The Duchess of Sussex hasn’t seen in public in almost two months. Yet though she rarely makes an appearance these days, she enjoys making an impact when she is around. On Thursday night, she joined Prince Harry at this year’s ceremony where he accepted the Pat Tillman Award for Service.
We may recognize the Duchess for her dedication to the classic white dress. She exuded beauty and elegance in a pared-back, floor-length style by Oscar de la Renta. Le power person Jamie Mizrahi, who also collaborates with the likes of Adele and Jennifer Lawrence, apparently styled her for the event.
But as with so many of the Duchess’s design choices, there were deeper emails at play.
In his discourse, Prince Harry alluded to his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, telling the audience that the relationship between a mother and son “supersedes even the greatest costs.” The Duchess, who has much referenced Diana’s tone in her own garments, echoed her husband’s mood with a dress which recalled some of, especially the better looks she adopted following her parting from the now-King Charles.
Take the light-colored Catherine Walker halter-neck cocktail dress from the 1995 Serpentine summer group, the sharp optic-white Versace little gown from which she wore to a 1995 fundraising concert, or another Catherine Walker halter-neck cocktail dress from the same year. All of these appearances are sure to have been on the minds of Oscar de la Renta manufacturers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia when creating the Duchess’ custom design.
The other unmistakable reference? Well, the Duchess herself. She set off for the reception wearing an elegant attire on her wedding night six years ago. Cut the train and alter the neckline, and the result would be a nearly identical dress for Thursday night. It’s a subliminal reminder from the Duchess of a time when the world was watching her and her new husband as they were hailed as the new Royal family’s bright future.
The Duchess emphasizes her time in the UK by also turning to Oscar de la Renta. The American label dressed her mother, Doria Ragland, for the Windsor wedding in a chic pistachio ensemble. In the months following her marriage, the Duchess used de la Renta designs to nod to her US heritage, from a bird-adorned tulle dress on tour in Australia to a floral wrap dress ( which received mixed reviews ) for the wedding of Harry’s cousin, Celia McCorquodale.
One of the few constants is Serena Williams, the Duchess’s longtime friend and host of the ESPY awards, if the Duchess and Prince Harry’s life has changed beyond recognition since their union.
In her opening speech, Williams referred to her friends, saying: “Please Harry and Meghan, try not to breathe too much tonight, because this is my night, and I don’t want to be overshadowed by the accusations that you guys are taking up too much oxygen.”
Although she may have been making jokes, had the Duchess and Serena planned a sartorial rendering of the remarks, what would have happened? Both women chose to wear figure-skimming halter-neck dresses but while Williams’s Ferragamo number was adorned with sequins and ostrich feathers, the Duchess’s appeared to be far more simple, an example of her new brand of Montecito minimalism.
The Duchess, however, epitomized the adage that less is more when she completed her look.