The Duchess of Sussex hasn’t been seen in public for almost two months. Even if her appearances are rare nowadays, she loves to make an impact when she is seen and Thursday evening was no exception, when she accompanied Prince Harry to this year’s ESPY awards where he accepted the Pat Tillman Award for Service.
As for the Duchess, we might award her for services to the timeless white gown. She exuded glamour and sophistication in a pared-back, floor-length design by Oscar de la Renta. She was reportedly styled for the occasion by LA power player Jamie Mizrahi, who also works with the likes of Adele and Jennifer Lawrence to hone their public image.
But as with so many of the Duchess’s style choices, there were deeper messages at play.
In his speech, Prince Harry alluded to his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, telling the audience that the bond between a mother and son “transcends even the greatest losses”. The Duchess, who has long referenced Diana’s style in her own outfits, echoed her husband’s sentiment with a gown which recalled some of the Princess’s more daring style moments, especially the sexier looks she adopted following her separation from the now-King Charles.
Take the crisp optic-white Versace mini dress which she wore to a 1995 fundraising concert, the pale chiffon halterneck gown chosen for a London night out in 1992, or another Catherine Walker halter-neck cocktail dress debuted at the 1995 Serpentine summer party – all these looks show Diana looking confident and radiant, and could easily have been on the moodboard of Oscar de la Renta designers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia when they were creating the Duchess’s custom design.
The other unmistakable reference? Well, the Duchess herself. On her wedding night six years ago, she set off for her reception wearing an elegant Stella McCartney halter-neck gown. Slash the train and tweak the neckline and Thursday night’s design could almost be the very same dress. It’s a subliminal reminder from the Duchess of a day when the world’s eyes were on her and her new husband as they were hailed as the refreshing future of the Royal family.
By turning to Oscar de la Renta, too, the Duchess underscores her time in the UK. 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.
If the Duchess and Prince Harry’s life has changed beyond recognition since their marriage then one of the few constants has been the Duchess’s longtime friend Serena Williams, who also happened to be hosting the ESPY awards.
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.”
She may have been joking but had the Duchess and Serena planned a sartorial representation of the remarks? 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.
But completing her look with a £550 pair of Celine sandals, the Duchess epitomised the style adage that less is more.
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