Duchess of Cambridge floral mask prompts face covering to sell out

Kate's first official outing in Amaia mask leads to spike in ditsy print' search

• Coronavirus - latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anything the Duchess of Cambridge wears sells out. In the past week the so-called Kate effect" was put to public health use when she was photographed, for the first time, wearing a face mask.

The 15 mask, from the London-based childrenswear brand Amaia, swiftly sold out, while the digital fashion aggregator Lyst reported a 185% spike in searches for floral", liberty print" and ditsy print" face masks within 24 hours.