Duchess Camilla in Bruce Oldfield, dripping in diamonds: lovely or dowdy?

Here are some photos of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall last night in London. They attended the British Asian Trust gala/reception at the Natural History Museum. The event seems pretty well-attended with local British celebrities like Leona Lewis, Simon Cowell, Sanjeev Bhaskar and more.

Camilla wore this Bruce Oldfield gown which… I didn’t like very much at first glance, mostly because I thought the design was a tacky black-lace-on-navy-satin. But after looking more closely at the dress, you can tell it’s actually two shades of blue, one a midnight blue lace overlay, then a lighter blue for the sateen-looking base. I think the midnight blue overlay has black beading, which is throwing it all off. All in all, this is not a great look for Camilla though. It ages her, it looks incredibly dated and ‘80s, and it does nothing for her figure. It actually makes her look much heavier. I honestly think I could style Camilla so she would look age-appropriate but not so dowdy, you know? Something nice: I really like Camilla’s diamonds at this event. The necklace is fabulous and she’s wearing a truly beautiful pair of dangling diamond earrings. You can see more photos from the event here.

Meanwhile, there’s been a lot of talk this week about Charles’ very profitable hobby: painting. Charles has been painting for decades, and his own works decorate many of his homes. He also sells many of his works at auctions, with the profits going to various charities or The Prince’s Trust. In the past 19 years, his paintings have fetched more than $2.8 million in total. Some people did not know about Charles’ artistic hobby before now, but I watched a documentary about that estate he saved (in Scotland, I think) and how he turned the estate into an artists’ colony for new and emerging talents. In the newly-renovated estate, Charles decorated with some of his own watercolors, and the young artists were actually quite impressed with them. Oh, and Charles passed down his hobby to his youngest: Harry is a painter too, and he loves to paint scenes from his African travels.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.