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The masses have long been intrigued by royals’ fashion choices, and the royals, in turn, have used their sartorial presentation to establish and manage their reputations in the public eye. In a letter to one of her sons, Queen Victoria, whom a historian once called “the first media monarch,” wrote that what you wear gives “the one outward sign from which people in general can and often do judge upon the inward state of mind and feeling of a person; for this they all see, while the other they cannot.”

The queen knew the public scrutiny her family was always under. Lucy Worsley, the chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, wrote in an email that outside an 18th-century palace, “you’d have found crowds waiting and watching to see the female courtiers arriving for parties — the Georgian equivalent of the red carpet.”

Similar crowds have greeted Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, on her recent royal tour of Canada. But the future queen of England (and the former Kate Middleton) has faced a challenge unknown to her predecessors: She travels in the era of social media, when the reporting on her smiles, waves and outfits extends beyond a contained group of tag-along journalists to a coterie of bloggers who chronicle her life from the vantage of their couches.

They had a lot to occupy them on this most recent trip, one in which the duchess was accompanied not only by her husband, the Duke of Cambridge, but their children, George and Charlotte, both budding fashion stars.

On the eight-day flurry of a trip in late September, the duchess appeared in a mix of high- and low-cost British brands, diplomatically sprinkling in a few Canadian choices, plus looks from Carolina Herrera (Venezuelan-American), See by Chloé (French) and Dolce & Gabbana (Italian).

“I think she’s very much watched by the British fashion industry,” said Sarah Mower, the chief critic for Vogue.com and a member of the British Fashion Council. “We really like it when she wears something from a British designer. It’s fantastic for our exports.”

The Kate trackers were equally as pleased: “Kate Oozes Elegance in Blue Jenny Packham for Canada Arrival” read a headline on “What Kate Wore.” The Vancouver Sun called the duchess’s style “flawless” and a writer for The Huffington Post said: “Kate Middleton’s Canada Royal Visit Outfits Are All the Fall Inspo You Need.”

This week, the Daily Mail attempted to calculate the cost of the duchess’s tour wardrobe, pricing it at 62,000 pounds, or nearly $80,000. (Since some of the duchess’s looks are entirely or partly custom-made, the total can be considered only a loose estimate.)

She opened and closed the tour with bespoke pieces estimated to cost several thousand dollars, designed by Jenny Packham, a favorite of hers, and Catherine Walker, another favorite of the British royal family. An Alexander McQueen dress in the colors of the Canadian flag (about $5,200) appeared on Day 2, and an emerald Dolce & Gabbana dress (about $3,545) came out on Day 4.

During more physically active events, the duchess wore pieces from less costly brands as well, including Topshop, Zara, Smythe, Somerset by Alice Temperley and H & M. “That’s when you see her come alive,” Ms. Mower said, noting that the duchess’s athleticism and her affinity for casual style make her relatable.

“She’s very cleverly navigating her role,” Ms. Mower said. “I think she’s achieving a balance because of the sporty, normal, laughing, active side of it.”

Canada was the theme for Day 5: The duchess wore a coat from the Toronto designer Bojana Sentaler and a pair of earrings by Shelley MacDonald, who has a small boutique in Carcross, a town in the Yukon Territory.

Ms. MacDonald, speaking by phone, said she had no idea the duchess would be wearing an item she had created. “I was looking online to see if my store’s sign made it into any videos or photos,” Ms. MacDonald said. “And then I got a message on my Etsy store.”

After the first request came in, her Etsy page, Facebook and Instagram accounts flooded with orders, giving Ms. MacDonald a taste of “the Kate effect,” the duchess’s ability to cause items of clothing to sell out if she’s photographed wearing them just once. “It doesn’t matter what it is,” Ms. MacDonald said. “People are just buying it.”

Ms. Sentaler, whose coat sold out within hours, said that her office had been contacted by Natasha Archer, who has worked for the royal household since 2007 and is thought to be the duchess’s stylist. “At first, we didn’t know who it was,” Ms. Sentaler said. “I looked up her name online, and after that we put two and two together.”

In a number of her choices, the duchess seemed to take cues from her forebears. According to Ms. Worsley, wearing clothes by British designers and couturiers is a tradition that goes back to Queen Victoria. “She had the lace for her wedding dress made in Dorset, for example, not the more fashionable Brussels,” Ms. Worsley wrote. And when the French designer Christian Dior introduced the New Look in 1947, it was only Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister, who adopted it, because the responsibility of promoting British designers fell more squarely on the queen.

The duchess also stuck primarily to one or two bright colors in each outfit — several times, in nods to the hosts, they were red or cream — a practice followed by Queen Elizabeth II. In a clear visual reference to those who came before her, the duchess appeared multiple times wearing a sparkling maple leaf brooch that was lent to her by Queen Elizabeth II, who inherited it from her mother, who in turn received it as a gift from her husband, King George VI, when she visited Canada in 1939.

There was some speculation that the duchess had had a sort of makeover for the trip, a theory that may have arisen from comparisons to her outfits in India, where she traveled earlier this year (and where she similarly stuck to mostly British designers).

“She certainly looked much better in Canada than India,” Ms. Mower said. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say a makeover.”

She said that the hypothesis may have been sparked by a standout dress from Preen by Thornton Bregazzi that appeared on the royals’ third night in Canada. “I think the Preen dress she wore is the best dress she’s ever worn, apart from her wedding dress,” Ms. Mower said. “It’s stunning.”

“The red dress was perfect for a Canadian reception and yet another reminder of Kate’s excellent fashion choices when honouring her hosts,” a blogger wrote on “What Would Kate Do?”

Ms. Mower also noted several pairs of red heels the duchess trotted out, a departure from the nude pumps she has helped popularize. “The nude pumps have been her thing, which has become so widespread,” Ms. Mower said. “Every woman who goes to a wedding or a family event now wears them. It’s totally British middle of everything.”

She added: “But as soon as she puts on a pair of red shoes, suddenly that looks much more like fashion. That’s a trend that she’ll set running now.”