It felt like we didn’t even see the Duchess of Sussex for several months there, but that was because she was sort of hiding her pregnancy. She was seen, just not below her shoulders. It’s my hope that now that the Sussexes have confirmed their pregnancy and the Sussexit has been formalized in every way, that we’ll start seeing more of them. Like, I would 100% be into more Zoom calls (which get released publicly) and some virtual appearances and speeches. Maybe this is the start of something: Meghan and Harry filmed a short little appearance as part of Spotify’s Stream On virtual hype conference. Meghan wore the $3,490 Oscar de la Renta Citrus Primavera Peplum Hem Dress for the appearance. The dress isn’t my favorite, but I enjoy her styling and she looks cute as hell.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are making their first appearance after two major announcements. After sharing on Valentine’s Day that they are expecting their second child and Buckingham Palace’s confirmation last week that the couple won’t return as working members of the royal family, Meghan and Harry made a surprise appearance at Spotify’s Stream On event on Monday. The couple appeared on their couch in their Santa Barbara, California, home to talk about Archewell Audio, the production company they formed late last year that will create podcasts exclusively on Spotify.
As the song “Electric Love” by Børns plays, Meghan says, “We’re using podcasting to drive powerful conversations…”
Before Harry continues, “…that inspire, challenge and educate.”
“We created Archewell Audio to make sure that we can elevate voices that maybe aren’t being heard and hear people’s stories,” Meghan says.
Harry adds, “And the biggest part of this is to create this community of where you can share, that will encourage everybody else to then share their own vulnerabilities within that safe space.”
I’m including the video below (I cued it to start at the Sussexes’ appearance). The Sussexes inked their Spotify deal last December, and so far, they’ve only produced one podcast where they seemed to be trying to do too much (IMO). I was kind of expecting the Sussexes to do additional pods in January and February, but maybe that will be part of the Oprah interview as well, a timeline for when we can expect Archewell Audio to really get up and running.
Screencaps courtesy of Spotify.
I think you meant not “below her shoulders”
Megan looks adorable and stylish, I love that dress!
Me too! I am a sucker for anything with plants/flowers on it. This looks amazing.
Because I am VERY petty, I see a “make every conceivable lemon product out of lemons thrown at us” messaging in her dress. But that’s just me. I was born this way.
LOL……LOVE! this interpretation. Absolutely works for me.
ha ha, well done, now I see it, too!
I am laughing here. I read your opening line as “because I’m very pretty..” 🤣
Meghan’s in the beyhive so as soon as I saw the lemons, I also thought she’s sending a message.
Gorgeous Oscar de la Renta….some sizes have already sold out….designers must be lining up to dress her pregnant or not.
DM is losing their mind over that dress. They’ve decided it’s more proof that she’s Marie Antoinette reincarnated.
Loved the dress. Loved her styling. NoNo cosplaying a ‘sister wife’ here! Meghan makes Kate look like she’s old, out-of-touch, and frumpy. Loved them in the clip.
I LOVE the dress and all those prenatal vitamins and pregnancy hormones must be working, her hair looks lush AF, I am legit jealous.
I imagine they have been prerecording podcasts the past 2 months.
I was also surprised to see they haven’t done more episodes. I hope they start because frankly I do agree with Kaiser that the first one wasn’t great – but that’s ok! They’ll get better and better.
I just hope they aren’t stockpiling episodes with no feedback so we get 10 that are just like the first one.
It was obvious to me that the first one was just a teaser, a holiday special just to make people aware.
There has been zero indication that every episode will be like that.
Yeah very possible! I actually didn’t love it for reasons other than the crowded guest list – but I really do think they’ll get better over time, because, you know..they care about what they’re doing unlike some others in their family ha!
I found it to be quite soothing actually, but I also don’t have much experience with podcasts and have nothing to compare it against. I hope the following episodes are one-on-one interviews or them freely talking to each other about thematic issues.
@Myra, I felt the same way too. I’ve listened to the first podcast three more time. I signed up for Spotify for their podcast.
Same @Petra. I signed up to Spotify, signed up to Disney+. The things Meghan have got me doing.
I liked the first podcast a lot. Listened to it while driving to get my first Covid vaccine. I work in healthcare and the past year has been stressful! It was nice to hear a thoughtful reflection on the past year, and very calming in its own way.
Yeah the first one had too many people! I still loved the sneak peek with Archie though.
I love the first one but I am very biased…. LOL
I like her dress and I am usually not a huge fan of ODLR floral dresses; pretty good dress for a summer party (unfortunately no party to go to right now)
Yeah I don’t like too much floral, but this dress is gorgeous.
