Ladies and gentlemen, she’s back. Care to admit it or not, this is the Jubilee moment that fashion fans have been waiting for: Meghan Markle’s royal return.
Day one gave us just a frustrating hint of what she had in store. Her jaunty Stephen Jones hat and Shiffon Co. Duet Pinky Rings (spied as she playfully shushed some of the junior royals) were typical MM. She has always been a master of classic with a twist style.
Today, however, we saw the full might of Meghan on show. At this morning’s Platinum Jubilee thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Duchess of Sussex wore an haute couture look by Dior: a crisp trench coat dress, spiky heels and tilted straw hat (designed for Dior by Stephen Jones). The gloves were an impeccable touch.
This look was a pitch perfect tutorial in the power of simplicity. Devoid of fuss and faff there were nevertheless thoughtful, sleek design details that keen fashion observers would note: the bracelet-length sleeves, the gently oversized club collar, the storm flap at the back. All in all, it spelled self-assuredness, confidence. It was the definition of modern luxury.
That she wore Dior is a bit of an Easter egg for royal style watchers. No longer a working royal, she can express more autonomy in what she wears and has been freed from the implicit obligation to wear British designers, as Princess Diana was before her. Dior was a favourite of post-divorce Diana, so much so that the Lady Dior bag was named after her. Today, at the storied French maison creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri has made feminism integral to her vision (see her ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ T-shirts). There’s natural synergy for Meghan.
The St. Paul’s outfit also plays into the 1%-er look she has leaned into more and more since decamping for Montecito. For starters, it is haute couture, the most elite of the fashion world - in terms of both access and price tag. And what could be more 1% than white, a colour which takes staff, private travel, limitless dry cleaning budget to keep pristine? It’s a colour she has returned to again and again recently, from the Brandon Maxwell blazer she wore to the Invictus Games to the white Valentino mini dress worn on-stage for Global Citizen Live. And it seems almost too obvious to point out that it also signifies purity, innocence. Meghan in red or black would have been an easy tabloid target.
Since she joined the royal family Meghan has consistently proposed a look that is painstakingly appropriate but streamlined enough to feel modern. Post Megxit, however, she occupies a space that is both insider and outsider. She is now a top-rank royal living in California, a business woman but no longer a working member of the ‘firm’. She is living, and dressing, to please herself - and it suits her.