It's not rare for a girl to indulge in some retail therapy when she's feeling down. So perhaps with Prince William still on his six-week deployment to the Falkland Islands , leaving Catherine alone for Valentine's Day , the duchess went shopping for a new dress.

On Tuesday morning Kate Middleton wore an Orla Kiely patterned frock, paired with suede ankle booties (a style preferred by her sister, Pippa ), to Rose Hill Primary School, where she visited a charity called The Art Room. One of the causes of which she is a patron, The Art Room uses art therapy to help young people with emotional and behavioral difficulties.

Some of these British youngsters were on hand to greet the princess, who stepped out of the car and into the frigid weather with nothing but a thin coatdress and tights, as she did for her first solo engagement earlier this month . Today she chose a brown print dress by Orla Kiely, a "high street" name whose lighthearted printed wares can be found at Anthropologie .

But good luck finding the dress, made with the brand's Birdie jacquard fabric, in stores or online. Already the coatdress, on sale for about $383, is "out of stock" on OrlaKiely.com . Anyone surprised?

Kate's shoes, on the other hand, aren't a new style set to fly off the shelves. The Duchess of Cambridge wore the same Aquatalia by Marvin K booties almost exactly a year ago when she and Prince William christened a boat at the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station at Anglesey , where the pair resides.

We liked 'em then and we like 'em now. Check out Kate on yet another solo trip -- do you like this brown birdie-print dress and the ankle boots?