As we discussed this week, the Duchess of Sussex visited the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles on March 21. The photos and videos just came out on Tuesday. I saw that the Daily Mail already has a story about how Meghan ordered a delay in the release of the photos because of the Princess of Wales’s cancer-announcement video (which came out on March 22). That might even be true, although we’ve seen before that Meghan and Harry often make undercover or quiet charity visits and the information isn’t released for weeks, sometimes even months.

Predictably, the usual people are mad about Meghan’s hospital visit. They’re mad because it’s a “royal-style” visit, they’re mad that Meghan isn’t hiding away while Kate has disappeared, they’re mad that Meghan exists. The Express is mad because apparently Meghan signed an autograph for a kid, which is yet another (fictional) royal rule. With all of this anger over an American woman visiting sick kids, imagine my surprise that the Telegraph devoted an entire style article to Meghan’s silk Oscar de la Renta dress, and they compared her to Princess Diana?

The late Princess Diana kept a “caring dress” in her wardrobe – a Bellville Sassoon shift in the most uplifting shade of cobalt blue, splattered with bright watercolour carnations. She called it so, according to its designer, David Sassoon, as it was the dress she would reach for when visiting children (particularly those in hospitals around the world) in an attempt to bring some colour and joy to any ward she stepped into.

Fast-forward to March 2024 and the Duchess of Sussex adopted the same style strategy as she joined story time at a children’s hospital in Los Angeles. Her take on the “caring dress” was a £2,776 Oscar de la Renta chiffon style, the hem of which featured a floral landscape with bold stems shooting up towards the waist. If the silk seemed a precious choice for an engagement with children, it didn’t stop Meghan from hugging and posing for photos with patients and staff.

It wasn’t a new addition to her wardrobe; this is a piece that she wears at home with her own children, as we saw in the 2022 Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan. In those clips, she was barefoot in the family’s Montecito garden, her son Archie’s feet kicking around her waist as she carried him (and arguably adding some authentic mud to the picture).

Diana’s “caring dress” was also a designer number. She rewore hers on several public occasions after it was created for her in 1988: on visits to Lagos in Nigeria, in São Paulo, Brazil, and also while visiting a London Aids hospice. The repetition served to reiterate her point that bright colours and florals appealed to her audience. The press at the time goaded her, apparently telling the Princess to “give the dress a rest”.

For Meghan, some 35 years later, the floral dress feels markedly different to the beige “stealth wealth” outfits we are used to seeing her wear. As she prepares to launch her new lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard, perhaps we will see a new chapter begin in her fashion playbook; the wholesome floral dress could be linchpin in any “trad wife” look.

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, the dress is a familiar piece to longtime Meghan-watchers. She also wore it in 2022, when she and Harry brought their children to the UK. There were photos (seen in the Netflix series) of the Sussexes walking outside of Frogmore Cottage, and posing for photos inside the cottage, and Meghan is wearing the dress. I always thought it was a two-piece, blouse and muted silk skirt. Guess not. Anyway, it’s clear that this is just a dress that Meghan likes and one which has been in her closet for several years. I don’t find it particularly trad-wifey either. That being said, I am glad Meghan didn’t wear another f–king beige ensemble! I will buy ten jars of Meghan’s jam if she wears some bright colors this year.

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Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid, Netflix, Getty.