Sometimes the universe has a delicious sense of timing.
On the very day that MEGHAN: A Cotswolds Style Capsule — Imagining the Duchess’ Time in England made its debut on Amazon, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, appeared in the English countryside with her friend Kelly Zajfen.
And there she was — our American duchess, quite literally peeking out from the heather. Hello Magazine recently published an article, Inside Meghan Markle’s A-list Cotswolds hangouts as she settles into UK life with Prince Harry detailing all the local haunts Meghan has been seen at. They include The Falkland Arms, SoHo Farmhouse and The Three Horseshoes, Asthall. Funnily enough, in A Cotswolds Style Capsule, the latter was one of the venues we mentioned. Can’t say I’d ever heard of the Falkland Arms, though.
For those of us at The Marion Chronicles, the timing of this sighting was almost too perfect.
For months, we have been imagining Meghan back in England through the particular lens of the Cotswolds: the landscape, the clothes, the country houses, the market towns, the muddy paths, the beautiful pubs and that wonderfully English art of dressing as though one has made absolutely no effort at all.
And then, on publication day, Meghan herself pops up amid the English countryside.
You couldn’t have scripted it better.
The Cotswolds Have Always Been Part of Meghan’s English Story
Long before Montecito, Meghan and Harry had their own chapter in the English countryside.
The Cotswolds represented something quite different from palace life. It was a place where one could imagine the newly married couple building something quieter and more personal: dogs, boots, friends, fires, country lunches and weekends that belonged to them rather than to the institution surrounding them.
That atmosphere became the starting point for MEGHAN: A Cotswolds Style Capsule.
Fyi: This isn’t a book claiming to document Meghan’s actual Cotswolds wardrobe. It is an imagined fashion capsule inspired by Meghan Markle’s fashion, her American sensibility and the very particular visual language of English country life.
What might Meghan wear for an afternoon in Stow-on-the-Wold?
For lunch in the countryside?
For a farmers’ market?
For a long walk followed by a pub?
Or for one of those September mornings when England is not quite summer and not yet autumn, and velvet suddenly feels possible again?
Those questions became a book.
Meghan Markle’s Fashion — With a Cotswolds Accent
The clothes in the capsule aren’t costumes. Some may be more formal than Meghan might actually wear in her everyday. For example, each time we have seen her, her attire was very laid back, down to earth American girl and not really all that English countryside influencer girl, if that makes sense; and that is important because neither I nor Meghan herself is interested in her copy pasting or cosplaying English countrywoman style verbatim. We are interested in Meghan, the American Duchess having an experience in the English countryside, and the clothes that conceivably might go with that. Certainly, one iteration of many possibilities.
This isn’t Meghan suddenly becoming a parody of an English country lady because she happens to be standing near a field of sunflowers, especially because such as scene is universal and not endemic to England. Surely there are sunflower fields in Montecito as well. But you get the point. No one is trying to cosplay here.
Instead, I wanted to imagine what happens when Meghan Markle’s fashion — polished, American, feminine, modern and occasionally unexpected — encounters tweed, suede, velvet, corduroy and a very good pair of boots, while admitting that she can encounter all of the above in America as well.
The result is part fashion book, part visual story and part invitation to play with your own wardrobe.
And for women over 50 in particular, that matters to me. For us women of a certain age, style doesn’t have to become smaller as we get older. Neither does imagination. Neither does the pleasure of looking at a beautiful coat and thinking, I could do something with that. And that is the overarching point of this book. Great style is universal.
You Don’t Have to Be a Meghan Fan to Enjoy this book
I also want to say something clearly about MEGHAN: A Cotswolds Style Capsule.
Everyone is invited.
You don’t have to follow every chapter of the Sussex story. You don’t have to have an opinion about the Royal Family. You certainly don’t have to agree with me about Meghan.
You can simply like clothes.
You can love the Cotswolds.
You can be interested in American women interpreting British style.
You can be a woman over 50 looking for a little inspiration for your own next chapter.
Or perhaps you simply enjoy opening a beautiful little book and disappearing somewhere lovely for a while.
That is enough.
Because beneath the Meghan story, this book is really about something I return to again and again at The Marion Chronicles: the aspirational life.
Not aspiration as perfection.
Aspiration as possibility.
A different coat. A different town. A different way of seeing yourself. A willingness to imagine that there may still be beautiful things ahead.
The Book Is Now on Amazon
MEGHAN: A Cotswolds Style Capsule — Imagining the Duchess’ Time in England is now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback and hardcover. A Cotswolds Style Capsule: Imagining the Duchess’s Time in England: Lewis, Marion T.D.: 9798176072303: Amazon.com: Books
The front matter and several sample chapters are also available to preview, so you can step inside the book before deciding whether it belongs on your shelf.
I think it makes a wonderful Christmas gift.
For a Meghan fan. For a fashion lover. For a woman who dreams about England. For someone beginning a new chapter.
Or for yourself.
No occasion necessary.