Is ripped-jean fan Meghan Markle shreddy to be royal? We give our verdicts on whether her outfit was appropriate
Prince Harry’s girl Meghan Markle has really been torn off a strip for wearing ripped jeans at their public debut as a couple this week
PRINCE Harry’s girl Meghan Markle has really been torn off a strip for wearing ripped jeans at their public debut as a couple this week, writes EMMA PIETRAS.
Although the 36-year-old US actress is regularly snapped in damaged denim, this was no lazy afternoon down the boozer, but Harry’s beloved Invictus Games in Toronto.
So was her outfit appropriate?
Here our Fashion Editor and the Editor-in-Chief of Majesty magazine give their verdicts – and we use digital trickery to see if the ripped look rules for other royals.
Yes
Says Gabriele Dirvanauskas, Fashion Editor
MEGHAN is the breath of fresh air that our royals desperately need.
The actress — shock horror — dared to wear jeans with a slight rip on one knee for her first official appearance with Harry.
Traditionalists are furious that she’d dare to offend EVERYONE with such a casual outfit for a major occasion.
But she was at a sporting event, not a cocktail party at Buckingham Palace.
The rest of her outfit was smart and inoffensive. A white shirt with sensible brown flats isn’t going to get her slated for being too flashy or trendy for the royals.
If anything, her outfit risks being dull, and the ripped knee adds a rebellious edge and personality — which our royals don’t exactly have buckets of.
Meghan is a cool American girl at heart, always dressed more stylishly than the Middleton sisters.
Extensive Googling reveals they have never been pictured in anything as fashion-forward as ripped jeans, even before Kate and Wills were wed.
But as our mock-up royal pictures here show, perhaps the Duchess of Cambridge should take a leaf out of Meghan’s book.
Though she is only a few months older than Kate, they are decades apart in the style stakes.
Kate wore one of her now signature ladylike (read boring) dress coats in her first official photo with Prince William, who was trussed up in his RAF uniform.
And far from being scruffy, Meghan’s jeans cost around £170 from US brand Mother — a bargain compared to the four-figure sums commanded by some designers for denim that they’ve ripped to shreds.
Opting for a battered pair of jeans means she’s in touch with trends and isn’t trading in her fashion sense for a pair of nude court shoes any time soon.
You’d struggle to find jeans on the high street without rips in them, and it’s a look that has taken off with high society too — even Michelle Obama chose a white pair of ripped jeans while on holiday earlier this year.
Meghan has swept in and added some much-needed sparkle to the Royal Family.
Now if only she could get Harry to scrub up a bit too.
No
Says Ingrid Seward, Editor-in-Chief of Majesty magazine
MEGHAN is a modern, independent woman who does what she likes, when she likes.
She proved this with her recent Vanity Fair interview, openly declaring her love for Harry.
And when she chose ripped jeans for her first public appearance at his side, it was unsurprising that criticism has followed.
The fact she chose a look more suitable for a pub was obviously purposeful.
It was such a significant moment for the couple to be forever immortalised by her messy appearance.
Harry is a free spirit, but he must have known Meghan was looking just too casual. For such an historic photo opportunity, she needed to appear at her best.
While this look is all the rage, it is simply not appropriate for such an occasion. It was 30C in Toronto and a simple frock might have looked so much more feminine. And dignified.
Meghan is not Kate, and she is not trying to be. But at 36 she is three years Harry’s senior and the more mature of the two
She knew her appearance would be dissected by the media so I wonder, what message was she trying to get across?
I believe she is saying: “Like it or not, I’m here to stay — and I’m going to do things my way.”
The Queen would have thought it an odd look. The royal courtiers would have tut-tutted, but reminded themselves Meghan is not a princess nor a royal fiancée, so she can do what she likes. But everything she does reflects on Harry, and therefore on the Monarchy.
Meghan knows this, or if not, she perhaps should realise now. Of course she dresses down when not in public. But this occasion was almost the equivalent of Charles and Camilla posing outside the Ritz Hotel in 1999 — an informal acknowledgement of their relationship.
Please, Meghan, don’t put yourself in the firing line, whatever Harry says. It’s not just him. It’s not just you any more.
However individual you are, the ripped jeans send out the wrong message.
Ingrid Seward is author of My Husband and I, published on November 2.
