We are hilariously on Day 4 of the “Meghan Looked Great In A Red Dress” newscycle. Saturday night, the Duchess of Sussex made a surprise appearance at the LA Children’s Hospital gala. She rewore her red taffeta Carolina Herrera gown (without the puffy train) and she styled her hair with beachy waves. She looked amazing, glam and sexy, even if some of us still have concerns about the weird bust pleats on the dress. Well, Meghan’s appearance has basically caused a full-scale meltdown in the British media. I regularly check in on the British tabloids’ main “royals” pages, and the Sun and the Mail have both devoted dozens of stories to “Meghan wore a red dress.” They’re analyzing what the dress meant, they’re claiming she copied Kate (!!), they’re analyzing her marriage, they’re lying about whether she was invited to the gala, they’re quoting Liz Cundy of all people. But this is one of the funniest pieces to come out of the entire saga: “LIZ JONES: I’ve always backed Meghan. But the red dress pictures have led me to a startling realisation… and I can no longer support her.” If Jones was trying to be satirical, I’m not sure she could have done a better job:
I tried, I really did. I’d invested so much in our relationship. Years! Yes, I’d overlooked countless red flags. I’m loyal, after all. She’s a woman. Someone I saw as self-made, outspoken, a little broken, put upon, ridiculed and bullied by social and mainstream media. But now? I cannot overlook that red dress. It was Meghan’s appearance on the red carpet at the Children’s Hospital Gala in Los Angeles this weekend that finally caused the scales to fall from my eyes.
Yes, I suddenly found myself cringing with second-hand embarrassment when I saw those pictures. And once you have that feeling, you can’t go back. Previously, I have heaped praise on Meghan’s wedding dresses – all two of them. Applauded her love for dogs and all animals, a conviction she upheld despite joining a family that loves to shoot things.
I adored her bravery in going up against a powerful dynasty, and her honesty at being unable to stomach cutting ribbons at some God-awful windswept new factory in Leicester. Girl, we hear you! As a one-time aspiring Hollywood actress, you know the meaning of hard, thankless work – you are one of us! You speak out about things that are hard to take or even believe, or bore you stiff. Self-care not sacrifice? I love it!
But at that charity gala I realised that I was starting to ring false. Meghan, it’s you, not me. I’m sorry to say, in that ill-fitting dress you didn’t look like a regal royal – you looked diminished. That’s when I realised that what you now represent is so small as well: Meghan has gone from Duchess to D-list.
She hasn’t grown in stature over her years in the public eye, she has shrunk, as though she’d been put through a hot wash. Only her eyebrows have grown. Compare the photo of Meghan in the pared-down version of the Carolina Herrera dress from this weekend to when she first wore it, in 2021, alongside Harry. Then it had a magnificent train which she has inexplicably chosen to remove. And she also back then still had that royal gloss – her hair was worn up, not loose and straggly. The split in the gown was also a bad choice, given it made the obligatory kneeling to talk to small children awkward, to put it politely. As a Duchess, or even as a minor celeb, you really do have to think about these things.
Jones also called Meghan a “washed up celebrity” as well as a “D-lister.” An entire national press is still crying, four days later, because Meghan left her house and attended a charity gala. Because she looked great too. Also: it’s funny that early in this cycle, it was “Meghan is copying KATE by rewearing a dress” and now it’s “Meghan looks tacky and D-list!” Are you saying that Kate is tacky and D-list and Meghan is trying to copy that?
Photos courtesy of Getty.