I could be wrong, but I don’t expect Meghan Markle to start endorsing British brands. Now that the Duchess is back in Britain, it might seem like the logical next step. After all, British fashion may be about to get something it hasn’t enjoyed in years: the Meghan Effect at close range. And there is an obvious temptation to imagine what comes next.
A Burberry campaign? A lucrative contract with a British luxury house? A brand ambassadorship with Holland Cooper? Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, photographed in some fabulous Cotswolds field with a handbag strategically positioned on an ancient stone wall?
It all sounds so seductive, but I’m not so sure this will be the progression.
And that may be precisely what makes the next chapter of Meghan’s relationship with British fashion so interesting.
Now that King Charles has formally reiterated that the Duchess and her husband, Prince Harry, remain private individuals rather than working royals, all eyes have inevitably turned to their bank accounts. Just how much money might the Sussexes generate with this degree of commercial freedom—and so little “control” from the Royal Family?
In other words, Meghan could enter into fashion partnerships in a way a working royal could not. But could and should are two very different things.
SHE DOESN’T NEED TO SELL THE COAT
Meghan’s power in fashion has traditionally been greatest when nobody was paying her to wear anything.
Remember the original Meghan Effect.
When she wore Welsh label Hiut Denim during a 2018 visit to Cardiff, the company’s founder later told British Vogue that the attention helped create six jobs. Her early royal wardrobe became a parade of British fashion: Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham, Burberry, Mulberry and DeMellier among them. DeMellier’s founder subsequently described the enormous increase in awareness generated by Meghan carrying one of its bags.
No discount QR code required.
That is an extraordinarily valuable position for a woman interested in fashion to occupy.
Why exchange it for #ad?
BRITAIN WILL CHANGE HER WARDROBE
What seems much more likely is that Meghan’s relationship with British fashion will deepen simply because her life has changed.
California Meghan dressed for California. But English-countryside Meghan requires something else.
For one thing, there will be a lot more rain. There will still be school mornings, London lunches and charity visits. But now there will be Cotswolds weekends to dress for. Country dinners to attend. Theatre nights to be seen at. Perhaps even the occasional spectacular black-tie appearance.
And, gloriously, the coats. Let us not forget about the glorious coats.
British Vogue is already fantasizing about the possibilities, proposing everything from Burberry trenches and Scottish cashmere to British shirting and eveningwear by Roksanda and Standing Ground.
The magazine makes essentially the same bet we have been making here at The Marion Chronicles: the interesting question isn’t whether Meghan will reproduce her Montecito wardrobe in England. It’s what Britain will do to Meghan’s style that has been inspiring The Marion Chronicles Community posts these days.
The moment I heard Meghan was returning to England, I jumped into gear. Suddenly there was an entirely new fashion language to imagine. And it seemed immediately apparent that this could be delicious.
Meghan has always understood the language of clothes. Even her wedding gown was deliberately chosen with British talent in mind: although Givenchy is French, designer Clare Waight Keller was British, and the Palace said at the time that Meghan specifically wanted to highlight the achievement of a leading British designer.
That instinct didn’t disappear when she boarded a plane for California. If anything, Meghan’s wardrobe became even more personal, mixing established luxury with female-founded and emerging labels.
ENTER THE COUNTRY-HOUSE DUCHESS
But I don’t want Meghan returning to Britain dressed as though the last six years never happened.
Please, God, spare us the sudden avalanche of tartan.
The exciting possibility is a third Meghan. Not Palace Meghan. Not Montecito Meghan. Cotswolds Meghan.
British tailoring softened by Californian sensuality. Silk against tweed. Beautifully cut trousers with extraordinary knitwear. Long fluid dresses for dinners at home. New silhouettes she might never have reached for in California. A bit of velvet, a bit of denim. A spectacular British coat thrown over something unexpectedly sexy. Heritage pieces worn without looking as though she has been costumed for an episode of Downton Abbey.
That woman could be tremendously valuable to British fashion because she can make heritage look modern.
And she doesn’t need a contract to do it.
In that sense, the most powerful endorsement may be no endorsement at all.
She can buy it. Wear it. Discover a young British designer before the rest of us do. Commission something extraordinary. Sit front row. Walk into a London restaurant wearing a coat nobody was talking about that morning and, by teatime, have everybody asking who made it.
There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about that kind of influence. Before everybody became an ambassador, partner, collaborator or face of something, stylish women simply wore beautiful things. Their patronage mattered precisely because it appeared to be personal.
Meghan is now in the unusual position of having enormous commercial freedom without needing to commercialize every inch of herself.
And perhaps that will be her most interesting relationship with British fashion of all.
Not Meghan for Burberry.
Meghan in Burberry. Because she damn well felt like wearing it.
EDITORIAL & IMAGE CREDITS
This style blog is the editorial creation of Marion T.D. Lewis. Outfits watermarked The Marion Chronicles were conceived and styled by Marion T.D. Lewis and illustrated by ChatGPT.
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Visit The Marion Chronicles https://marionchronicles.com — aspirational living, style and ideas for women over 50.
