Just four months after her wedding, the Duchess of Sussex yesterday carried out her first solo engagement. (Yes, the Hubb Community Kitchen feast last week was her event, but it was still a joint appearance with the Duke of Sussex.) Last night, however, she was all on her own, marking yet another milestone in her new royal career.
The event was the Oceania exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts, the first of its kind to appear in the UK. One of the countries’ art featured was New Zealand, which Meghan will be visiting next month during her first long-term tour abroad.
On her way in, Meghan shut her car door, a moment picked up tongue-in-cheek by a royal reporter as being notably down-to-earth. This spawned a series of shared videos on Twitter of the Duchess of Cambridge shutting her own car door during engagements. Le sigh.
Meghan chose two signatures – Givenchy and the color black. As we’ve seen time and time again, Givenchy is the designer the Duchess is choosing for her “big” moments, from her wedding to her first engagement with the Queen to, now, her first appearance on her own.
The dress featured sheer long sleeves, velvet across the bodice and a velvet belt. While I like the elements of it, all together I was underwhelmed. There was a lot going on and it was just a tad too long on Meghan’s frame, but she does seem to personally favor her clothing that comes just a touch close to drowning her.
Regardless, she looked lovely and she paired it with her handy Aquazzura heels, which I’m going to go ahead and label her version of the nude LK Bennett heels Kate favored so much in 2011 and 2012. The clutch is also Givenchy and the earrings are Birks.
It’s unclear when we’ll next see Meghan before the entire Royal Family turns out for Princess Eugenie’s wedding on October 12, BUT Kensington Palace did finally announce Kate’s return from maternity leave. October 2, ladies and gentlemen, which officially beckons what will prove a busy, busy autumn before the end of the year.
Tomorrow I am going to try and compile a post covering the last few days of the Duke of Cambridge’s working visit through Africa and I have a few historical posts I’m trying to wrap up for over the weekend, so tune back then.