A lot has changed in the life of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, since she last visited Australia in 2018, but her taste in designers remains the same.
Nearly eight years ago Meghan wore a dress by Sydney-based designer Karen Gee for her first official engagement at Admiralty House, and today she returned to the label for her first appearance in Melbourne at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
“She is very loyal to me, which is beautiful,” Gee says. “When a woman like Meghan chooses to wear Karen Gee again, years after first discovering the brand, it speaks to something far deeper than a moment.”
According to the designer, Meghan personally requested to wear the label, choosing a number of dresses, including the $1250 Priscilla style, which launched in February.
“We’ve remained in touch since 2018, and that continued connection makes moments like this even more meaningful. With Meghan it’s always been a very genuine relationship built on mutual respect.”
Gee was kept in the dark about Meghan’s poignant selection until contacted by this reporter with photographs of the duchess in the dress to confirm the design.
“She looks amazing,” says Gee, who dressed Jodie Haydon, the wife of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, for the London funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
When Meghan wore the structured white Blessed dress by Gee in 2018, the former Suits actor’s pregnancy – she was carrying her first child, Prince Archie – had just been announced, guaranteeing international exposure for the then five-year-old brand.
The deceptively simple-looking dress with contour panels was only available for custom orders, and Gee’s website temporarily crashed.
This time Gee is prepared to capitalise on Meghan’s support, having launched a ready-to-wear collection which includes the Priscilla dress. Less than two hours after the duchess’ hospital visit, Gee’s website listing for the Priscilla was updated with “As Worn By Meghan, Duchess of Sussex”.
The polished silhouette of the Priscilla dress is a return to the sleek formal style championed during Meghan’s brief 22 months as a working royal, which came to an end in March 2020 when the couple left the UK to live in Montecito, California.
Since then Meghan’s style has evolved, incorporating more relaxed, oversized silhouettes from luxury labels, with the occasional inclusion of high-street staples Zara and H&M.
To accompany her return to royal dressing, Meghan accessorised her Karen Gee dress with an 18-carat yellow gold Cartier Tank Francaise watch that once belonged to her mother-in-law, Princess Diana. Cartier introduced the model in 1996, the same year Diana finalised her divorce from King Charles, then Prince of Wales.
Prince Harry reportedly gifted his late mother’s watch to Meghan in 2020 and she wore it regularly on her discontinued Netflix series With Love, Meghan.
The watch co-ordinated with 14-carat gold Puffy Hearts earrings, available for $1170 from Brisbane-born jewellery designer Eliza O’Connor’s LA-based label Real Fine Studio.
“We are already seeing sales,” says O’Connor. “We haven’t even posted about it yet.”
The partnership came about through mutual friends. “It’s so LA,” O’Connor says. “She has a number of pieces to wear throughout the trip. To have her wearing them on day one means so much.”
O’Connor, who has not met Meghan, describes her label as having an heirloom focus, with pieces designed to be passed on to the next generation.
Having played the princess part for patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital, later in the day Meghan returned to her stealth-wealth style in a suede look from Australian label St Agni.
Pulling her hair back in a bun, Meghan wore the brand’s suede utility cocoon bomber in khaki, priced at $999, currently on the Coming Soon section of the St Agni website. She paired the jacket with a chunky knit and $889 suede skirt from the label, along with Real Fine Studio diamond studs, for a visit to the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum in Southbank.
Meghan has worn the Byron Bay-based label founded by husband-and-wife duo Lara and Matt Fells in 2014 before. Alongside fellow guests Naomi Watts, Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow, Meghan wore a St Agni linen vest with matching trousers to the G9 Ventures Summer Summit in the Hamptons, New York, in 2024.
It’s a big day for the Fells, who launched their collaboration with Witchery for the White Shirt Campaign, raising money for ovarian cancer research, with lunch at Mimi’s restaurant in Sydney.
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