There is something wonderfully seductive about the latest images from As Ever that just populated my Gmail.
Upon opening my email from As Ever this morning, I see a bottle of Reserve Brut resting inside an antique silver wine cooler. White flowers spill softly across the table. Elsewhere, sunlight falls across warm bread, strawberries and jewel-coloured preserves. The message accompanying it all is equally inviting: a leisurely weekend brunch calls for a little sparkle.
And can’t we all, despite our chequebooks, enjoy a leisurely weekend?
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has introduced As Ever’s new Napa Valley Reserve Brut, produced using the traditional Méthode Champenoise and sold as a set of three. The official campaign presents it as a wine for lingering mornings, favourite breakfasts and gathering around the table.
But look beyond the bottle.
What I think Meghan is really selling here is an idea—one that resonates powerfully with me and, I suspect, with women like me of a certain age.
I totally get what Meghan is doing with As Ever, and I completely agree: Stop saving the beautiful things for later. Take time for leisure. Use the good glasses because they are for you.
I think many of us were raised to keep certain things “for best.”
The good china remained behind glass. The expensive perfume was used sparingly. The beautiful dress waited for a sufficiently important occasion. The champagne stayed unopened until someone got married, graduated, received a promotion or came home for Christmas.
It makes me think of my maternal grandmother and how she died with chestfuls of clothing, negligees, hats and even shoes that she had saved for best and never worn.
Meanwhile, ordinary life carried on, and I don’t even know what ever happened to all her stuff.
Meghan’s As Ever world turns that thinking on its head. In her hands, celebration does not require a ballroom, a birthday or a monumental achievement. It can be bread and apple butter beside a sunny window. It can be flowers arranged in a basket. It can be brunch at home with someone you love—or even a quiet table set beautifully for yourself.
That last part matters.
Women are often encouraged to create beautiful experiences for everyone else. We cook the meal, remember the birthday, choose the gift, arrange the flowers and make the house welcoming. Yet when it comes to our own pleasure, we can become oddly hesitant.
Is it worth opening the good bottle for just one or two people?
Should we wear the beautiful blouse if we are only going to lunch?
Can we justify buying flowers when nobody is coming over?
Meghan’s answer appears to be: Why on earth not?
And it is precisely this spirit—the belief that women should actively create lives they enjoy—that inspired my Aspirational Life collection.
For Meghan, aspiration Is not the same as extravagance
This is where people sometimes misunderstand aspirational living.
It is not about pretending to be wealthy. It does not require a sprawling California garden, monogrammed linens or an antique silver champagne bucket. It certainly does not mean spending money you do not have.
It is deciding that your life deserves your attention now—not after you lose weight, earn more money, find a partner, move house or finally become the woman you thought you would be by this age.
The As Ever photographs are beautiful because they elevate familiar things: toast, preserves, fruit, flowers and a weekend breakfast. They remind us that the atmosphere of a life is often created through small choices.
So, use the pretty plate.
Put music on while preparing breakfast.
Clear the clutter from one corner of the room.
Take yourself somewhere interesting.
Wear the earrings.
Pour sparkling water into a wine glass if champagne is not your thing.
The object is not the point. The ritual is.
Meghan Has Made Reinvention Look Normal. This may be one of the reasons women over 50 respond so strongly to Meghan. I single them out because, according to my YouTube analytics, more than 80 percent of my viewers are over the age of 45.
I think women of this age respond to Meghan because she has repeatedly refused to accept that one chapter must dictate the rest of her life. Actress, working royal, producer, philanthropist, entrepreneur and lifestyle founder—her public identity continues to evolve.
Not every decision has been universally applauded. That is almost beside the point. Reinvention rarely receives unanimous approval, particularly when it is undertaken by a woman who is expected to remain inside a role chosen for her by other people.
Meghan keeps moving. She experiments. She creates. She revises. She starts again. She takes pieces of her previous life with her while making room for something new.
That is aspiration in its most useful form. It is not dissatisfaction with everything you already possess. It is the belief that your future is still capable of surprising you, and maybe possibly being your best life yet.
And no woman should be asked to surrender that belief because she has reached 50, 60, 70 or beyond, in my opinion. So that is why I created the ASPIRATIONAL LIFE SERIES.
So, What Have You Been Saving?
Perhaps the most important question raised by these lovely images has nothing to do with wine.
What have you been saving for later?
A trip?
A business idea?
A more interesting wardrobe?
A creative project?
A home that feels like you?
The courage to meet new people—or the courage to enjoy your own company?
Maybe your aspiration is not glamorous at all. Perhaps you want a calmer life, a healthier body, more financial independence or a bedroom with a door you can close.
Sometimes we know exactly what we want. At other times, we only know that the life we are living no longer feels large enough.
That feeling is not ingratitude.
It is information.
Your Next Chapter Needs More Than a Toast
A glass of something sparkling can mark a new beginning. But creating an aspirational life requires us to go a little deeper.
It asks us to identify what is working, what no longer fits and what we secretly want—even when the answer feels impractical, embarrassing or overdue. And we see it in the recent move Harry and Meghan made by relocating to UK from Montecito. They identified what no longer fit, and made an adjustment.
They are a very inspiring couple and as I have said, it is because of Meghan that I created The Aspirational Blueprint, a collection that includes an interactive questionnaire, an e-book, a paperback and a companion journal. Each was designed to help women get unstuck, recognise what they genuinely want and begin creating lives that feel more purposeful, pleasurable and entirely their own.
My Aspirational Life Journal https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HHTHYHBJ gives those thoughts somewhere private to live. It is a place to imagine, question, plan and notice the desires that keep returning. The Aspirational Life e-book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HHTHYHBJ also comes in a paperback version https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HHRYZKRK
The Aspirational Blueprint interactive questionnaire offers a more guided experience, helping women turn those reflections into a personal blueprint for what comes next.
Aspiration should not remain a beautiful picture on a screen. It should eventually become Tuesday morning. The room you wake up in. The work you undertake. The people you allow near you. The way you dress, spend, rest, travel, create and care for yourself.
Designed by Marion T.D. Lewis
Images by ChatGPT and As Ever
visit my website for women over 50 at https://marionchronicles.com
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