I love that dress…
Meghan is so adorable when she is pregnant. I really liked her dress.
I really enjoyed the first episode of their podcast and I can’t wait for more episodes. I hope we get the next one soon. For first time podcasters, they did a great job IMO
She makes the dress look good. And did you guys see the british media loosing it at the cost of the dress as if they are still paying for it?
And the “funny” thing is whenever the cost of anything Cambridge-related comes up, people insist that its not taxpayer money, its Charles’ money and he can do what he wants, etc. But with Meghan it was completely taxpayer money.
Something I am curious about: Since Meghan & Harry are no longer working Royals can Meghan take “Loaners”?
I have nothing to back up my hypothesis but I really believe that dress is a loaner.
Meghan knows the designers at Oscar la Renta so she probably could get clothes for free now.
Yes Amy. For this one dress they give her, they will get 100 orders coming in.
I think it might be a gift because the clothing line came out like 3 days ago. I think somebody at Oscar de la Renta just sent it to her as a gift
Meghan must have designers queuing at her door anything she touches turns to gold.
It’s most likely a gift or she chose it from a rack of clothes they have ready for her? Both of them look professionally styled to me, but then again M wore her clothes for that Time event despite hair+makeup seemingly done by someone else.
Remind them how much all those custom Alexander McQueen coats Katie Keen loves cost.
Back in august kate wore a 1500 dollar dress and sparkly heels to carry boxes at a baby banks event. Not 1 word about TaXpAyEr MoNeY
Every time I see her in McQueen, I think of how Kate has ruined the brand. AMQ must be rolling in his grave at her milquetoast taste.
That’s part of their go to bag of tricks. Label and price everything, act faux outraged over tax payer dollars while simultaneously posting affiliate links for purchase and make a profit.
But now that Meghan isn’t under the royal rules, she can get ALL the freebie clothes she wants. Or get loans of clothes, jewelry and accessories from designers because they know whatever she wears will sell out.
I doubt Meghan paid for that dress.
They’re most upset because she CAN pay for the dress. Or any dress. It goes back to who’s allowed to have nice things. Remember when Toxic Tom wrote about Meghan: I made her–she’s NOTHING without me (how chilling to hear a father say that about his daughter), that’s essentially the royalist MO: Everything she had was supposed to be a product of their largesse. She’s supposed to be NOTHING without the royals. They conveniently ignored the money she had already made before marrying Harry by calling her a gold digger. Now they’re all apoplectic because she and Harry have their own money. They refuse to play according to the royal-written script and that’s why they hate Meghan.
@Cecelia I don’t consume any British media, rarely look at entertainment media and I’m not on Twitter. Celeb itchy and coffee is my morning ritual. Ugh will they ever leave her alone?!? She’s not on your dime anymore and not even in your country, piss off
It’s all part of the narrative to make them seem greedy and that “money is more important to them than duty”. Utter nonsense
Also meghan and her pregnancy face is just too cute!
Pssst. The caption when you enlarge the photos says “ Skeet Ulrich visits Build Studio in New York promoting ‘Riverdale’”
Yes, and unfortunately the queue up didn’t work for me on that video above.
I think she looks great here – I dont think I would love the dress if she was walking around in it, but sitting, it looks really pretty (meaning I dont really like the cut of it, but the pattern etc is pretty.) She looks happy, her hair looks fabulous, and Harry looks nice in his white shirt, lol.
Come on now though people – we’re going to see a ladder in Sandringham soon, arent we? ARENT WE???
The ladder was always there, it use to have a stripped blanket on it before. What we haven’t seen is the French door behind the couch so expect some other people to have a construction crew over soon or moving of furniture. Lol
Ah yes you’re right! So it seems this is the same room we usually see, just a different angle. So its the french doors we need to look for, lol.
Is it a ladder or a bookcase? Seems like the style of graduated bookcase which I don’t especially care for.
Meanwhile, a certain someone (not Harry) has made a private donation to an organization in Africa. Which is in itself important and for a very worthy cause, though uncharacteristic, and the timing is interesting, considering a recent donation by some others to an organization in Texas.
Also, it calls into question the line carefully drawn by a certain RR in recent days about the difference between duty and philanthropy. I guess if done by a “working” royal it’s always duty, but if done by one who’s nonworking, it’s philanthropy, which is considered, “playing at it”.
Mmmm the organization posted it on their social media 5 days ago so difficult to copy a donation that was announced afterwards. It’s an organization that “someone” has been working with for years and the money was to help the families of 6 rangers killed last month.
They have another version of the dress, a-line not drop waist, using the same fabric.
