From a £3,000 Hermes bomber jacket to £195 Joan of Arctic boots, how Meghan hit the slopes with rich mom energy
GETTING dressed is a minefield these days. Not only do you have to worry about whether your clothes are in fashion, there’s also increasing pressure to worry about their provenance.
Are they from the High Street? If so, you could be guilty of abetting fast fashion. Where is your jewellery from? Those precious stones had better be ethically sourced, or you’ll be in trouble with the fashion police.
No one knows this better than Meghan, the queen of carefully coded outfits. While she was in Whistler, Canada, to support Prince Harry’s preparations for next year’s Invictus Games in the town, no sooner had she touched down than, for fashion watchers around the world, the ‘label games’ began.
Out of the hundreds — nay, thousands — of snow boots Meghan could have worn, she chose a £195 pair of Joan Of Arctic boots by Sorel. Coincidence, or subliminal way of aligning herself with the martyred saint, put to the stake by representatives of an english king?
Like Joan, Meghan is known by several names, has a distinctive and much commented-upon look, and has been tried — at least in the court of public imagination — for many perceived crimes against the Royal Family.
Most visitors to a ski resort would see an all-white outfit as impractical, but not Meghan, who teamed said boots with a £600 ivory cashmere crew neck from Los Angeles-based label Co; £200 white skinny jeans from Frame; and a quilted, cream, down-filled jacket by Calvin Klein worth £234.
To this, she added a black Burberry cashmere beanie hat with a pom pom — in faux fur, of course. It was a cosy, girl-next-door look that harked back to the clothes she wore when she and Harry first started dating. (Let’s not forget their first outing as a couple was at the 2017 Invictus Games.)
Was this meant to suggest they’re as madly in love as they were then? That Meghan is still the same Meghan — albeit with a Duchess of Montecito makeover that includes a £44,000 Whistler wardrobe?
Hence the jewellery — ethical, of course. Alongside the Cartier Tank
Francaise watch that once belonged to Princess Diana, she wore a diamond ring from Shiffon, a jewellery firm that helps support businesses that empower women via its Startup Girl Foundation.
That evening, on Valentine’s Day no less, Meghan donned a £4,600 cherry-red coat by every stealth wealth fan’s favourite label, Loro Piana, teamed with a matching red cross-body bag worth £1,700 from Valentino.
Romantic gifts from Prince Harry? We’ll never know — but they certainly beat a dozen red roses.
The Loro Piana coat was part of an odyssey of outerwear through which Meghan showed off the ‘rich
mom energy’ that befits her Montecito lifestyle.
She could have saved herself thousands by going to Mountain Warehouse, but no: back on the slopes, she paired a £3,000 navy Hermes puffer jacket with £155 jeans by La Ligne and a £44 Aritzia cashmere beanie. even her phone case is by Bottega Veneta, with a price tag of £199.
Later that night, she donned a £ 1,890 belted cream coat by
Toronto-based brand Sentaler. Let’s hope her date, Prince Harry, appreciated the soft alpaca wool from which it was made. Alpaca wool is marketed as cruelty-free, as the animals roam freely in their natural habitat, and are sheared in summer to prevent heat stroke.
The next day, she was seen in a £1,068 alpaca cape by the same label, this time in dark camel. It was worn with riding boots from Co worth £950, despite there being nary a horse in sight, and her outfit was lent even more of an equestrian feel by long Max Mara gloves.
For her final look, Meghan pulled out all the ethical stops in a £1,300 Oseph gown by Greta Constantine
featuring her favourite off-shoulder, asymmetric neckline. Like the Princess of Wales, the Duchess loves to support female designers.
Nor was its ‘army green’ colour an accident, given that it was worn for the One Year To Go Invictus dinner, an event that honours the resilience and camaraderie of the troops.
As a final flourish, she added a £12,569 diamond tennis necklace by Logan Hollowell. But these weren’t just any diamonds: these were labcreated diamonds whose conscience was as clean as a newborn babe’s.
It was the perfect end to a pitchperfect series of looks. Her stylist, if she has one, deserves an (ethically sourced) gold medal.
‘Queen of carefully coded outfits’