To say it’s an eclectic mix is an understatement. The sculptural, asymmetric cut of the Carolina Herrera dress looks formal and dramatic, as though it should belong at a ball, rather than in the grassy garden that serves as the shoot’s location. The Jason Wu dress, meanwhile, with its billowing skirts and abstract pink and white print, looks to have been chosen to convey the sort of softness and playfulness which her critics accuse her of lacking. “Find me a print that looks like candyfloss,” you can imagine her saying. Frankly, it’s a wonder Meghan didn’t just wear a fairy costume or a kitten onesie.
Having recently favoured the sort of corporate, stealth wealth wardrobe that wouldn’t look out of place on Succession – power shoulders, tailored trousers and expensive blouses in emphatic colours such as black, white, navy and red – Meghan is now sending a different message through her clothes, one that suggests the same friendly, unimposing personality that is echoed in her interview. It’s why she mentioned how she and Harry love going for drive thru’ burgers and eating giant chocolate cookies. “I think that what happens, looking in from the outside, when there is this much noise, is that you become dehumanised,” she says, adding that she hopes her Archetypes podcast will help people see her as a “real person”.
If the shoot is an attempt to appear like the girl next door, Meghan may be underestimating the cynicism of the British public. Alas, it will take more than lying on her stomach with her legs kicking in the air for her detractors to believe that the duchess is as “soft and playful” as she is at pains to rebrand herself as being in her accompanying interview. Nonetheless, she gets a gold star for effort, and for conveying the same “nice warmth” that she says she enjoyed with the Queen.
