It is perhaps her most candid social media snap since she resurrected her Instagram feed post-Megxit – what appears to be a peek inside her own wardrobe in Montecito!
Clad in a lilac coat, the Duchess of Sussex strikes a full-length mirror selfie pose with Lilibet, four, crouching at her feet, captioned ‘Mama’s little helper’ – a shot topped off with a lovely purple heart emoji.
So what is Meghan trying to whisper to her 4.5million followers with this post? Nothing she ever does is casual or accidental, especially on her highly curated Instagram feed. It must mean something.
Is she trying to be relatable or likeable, given she recently complained about being ‘the most trolled person in the entire world’? Surely not, or she’d be in PJs and pulling a face, not pursing her lips with Armani, Manolo Blahnik and Christian Dior labels proudly on show.
Ignore for a moment the similarity of the Armani jacket hanging up on the right of this image to that she wore in Geneva yesterday at the inauguration of the Lost Screen memorial for children who lost their lives as a result of harm suffered on social media.
No, my money is on Meghan branching out into fashion with her brand, As Ever. Her lifestyle company is, after all, the only account she follows on Instagram.
‘Fashion is something I will explore at a later date,’ she said in an interview last year. ‘Because I do think that’s an interesting space for me.’
That date could be looming ever closer. Eagle-eyed devotees did spot a new sizing chart for T-shirts appearing on her brand’s website, both for adults and kids, last week, although it was swiftly deleted. Was it a tease, or a glitch?
Is this photo of Meghan Markle and her daughter Princess Lilibet a clue that the Duchess of Sussex is launching her own fashion brand?
The Duchess was pictured wearing all-black on Sunday in Geneva, Switzerland, as speculation over her fashion brand plans grew
Should Meghan use her royal fame to launch a fashion brand, or is it exploiting her status?
The Duchess’ spokesman declined to comment. If Meghan really is expanding from the kitchen, and her pricey jams, meandering into her wardrobe era with an As Ever garment collection, what can we expect?
There won’t be tights: we know she wasn’t keen on having to wear those as a working royal, branding the custom ‘inauthentic’.
Stiletto shoes, perhaps? There are two pairs of nigh-on identical black heels by different designers in the forefront of her photo next to the Armani jacket and, of course, several beige lookalikes in the background.
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Speaking of beige, a colour she heavily favoured wearing on her show With Love, Meghan (highly impractical, given how much cooking she was doing) – could she be moving away from neutrals? There is blue, green, red, even orange lurking in her perfectly colour-coded rack.
She has mentioned feeling the need to shy away from bright hues when she was in the Firm so as to not risk the faux-pas of matching ‘more senior members’.
Since then, she hasn’t exactly been a walking rainbow, but maybe she’s still in the process of a metamorphosis and yet to become the multi-coloured butterfly she was always destined to be. Beyond these clues, it’s hard to guess what she might conjure up.
The Duchess is undeniably stylish, so I was a little surprised by the naffness of her actual wardrobe – walnut-hued with chintzy metal handles – but I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. Nor would her own fashion line be.
And what’s with the good old Rolodex on her cabinet? Very Devil Wears Prada; a metaphor for her Anna Wintour-esque orbit of powerful fashion contacts? Or her affirmations in her signature calligraphy? We’ll have to wait and see. Meghan is, as ever, full of surprises.
