The Duchess of Sussex stepped out today for her first official appearance at City, University of London, on behalf of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. She’s the new royal patron for the ACU, it was one of four new patronages announced for Meghan this month. Meghan already did one somewhat private meeting on behalf of the ACU (a photo was released after the fact) last year. This is going to be one of her big issues going forward – the importance of college and university education, especially for women.
For this appearance, Meghan seemed to repeat the black Givenchy coat she wore to the Remembrance Day palace-balcony ceremony. Again, it’s smart that she’s already cycling in some repeats, because Meghan has been somewhat justifiably been criticized for how much she’s already spent on clothes. The dress underneath the coat looks new-to-us, and people are being slow to ID it (I’ll update when it comes through). She also gave us a “new look” with her hair – a very high bun, with no flyway pieces. Meghan’s been doing sleeker hair looks recently. The criticism about her “undone” hairstyles must have bugged her. Or she’s just showing people that she’ll do her hair in a million different ways regardless of what people say.
Meanwhile, there are a few random stories from Us Weekly involving the Sussexes. Us Weekly’s source reveals something truly shocking… Meghan “has a lot of control in her relationship” with Prince Harry, “Not in a negative way. But she can definitely call many of the shots — and not just when she’s pregnant.” I’d just like to point out that A) I believe this and B) why would it be presented as a bad thing? Lots of men LIKE that in their relationships and marriages. They like that their wives and girlfriends are in control and organized and opinionated. Also, Us Weekly had an exclusive about Harry going out to a pub on Wednesday night. He apparently went to The Sands End. I guess Controlling Meghan didn’t really ban him from drinking alcohol after all. Huh.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I’m def not a Royal sugar but dear lord she is such a stunning woman – her hair pulled off her face just highlights how beautiful she is. She would actually look amazing with a short hair cut, like Halle Berry was rocking
I wish both she and Kate would go somewhat shorter, they would look more chic. Like a Queen Letizia length…long enough to put up, but looking neat and more sophisticated when it’s down.
Short hair takes a lot of work for textured hair, though. Here, you can see that her hair is not as straight as usual; she must be backing off the procedures (relaxing or the keratin (?) treatments) because of the pregnancy. Longer hair is great in that you can just pull it up and call it a day.
This was my thought, too. I think the buns, tighter than usual, are because she’s not straightening it right now, due to the chemicals. Regardless, she looks lovely! Chic, “bright”…. she really DOES glow! She is a beautiful woman, and she looks great today! She is just stunning!
(I do wish she and Kate would get rid of the nude shoes though (or at least limit them a LOT more). A red, purple, even a leopard shoe would look awesome with the coat, to give a pop of color.
Exactly. It may be why she’s wearing more pulled back hairstyles. She maybe using a hot comb or blow out methods to keep it straight.
Exactly. It may be why she’s wearing more pulled back hairstyles. She maybe using a hot comb or blow out methods to keep it straight.
@ByTheSea – totally understand what you are saying! I have textured hair and I prefer it longer, though I wear mine curly.
She looks like a million dollars! I love ver look from head to toe! The high bun looks great on her… I don’t mind the “undone” look, I find it flattering.
I absolutely love this hair! One of her best ever; it’s so elegant.
I would love to see her with shoulder length hair. Long enough to wear in a bun but looks chic if worn down too
Gorgeous, gorgeous , gorgeous!
I am not someone who normally cares about physical beauty but she really is stunning, I have seen hundreds of pictures of her but every time her beauty just amazes me. Doria and old Mr Markle certainly put something together there.
Yeah, I’m a little embarrassed how much I’ve become a royal-ist (in a very tenuous way as an American), but she’s fascinating to me and so lovely. That doesn’t automatically equate to dislike of Kate, though. I’m just not as interested in Kate, but she’s certainly very pretty and she and William seem more relaxed in public. I don’t know if that because Harry and Meghan have eased the protocol or if it’s competition, as has been speculated. Families are so complex. But, back to the topic. I can’t wait to see their baby, and I have no vote in an ongoing monarchy, but I think my interest will remain for a long time.
Love it. She’s been on a roll all January.
She is getting better and better despite the efforts to pull her down. Eventually her detractors inside and outside the palace walls will get tired and give up.
Of course she spent a lot last year. Are they including her wedding gown in that total? Also, I doubt her wardrobe was royal worthy before.
The UFO number included her wedding jewelry and her second gown from Stella McCartney .
I actually started going through the outfits because I wanted to have a fair comparison rather than just believing whatever random websites say and I also really dislike how UFO went about their assessment. I hadn’t realized that Kate’s Christmas outfit from 2011 wasn’t identified besides saying it was from an independent dress maker. That isn’t a knock against her, I was just surprised at what I hadn’t remembered.
Right? I mean, how very dare she not roll up in the torn jeans, short suits, and miniskirts that she favored pre-marriage. Do I think she could buy more affordable pieces, sure, but at the end of the day do we really know how much these things cost for the Royal Family? We know they get a discount on their leased vehicles. Why not clothes?