And there is also a midi off the shoulders one.
Hey BECKS1 and other Celebitchies —- Here’s a link to Sussex California home before they purchased it. In one of the photos you can see the little playhouse they used in Christmas card was down by the guest house at the time.
https://cotedetexas.blogspot.com/search?q=Sussexes&updated-max=2018-06-20T04:38:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=1&by-date=false
PS — keep scrolling for current CALIF home in link above, because the article gives a history of Sussexes (and Meghan’s) homes and gets to their current California home last.
She looks cute! I saw the bottom half of the dress and didn’t like it at all but the top half looks good. On Meghan at least. As for podcasts, I imagine they have a plan and a break was intended. Spotify wouldn’t have handed over a deal like this without a plan for podcasts.
I pray Meghan never loses that fire in her eyes. She’s so stunning, inside and out.
Amen
I love her but the dress is too expensive especially a simple dress like that . When she could have gotten something similar at a reasonable price.
She looks cute though n pregnancy surely suits her
I personally think that dress is a loaner.
If she can afford it, it’s not too expensive. We don’t control her purse strings. Not do British taxpayers.
It’s her money. Like, what?
I agree with @Kalana! The BRF ain’t paying for it. Her money, her choice how to spend it.
Kate wears ugly dresses that are custom made and paid for by the tax payers. Meghan loves this designer and has worn their dresses even before Harry.
Meh, after their reported donations to charities, Meg can spoil herself for a bit. The OTT outcries over their own money is just plain ridiculous IMHO, borderline racist, “how dare the black woman wear something expensive” kind of thing!! Its their money, they’ve donated to numerous charities, thats all I care about.
I mean, Kate wears very expensive tax- dollar outfits, never heard her donate to not even her own patronages and I don’t hear not even a word complaining about that. Meanwhile, Meghan who pays for her own outfits AND donates her own money has people whine nonstop, miss me with that madness please.
@Babsorig, Lanie, Kalana and Ginger, well said.
Agreed. I don’t hear anyone bitching about the cost of Meryl Streep’s clothes or even Michelle Obama’s anymore. It is their business.
Nah. She can buy what she wants now. Crown has nothing to do with it. Frankly I think it’s too much for a dress like that, but to each their own.
Something similar to ODLR? ok I should just stop there……….
i know right? The quality of the material on this is beautiful, the sheen and weight perfection. This is not something you can duplicate at Walmart.
Meghan can afford it, she doesn’t have to shop in the bargain bin or dress “reasonably” if she doesn’t want to. She also doesn’t need to “borrow” clothes.
Our need to feel rich people as just like us on surface things should stop. Rich people are like us because they are human beings. A poor person should not be judge on surface things neither should a rich person.
Too expensive for you and me but surely not for her. Her money, her choice.
The cost is chicken feed to some people…and it is Oscar de la Renta so how much would you expect to pay?
Also Meghan likes Oscar de la Renta, she has worn him before notably on the Australian tour….sigh!
Too expensive for who? Assuming she paid for it, she can afford it. This is the equivalent of a $350 dress for a regular person, which is reasonable for what is essentially a work event for her.
Agree with everyone else that she can buy what she wants, but also Meghan does mix it up a lot with her wardrobe, and it doesnt feel like pandering (The way it does when Kate wears Zara or whatever). She wears J. Crew, she wears Rothy’s (which I know may be expensive to some, but I think they’re becoming pretty standard for professional women), and then she wears Oscar de la Renta. Some of her things I can afford, some I cant. And that’s fine.
We saw this with her Smart Set – some of the items were very affordable, and some were pricier.
I love the dress and her whole look. I would wear Oscar de la Renta to sit on my couch if I had the money.
I love her look as well and they both look great together. I feel the dress was a bit pointed. If life gives you lemons, make the RF look irrelevant and petty. (Not that the royals need help doing it).Maybe I’m just reading too much into it though.
Lol. I had the same take.
Didn’t think of it that way, but I’m here for it!!
Fabulous interpretation!
She looks amazing and I love the dress. They are slowly rolling out their business, so I am waiting patiently.
I feel like the Oprah interview will unveil a lot of what’s to come with their work and that has me most excited.
Ginger I have no doubt that many are seeing their star power and are lining up for interviews, offering partnerships and throwing offers their way. One link with the Sussexes will command a global audience that many would not have otherwise had.
The haters are probably more eager than the fans to hear more podcasts. They never said when in 2021 they were going to release podcasts only that will be. We’re still only in February.
