The message behind the Duchess of Sussex's sleek post-royal look
The Duchess of Sussex is dressing up again.
Although California is back in lockdown in a bid to tackle a second wave of coronavirus infections, Meghan debuted her most dressed-up look since March when she gave an address via video at the 2020 Girl Up Leadership Summit on Tuesday.
In a significant departure from her lockdown uniform of crisp white and soft chambray shirts, Meghan went for a sleek royal blue look - a savvy choice for the former Suits actress as bold colours and simple silhouettes are always preferable when dressing for the small screen.
The shift-style dress - believed to be a past-season design from Banana Republic - was sleeveless with a high neckline. The clean lines were echoed by smooth, straight hair, which was worn loose, centrally parted, and arranged over her shoulders. Evidently Meghan is one of the many women eager to keep her lockdown locks long.
Tuesday’s appearance followed an outing over the weekend, when she was pictured in Beverly Hills with Prince Harry wearing another clean silhouette - a $76 (£60) cream linen shift dress with asymmetric hemline by Magic Linen, teamed with a £233 Janessa Leone straw hat and Sam Edelman ballet flats.
Together with her penchant for shirting - her favourite is the ‘Husband’ style from best friend Misha Nonoo’s namesake brand - this series of looks makes it clear that Meghan is trying to carve a serious yet sophisticated image for herself.
By wearing clothes that are understated or hard to identify, she’s trying to rise above the fashion conversation in the hope that people will focus on the causes she champions instead.
Of course that’s hard to do if you’re in the public eye and you actually like fashion, and Meghan evidently does. This is a woman who wore a Givenchy couture wedding gown and sought out covetable vintage outerwear by Dior and Courrèges for the final stages of her pregnancy.
Perhaps she should look to the example of Michelle Obama, who, as First Lady, spearheaded important campaigns such as the Let’s Move initiative, which aimed to educate children about fitness and healthy eating, without compromising her personal style. In fact, Obama proved to be a valuable asset to the American fashion industry, launching the career of Jason Wu and buoying sales for the likes of J.Crew.
It’s not that Meghan’s understated look doesn’t suit her - it does - she dresses well and always has, and these classic, uncomplicated silhouettes aren’t going to go out of style any time soon. But it’s a little sad to witness what looks like a stifling of her fashion instincts.
Whether one is into fashion or not, what we wear speaks volumes about how we want the world to see us, and as a high-profile personality, people will talk about Meghan’s clothes no matter what - so why not have a little fun with them and imbue the kind of clever messages she became so adept at as a royal, like her choice to wear a dress by mixed-race designer Grace Wales Bonner when she introduced her son Archie to the world last year?
And yet, her dress was royal blue - a nod, perhaps, to the life in the UK which she and her husband have now left behind, even if the rest of the look was all about establishing a new chapter.
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