But other royals make sartorial slip-ups too
THe first and most important rule of royal dressing is to dress from the inside out. Not, as the Duchess of Sussex has discovered on her trip to Dublin, to find one’s brassiere the talk of the town. While Meghan Markle has adapted very quickly and ( for the most part) very successfully to her new royal role, it could not be further removed from her previous life as an actress. As we can see from her little faux pas in Ireland — where an otherwise beautiful dress was spoilt by an unwise choice of bra — she hasn’t quite mastered the myriad unwritten rules of her new job. As editor-in- chief of Majesty magazine, and a royal biographer, I have observed many young women grapple with the intricacies of dressing as a royal. I watched a nervous Lady Diana Spencer emerge shyly into the spotlight in a see-through skirt, witnessed the Fergie years when even her own father shook his head at some of her outfits and have seen a new generation of younger family members making their own sartorial blunders. For nothing is quite so hard to pull off as looking like a royal. Being a working member of the Royal Family is like dressing for a wedding every day of your life. Revealing the outline of your bra (or any of your undergarments) in public is the ultimate no-no; on no account must any straps or lines be visible. even if you think you have chosen wisely, as Meghan may have done, you must be aware of what might happen when flashbulbs go off. This is something Princess Diana had a very early lesson in when she was photographed on a summer day in 1980, several months before her engagement to Prince Charles, in a simple cotton skirt. Unknown to her, the sun shining behind her rendered her skirt transparent in the photos, much to her embarrassment. Her first evening engagement with Prince Charles also ended in mortification when, stepping out of the Rolls-Royce, her low-cut, black taffeta dress slipped down to reveal an ample — and very unroyal — cleavage.
DIANAvery swiftly learned to dress from the inside out and had an innate sense of style that even Prince Charles remarked on in the early days of their marriage. It meant she very rarely made any similar faux pas.
Nor has the Duchess of Cambridge, an immaculate dresser today, been immune from some uncharacteristic misjudgments in the past. Last year at Royal Ascot, Kate wore an elegant bespoke lace dress by Alexander McQueen which, though it was lined, revealed her lovely legs in silhouette.
A windy day at Calgary Airport in 2011 lifted the hem of her pretty yellow dress and revealed far more leg than the new bride, on her first royal tour, would have wanted. A similar skirt malfunction happened to her when acceping a bouquet at a schools forum in 2013.
That’s the reason the Queen’s dresses always have tiny weights in the hems.
Traditionally, top couturiers have always inserted weights into floaty hems to save blushes. Perhaps that is part of the problem with the younger royals, using young designers who don’t necessarily know the couture ways.
There are surprisingly few concrete rules to royal dressing, more a set of common sense guidelines. Showing a little knee is acceptable, but nothing too short. Just remember Zara inadvertantly flashing her Spanx underwear when she dropped an otherwise elegant curtsey to her grandmother at Royal Ascot a few years ago.
It’s probably advisable not to show shoulders, except in an evening gown. But when you have beautiful ones, the rules become a little more flexible, and I’m sure Her Majesty will not have been offended by Meghan’s penchant for the type of off-the- shoulder dress she wore to Trooping of the Colour last month.
Trousers are also perfectly acceptable for royal sporting events. A sleek trouser- suited Meghan walking around Dublin’s Croke Park stadium may have looked edgy, but it’s no different from a trouser-clad Princess Anne at her beloved Six Nations rugby.
Leather trousers, on the other hand, are never good. The Duchess of York’s father, Major Ronald Ferguson, was most disapproving, saying royal ladies shouldn’t wear leather.
In her younger days there was a lot that poor Fergie shouldn’t have worn. Ruffles, giant polka dots, enough orange taffeta to set sail in . . . she made every fashion mistake in the book. There’s no danger of Meghan following suit.
When it comes to shoes, as long as they are comfortable and you can walk in them, high heels are fine. But Meghan needs to learn that thin high heels don’t work on grass. As for accessories, a clutch handbag is best for slipping under an arm when shaking hands.
Hats are no longer necessary. However, they must be worn in church, and they do play a very useful role preventing hair from blowing in the wind. Long hair is great but, as with skirts, the wind is its enemy, and it is not advisable to be seen constantly peeling off strands from your lipgloss.
Perhaps that is why Meghan has adopted a far more structured look for her locks; there’s something just a little bit Wallis Simpson in her middle-parting, low bun look.
SAvefor a few mistakes, Meghan has adapted very well to dressing for her new role, especially considering that in her previous life she was probably loaned a lot of clothes or simply wore what the role demanded on set. She has not grown up in an aristocratic household with exposure to the etiquette of what, and what not, to wear.
I’m sure she will learn to avoid wearing dark navy in church (as she did in a beautiful Dior number this week) because it looks too close to black, and black should be worn in church only for funerals.
Meghan, who is tiny and slender, wears tight, fitted dresses that really suit her. But her mistake is thinking that because it’s Givenchy or Roland Mouret, it’s going to work. A designer name doesn’t mean that is a given.
Without dressing from the inside out, and thinking what an outfit is going to look like when photographed, it’s easy to make mistakes. In Ireland, it’s possible she simply didn’t have the right bra with her and made the best of it.
But she’s obviously a quick learner, and I very much doubt she will make the same mistake again.