I agree. Sometimes I feel like people don’t give H&M time to get going. Some people expect them to solve world hunger by summer. The first episode was for the holidays and as you’ve mentioned, it’s only February. Spotify was pleased with their performance and I’m sure that they have regular scheduled episodes coming up. It seems that they are ready to get started and roll out their plans this year. The Oprah interview might be apart of that.
I agree with you. People need to a bit more patient when it comes to Harry and Meghan. The good thing about no longer working for the Royal Family is that there’s no pressure to appear to be working. They can take their time and put out good products and projects.
These two really are a beautiful cute couple, they make you believe in fairy tales happy ever after.
Is all that hair hers? Because I could use some of it. It’s so beautiful and healthy looking
Yes it’s her hair and now she’s stopped chemically straightening her hair it looks much healthier.
Not to mention she is probably taking all those good daily prenatal vitamins that make your hair mega-thick.
My pregnancy hair was awesome. I loved how pregnancy gave me so much–a baby, yes, but also a glow, fuller hair, a figure. Meghan looks fantastic.
Wishing the Sussexes the best.
They remind me of Jamie and Claire from Outlander, Jamie always stood by his strong and smart wife!
As a huge Outlander fan, I really appreciate this comparison. I never thought about the connection, but you are right. The way Harry always goes to bat for Meg is exactly the way Jamie always bats for Claire and is always so proud of her, everyone else be damned. And the men are both redheads! 🙂
I haven’t seen the show, but I’ve read the books and I got this association immediately. Like L84Tea says, they are both redheads!!!! More importantly, they both stand by their women. I love men that do that. My dad was like that with my step-mum (too young to know how he dealt w/my mum; they divorced before I was 3, but she was a soaking wet drunk so hard to know how to support her for any of us cause she wasn’t concerned w/her condition or how it affected us all). Good analogy ~
I’m sobbing at the Outlander comparison. Been reading and watching since I was maybe 12 or 13. Harry is like Jamie, masculine and kind ginger and Meghan just like Claire, witty, strong and creative. They stand by each other and they always seem like their in their own world. I wish them only happiness in their lives and hope their family will thrive forever.
I used to watch Outlander religiously and think of Jamie and Claire as well. They have this chemistry. She’s a foreigner, older than her dashing red headed husband, previously married, and from a more modern era ( the royals are stuck in Edwardian times). They also rebelled against the crown and forging a new life in America. I’ll have to catch up again with the tv show. I read all the books.
I think they are definitely going to lean into some of the more very sincere/cheesy aspects of their nature, but mixed up. and honestly, I thought they’d have more podcasts out by now, but I’m not worried. Meghan is very organized and always gets everything out on her schedule so there is no way she would sign something and not deliver.
Podcasting is all about steady content so I imagine they have been creating episodes so that they have a nice bulk of content to share.
I’m not a fan of the dress. Usually Meg can make anything look good but this is not my favorite. She looks amazing though, hair flawless and glowing! I think what I dont like about the dress is the bottom?
I also loved how they had a shot of the the coastline and the beach in the intro. It seemed so peaceful and calming. I don’t know why the BM continue to insist that England is the only place that Harry can be happy. The jig is up. Move on.
IKR? That spot was perfect-everything from the imagery (moving forward), to the music, to the shot of them sitting on a couch, all together sets the tone for what I expect will be their content and their approach to subject matter.
I was more engaged by the imagery than by the words, like giving people a voice, I get it and I think it is a good idea but it doesn’t tell us what the shows will be about. It is only going to work if others actually want to hear what the person has to say… some people don’t have a “voice” for a reason; they need advertising to support the program after all.
I hope that is amazing and successful because if we have to endure the British media stories targeting an American working mom and calling her a failure for launching an enterprise during a pandemic, it is not going to end well for Murdoch & friends. America’s working moms are on our last nerve at the moment.
I am relieved she is no longer surrounded by crappy people telling her what she has to wear and how she has to behave. No more pantyhose or nail polish controversy! This look is excellent: great relaxed preggo hair, and the most beautiful sunny lemon dress. She looks very herself and happy!
When I moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, I said goodbye to pantyhose forever!
Then I moved back to the East Coast and begrudgingly wear opaque black or blue tights in the fall/winter, but ditch them as soon as the temps hit 65 degrees.
Yeah no one i know wears hosiery unless it’s cold out. The west coast is laid back that way.
I love her dress
Wow they are so cute. Pregnancy looks good on Meghan.
I envy Meghan’s hair. So beautiful.