Meghan spent $550k on new pieces in 2018 according to UFO No More. And that’s excluding 48 pieces that were either unidentifiable or bespoke pieces with no identifiable retail price, so the real total is likely significantly higher.
That is an obscene amount of money. There is absolutely no reason why anyone needs to spend over half a million dollars in one year on clothing. None of the excuses wash for me.
They’re including her jewelry. It’s not a clothing price. They’re including private items and not just taxpayer items. She’s spending on par for that family.
Everyone is just repeating the UFO number and calling it her clothing price.
Don’t even get me started on her jewelry! $400-$800 a pop on trendy little pieces that will probably only be worn a couple of times, if not only once. Her jewelry spending is perhaps the most offensive.
And it is absolutely not “on par for the family”. Everyone’s spending was calculated the same way – new clothing and accessories, excluding gifted jewelry and bespoke pieces of indeterminate price. And Meghan outspent everyone several times over.
I don’t know if she did outspend everyone. That’s why I’m actually going through Kate’s old outfits and Meghan’s outfits. I want to finally know what a closer to accurate assessment is of this whole thing. The UFO assessment is terrible.
And you sidestepped my point that 500k is not a clothing price. It’s just a very often repeated inaccuracy that people then get huffy about! What’s the point if what you’re upset about isn’t even what happened?
The UFO number is not accurate and when people pointed out the issues, especially when they did not include jewelry for Kate’s number they got upset and closed down the blog. Royal Dish had been keeping a count of Meghan’s clothes for the entire year and they didn’t get close to that number. And that site hates Meghan.
I love seeing happy pregnant women.
She is so pretty, and always looks bright and happy. I hope she’s able to ignore a lot of the tabloid nonsense.
I love this. I am not fond of so much black, but she looks very nice.
I love her hair like this. It’s perfect!
She looks very pretty, glad she is repeating something. Love her hair.
I love, love, LOVE her hair up like this. Her face is one you could look at forever and having her hair up shows off how incredibly stunning she is.
Love the hair, hate the outfit.
It’s weirdly costume-y and too fussy, and the nude shoes? Nope.
I know we’ve talked about the no tights thing but it’s the coldest day of the year in London and absolutely freezing!!!
I want to know what her secret is.
Living in Toronto for years. That and being pregnant tends to make women run hot.
And she may just be used to not having tights regardless of weather. To the opposite end I cover most of my body, wearing long sleeves and headscarves even in California’s triple digit F heat. People always ask me if I’m sweltering. I’m not. I’m just used to it (cotton helps, though, lol).
I’m not sure about her secret, but *my* secret for *never* wearing tights and pantyhose is that I feel really uncomfortable in them, so I don’t. They don’t provide that much extra warmth, so they’re easy to sacrifice for the freedom from constant itching and squirming. If her sensory experience in tights or hose is anything like mine, I get it.
It depends on the tights. Wolford merino or 80 denier tights are incredibly warm.
Rolling tight or hose up a pregnant belly sounds exhausting.
Remember the episode of Designing Women where Mary Jo demonstrated how to put on underpants when pregnant? Panty hose would be far worse, imho.
Initially I thought that the skirt was an odd choice but being pregnant and not wanting t waste money on maternity wear, she probably opted for a skirt with an elasticated waist, and this one it was. But who cares what she is wearing her drop dead beauty soars above any garment she puts on.
Her hair looks adorable. That’s a hard style to pull off!
She does look absolutely stunning but I always thought a high bun is one of the easiest hair style to pull off. It’s so easy and chic. As a matter of fact it’s my go to when I have longer hair (I love my shorter hair but I miss my bun so much)
She is so beautiful, I have wanted to see her face without the part (middle or side). I am so happy she styled her hair this way.
It looks too harsh on me and hair volume can soften a person’s face so I’m always in admiration of people who can pull all their hair back so severely and still look good.
Well, believe it or not, I can’t pull off a simple low ponytail 😉
Oh, now that one I can do!
Her high, sleek bun looks clean and perfect instead of the loose messy bun with strands of hair hanging in her face. I’m not loving her outfit and wearing nude pumps while dressed in black makes her look barefoot. I can’t stand blah nude pumps and black shoes would’ve looked a lot better. Her hair is a style she needs to keep
THE SHOES MEGHAN……THE SHOES !!!!
I know, right? I don’t understand how women can live in them at the best of times, certainly not while pregnant.
Yeah, I love the outfit, but a dark maroon shoe would have looked better. Black shoes would have been too funeral-ish.
I prefer the messy softer bun, and there are shenanigans going on with the dress hem. Otherwise she looks cool.
I don’t like the one button at the top done and then the rest undone it’s very odd. Love the hair!!!
I still think she’s having twins.
Yes, twins. But that because I think royal twins would be fabulous not because she looks big. When my SILs were carrying twins you could tell by their 7th month. Their bellies were huge. Remember La Jolie in that green dress at Cannes? That’s a twin belly. I don’t see DoS looking quite like that. But I do still hope for it.
