Meghan Markle's outfit worn during bombshell Oprah interview named Dress of the Year
The outfit worn by Meghan Markle during her televised sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey last year has been named Dress of the Year 2021.
Markle has worn some memorable dresses in her time, but few are more instantly recognisable than the black, Giorgio Armani garment she wore during that bombshell interview with the TV host alongside her husband Prince Harry.
The duchess wore a long, black triple silk georgette dress with plunging neckline, lotus flower embroidery and waist cinching belt from Giorgio Armani’s Spring/Summer 2022 Cruise Collection.
At the time the royal was pregnant with her second child, Lilibet, now eight months, and the dress perfectly flattered her growing bump.
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And now it has won a pretty impressive award, being selected as Bath Fashion Museum’s Dress of the Year for 2021, with a version of the Giorgio Armani dress going on display as the final item in the museum's headline exhibition, A History Of Fashion In 100 Objects.
The museum's accolade is annually selected by a leading industry authority who selects a dress which captures the past year's mood in terms of fashion and culture.
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This year, Dazed magazine's editor in chief, Ibrahim Kamara, and art director, Gareth Wrighton, were the deciding duo to bestow the award, having seen their Dress of Hope selected as Dress of the Year 2020.
"In today's hyper-stylised pop culture, the Dress of the Year now has the potential to also be 'meme of the year' and we both latched upon Meghan and Harry's now iconic interview with Oprah as the definitive anti-establishment moment that will forever endure in the British collective consciousness," the duo said in a statement.
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"Meghan's wrap dress by Armani, worn to showcase a divine pregnancy, framed the duchess in black against the bountiful landscaping of Tyler Perry's Hollywood garden. This look now, through sheer association with a viral television moment, is firmly ingrained in our pop culture psyche," they added.
Members of the royal family often use outfits to send a message through their choice of style, colour or motif and the Duchess of Sussex is no exception.
The museum's press release noted that the lotus flower design may have been chosen because of the flower's "symbolic association with rebirth, self-regeneration and spiritual enlightenment, and its ability to flourish despite seemingly challenging conditions."
Rosemary Harden, fashion museum manager, believes the dress will be a fabulous addition to the Fashion Museum collection.
"There are moments in history that are all about the dress and Meghan’s interview with Oprah was just such an occasion," she said.
"The softly structured Armani dress with beautiful appliquéd lotus flower motif was part of a carefully curated look, guaranteed to send messages, and to imprint itself in our consciousness time and time again.
"Thank you to Ibrahim and Gareth for this landmark selection for the Dress of the Year Collection, and to Armani for most generously gifting the dress to the museum.”
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Councillor Dine Romero, cabinet member for children and young people, communities and culture at Bath & North East Somerset Council, added: “We’re delighted that this iconic dress will be added to the Fashion Museum collection to represent a key moment of 2021.
"We look forward to seeing it on display at the Museum, where local residents and visitors will be able to admire it up-close.”
While she may have scooped the Dress of the Year award, Meghan Markle was recently pipped to the post by the Duchess of Cambridge, for another fashion accolade.
Yep it was Markle's sister-in-law Kate Middleton who has recently been voted most stylish royal, according to fans.
The hair experts at Longevita recently conducted a study that analyses the number of Google searches each female royal received in one month, concluded that Kate is the most-searched royal when it comes to her style.
Markle did however, come in second place, with 9,600+ searches.