Podcasts are hard. I rarely finish any podcast . I’ve checked out sooooo many from goop and maybe finished fewer than 10 episodes. Recently I enjoyed Hillary speaking toNancy Pelosi but couldn’t find another by Hillary that kept my attention. M&H are good at speaking (H says the wrong thing sometime but seeming authentic is a great quality) but speaking well is not enough to have an interesting podcast. They have enough , in my opinion die hard fans for it to succeed even if it’s not good just because they are on it ! However I’m sure they don’t want it to just be listened to they want it to be something special
I agree – I skip through most of them. I’m sure they will find an audience of the diehard fans, but unless it is really captivating, not sure if they will attract new fans. I don’t know, I’m a bit underwelmed with them announcing podcasts – I feel like even jo-blow in his apt is doing one now. It feels so ordinary to me.
Meghan looks gorgeous, wow! Love that dress and her styling. I’m a big podcast person and I’m looking forward to more of theirs. Meghan has the perfect podcaster voice — calming yet still engaging.
What a nice surprise to see them both. I didn’t listen to their first podcast because I don’t have Spotify but I’ll try to see if I can listen to it elsewhere. The lemon design on the dress is cute and Meghan is very savvy with her messaging. 100% she wore that dress as a way to signal “when life gives you lemons make lemonade.” I don’t think I’d like the dress if Meghan were standing though, that extra flounce at the bottom makes it very girlish and I don’t like the silhouette. I saw that Oscar de la Renta has several versions of the dress though and there were a few I preferred to this cut.
I really hope Meghan embraces maternity wear this time around. She didn’t seem to want to wear maternity clothes when she was pregnant with Archie and her styling wasn’t great, wearing non-maternity wear at stages in her pregnancy in which the clothes she wore really looked uncomfortable. She was also being harassed by the press nonstop and that was a very stressful time for her. I hope this time around she feels more free to wear maternity fashion.
It’s a nice to see her in such light colors! A pop of spring. I actually love the silhouette. The style actually suits Meghan’s shape, even without a baby bump. It looks good on girls with thin legs and just so relaxed. Have to geek out a bit on the fabric. It’s not just a basic print but the print design is woven into the fabric itself, which is an expensive jacquard technique, based on the amount of threads in the print details. Also, it’s mostly made of silk fibers which just gives it a light floatiness. Even the wide hem of the underskirt is just a nice balance to the design. I think Meghan is a friend of the current designer and knows him from back in the day. DeLaRenta must be thrilled. When Oscar DeLaRenta was alive, his brand became very stodgy society lady, all about evening wear. He made an ass of himself by criticizing Michelle Obama, so she refused to wear him, which was bad for the brand. She finely did near the end of their term in office, so I’m sure they’re thrilled to get positive publicity from Meghan wearing their dress. Gonna be some high credit card bills based on the away this dress is selling out.
For about a year now, for the most part we’ve only seen Meghan in blouses, shirts, and sometimes T-shirts. So I’m not going to begrudge her the cost of this dress. I’d also like to point out that after her last pregnancy Meghan tailored and rewore many of the clothes she wore during her pregnancy. So expect to see this dress again. I agree with some of the comments above that say that sometimes the expectations for Harry and Meghan seem a little too high. They signed with Spotify in Sept/Oct; then put out a podcast in Dec. It’s was advertised as a holiday special highlight how people were coping and what they hoped for the New Year. So with that format wouldn’t you want to here from as many perspectives as possible. I loved the variety of people who spoke. There was no statement from Spotify saying new episodes would come immediately. It was billed as a stand alone episode. During this time Meghan was in the early stages of a post miscarriage pregnancy; they launched Archewell; they formed a partnership with World Central Kitchen and they apparently have been trying to get themselves completely out of the clutches of the BRF. I think a little breathing room for new podcast is reasonable. Michelle Obama announces her partnership with Spotify in 2019. The podcast didn’t come out until 2020.
Just laughing at how Harry always wears the same thing
I love this dress. Love the print and the color. It’s swingy and cute as a maternity dress. It’s selling out and at that price point ,that’s really impressive. I liked the first podcast. Did I like all the guests, no ( James Cordon, Brené Brown), but others were great, like surprisingly Elton John, Stacy Abrams, Hussain Manawer ( impressive), and Jose Andres. I think they’ll keep it interesting and hopefully do deep dives with different voices. As a side note, this is part of their job to promote Spotify and talk about their podcast, which is fine.
I just want them to stop using the usual words from the woke millenial lex. Safe space makes me groan and it is probably because I have internalised a lot of crap on the internet but words like them feel vacuous and disingenuous. I want them to be transparent about the issues they obviously care about and speak from their heart instead of parroting talking points.
Unfortunate song pick 🤦🏻♀️ The lead singer has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.