I totally agree about the relationship analysis – I don’t understand the sexist “she has a lot of control in the relationship” nonsense that’s written in the press. Women are allowed to have opinions and express them and have their needs met in a relationship – how is it unusual or noteworthy if Meghan is doing that? She calls “many of the shots” – yeah, she should, especially if the affect her. But then again, I’m a harpy who demands respect and a co-equal voice in my relationship (10 years!), so what do I know.
According to the Fail the crowd was chanting “Meghan, Meghan”. The tabloids, royal reporters and the Skid-Markles (Sr Jr and Sam) can kick rocks.
Meghan got a rock star welcome at City University. It was amazing, I think even Meghan was taken aback, and she shook hands with a few of the waiting fans which was not part of the schedule but the welcome was so overwhelming she just had to.
Good!
She is even more gorgeous with that hair!
Her posture is so good, I really envy that cos mine is crap.
She looks radiant and and youthful. Her exercise and diet regimen has a lot to do with that I bet.
Love her confidence in doing solo events. She seems to be adapting well to her new life.
gorgeous.
She looks very polished today and I overall really like the look, though I saw someone say she looks like a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and now I can’t unsee it.
People think the dress or skirt combo is Givenchy and I haven’t seen confirmation on the shoes. (I actually think yesterday’s were a new version of her engagement shoes, unless she got them re-soled.) I think she’s going to be at, or around, $25k for the month in terms of the value of the new stuff worn.
The coat, shoes and earrings were all repeats. So far, the dress/top-skirt is unknown as to being new or repeat.
This woman(?) on twitter is doing an excellent job of very quickly identifying Meghan’s clothes and which are repeats. https://twitter.com/Mielle01787296/status/1090979786296573952
It is a dress bespoke Givenchy. Will we see it in full?
Now I’m going to think “expecto patronum” whenever I see these photos.
I love the hair, makeup and the coat. I really dislike fringe/the uneven hemline and the dress seems somewhat formal (from what I could see of it) for this outing!
deleted because Mae pointed out the same thing – separates
Overall she looks pretty but I find this outfit a VERY odd fit for the occasion – a daytime event to meet students and faculty . Throw on some jewellery and it would make good evening wear look though.
She really needs to work on getting the appropriate level of dress – many of her evening looks have been too over-the-top compared to others attending the same thing as well.
Any identification on the shoes? As I need those!
Stuart Weitzman
I think that’s a sweater and a skirt not a dress. Again good call on wearing separates. It’s more practical and easier to mix and match. She’s doing a good job on building a royal wardrobe. Love her hair today. I’m praying and keeping my fingers crossed she doesn’t do the messy bun tomorrow. It’s an away day with atleast 3 engagements and having her hair hanging all over her face is such a distraction.
Yes, she has clearly bought some pricey dresses and such, but she has bought a lot of separates as well, which I think are going to stand her in good stead in the years to come.
But some of the individual pieces she has bought will be challenging to wear in the future when they are no longer in style – asymmetrical hemlines or the multiple dresses with ruffles. Spending designer prices on pieces that will not get another airing for an extended period (if ever) seems wasteful to me. If you are buying classic shapes that are timeless, sure spend money on the good stuff that will last for decades but for the seasonal on- trend pieces, why does it is need to be high end designer? Go the high street and support British designers who would love the exposure and spike in sales.
Givenchy is out of reach for the majority of people and in the lead up to Brexit and probable austerity measures and cuts to public funding, it looks tone deaf and I really think she is smarter than that – has she been seduced by an unlimited credit card and unlimited access to designers??? I do think she looks great (I would have gone for a bright shoe colour personally but that’s me) but the spending is out of control.
She’s so gorgeous. I like the sleek ballet bun, but I also have love led her messy bun and tendrils around her face. She can wear any hair style and pull it off with ease. IMO her hair always looks perfect for the occasion. I don’t like loose hair with a jaunty hat, it’s looks casual/formal are warring with each other. But, nevertheless she always looks beautiful.
I am a huge topknot fan and it looks great on her. My daughter has long thick curly hair and looks adorable with a topknot but they are challenging to achieve with her hair type.
Love the ballet bun, she looks so chic. I looked like a whale when I was this far in my pregnancy…
Meghan looks wonderful! I love everything about her look and I think she looks great with her hair pulled back. She has a naturally beautiful face and photographs very well!
Maybe it’s me but I’m seeing more and more of her mom, Doria, in her.
I’ll say it: Twins.
I am veering in that direction too, and I have a small bet on it, but I am hoping its not twins so she will still have another pregnancy.
I like the expression on the man’s face where she is slightly ahead. There’s lots of negative stuff in the media but the people working and interacting with her convey nothing but happiness and excitement and admiration. I’m going to believe my eyes
I trust my eyes, too! She’s glowing, happy and *most* people who see that see get a positive vibe. This fellow seems a bit smitten: https://twitter.com/drewdrie/status/1091016733081718785
I saw that too, his eyes say it all, he loves what he is seeing.
Meghan looks great!
I really like her style in general. But this one gave me Harry Potter goes Hogwarts vibes.