of Juan Carlos I has dressed in her new Navy uniform thanks to her second military training course at the Naval Academy of Marín, every time she wears street clothes she is analyzed to the millimeter. However, the team that has been most praised by the foreign press has been chosen for its getaway to the Exemplary Town of Asturias 2024.

King Felipe VI; the Infanta Sofía; Princess Leonor, and Queen Letizia, during the award ceremony for the ‘Exemplary Town of Asturias 2024, on October 26, 2024. (Xuan Cueto / Europa Press)

The town of Sotres received the House of H.M. the King last Saturday; and for the date, its members opted for much more informative looks than those chosen the day before. While Leonor wore a navy blue suit with tuxedo-like lapels during the awards ceremony, the next day she could be seen wearing an oversized plaid style jacket from the firm Sézane, and which is priced at 170 euros. Something that has not gone unnoticed by the German media Bunte, which has echoed and has gone so far as to compare the daughter of Felipe VI with Kate Middleton.

Paired with straight-cut jeans, a black wool sweater and boots with track soles, the Princess of Asturias has been praised in the article ‘Goodbye glamour! The family opts for casual clothes’. In it, they emphasize the style of the blazer of this French brand, which has also become a wardrobe staple for Prince William’s wife.

Will Plaid Jacket Edinburgh (SÉZANE)

“Leonor wore a dark T-shirt and a plaid wool jacket on top. The grey model from the French brand Sézane will surely be familiar to Kate as well; after all, the Princess of Wales likes to wear clothes from this fashion brand,” said Bunte. In addition, they have shown that the fashion style of the princess of the United Kingdom and Spain is quite similar in terms of designs and signatures.

Sézane’s controversy with the Mexican Indians

The French firm Sézane faced one of its worst reputation crises in recent years in 2022. It all happened when they hired an elderly Zapotec indigenous woman for one of their advertising campaigns. The woman could be seen in a video, recorded in Oaxaca, wearing a green vest and being photographed by young French people, some of them laughing and without masks. After this, Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkin begins to play and the old woman is invited to dance.

This behavior was denounced by activist Manuela Cortés, who highlighted the problem suffered by the indigenous community regarding the exploitation of their symbols and the appropriation of their culture by international brands. After being supported by the Mexican government and organizations such as the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) and the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), the founder of Sézane, Morgane Sézalory, ended up apologizing through Instagram: “I want to express my deepest apologies for my mistakes.”