Apparently then-Meghan Markle met the fashion designer Roland Mouret in 2015. She wrote about it in The Tig, and he apparently approached HER about wanting to dress her. From that point, Meghan regularly wore Mouret’s designs, including during her engagement and after she was married. I don’t think Meghan has worn any Mouret in years though, and now we’re learning why: because this man is terribly indiscreet, if not a complete fantasist. Roland Mouret has written a memoir, I Am Roland Mouret: The Butcher’s Boy Who Dressed the World. The Times of London got (paid for) the first excerpts of the book, and as you can imagine, the biggest headline thus far is about Meghan. It’s bizarre because Mouret is legitimately one of the best designers of the past 30 years. This year actually marks the 20th anniversary of his “Galaxy dress,” which was one of the most worn and copied dresses ever. Why is he acting like a tabloid gossip?? Some excerpts from the Times coverage:

Mouret designed the dress the Duchess of Sussex wore the evening before her wedding and was a guest at the ceremony itself and the afterparty at Frogmore House, where he spoke to Harry.

“‘You don’t look like a fashion designer,’ Harry said, a bit gruffly,” Mouret recalls. “He meant, of course, you don’t look like a gay fashion designer.”

***

Kate Middleton came to my studio to try on some clothes. Later, I went to the palace with clothes for her. Many want to be famous but if Kate could do everything she does, and be married to the man she is married to, without the fame, you suspect she would choose it.

***

In Istanbul, at the opening of Soho House in 2015, I was joined in the lift by a woman in her dressing gown going to have a spa treatment. I said, “You don’t know me but you do know me in a way. I am Roland Mouret.”

She screamed and laughed and we chatted for a few moments. I told her that Suits was being very good to me [his designs had featured in the series].

“See you at the party tonight.”
“See you there, Meghan.”

A year later I went to Canada to do an event and Meghan came along. I messaged her to bring her boyfriend and she texted back saying they were splitting up. “I’m coming to London soon,” she told me. “I’m going to travel in Europe this summer because I’m single and I want to have a change.”

“I will see you in London,” I said. “And I promise you, you’ll meet a nice European guy this summer.” As that summer turned to autumn, I got a call from her. “Roland, I met someone.”
“Your nice European guy?”
“Nice British guy.” She giggled.
“Even better,” I said. “What does he do?” She hesitated. “He’s a prince.”

I knew she was in love. It was the amount of breath mixed in with her words, finely balanced but revealing, just like a perfume. There was only one British prince. We knew who we were talking about.

“You’ll go to a lot of functions, you’ll need clothes. Do you want me to send you some now so that you’ll be ready?”

“Yes, please.”

I asked a member of my team to send a selection I had put aside to the palace. “Leave them there as long as she wants them. Don’t follow up on it and do not talk about it to anyone at all, here or outside.”

Three months later, Meghan and I met up for a coffee. She said, “It’s going to come out very soon. We think the press know and it’s any day now.”

Meghan and Harry’s relationship became public. Then the same team member who had sent the clothes for Meghan decided, in an honest attempt to be efficient, to call Kate’s stylist at the palace and ask for Meghan’s dresses to be returned. Meghan was furious and called me.

“You don’t realise what you’ve done! You’ve embarrassed me!”

“No, Meghan, it was just a mistake by someone who didn’t know. My apologies. I know it’s not good for you and you want to do things privately.”

“You know now I can never wear your clothes again.”

I didn’t see the logic of that but I didn’t question it. Meghan’s decision not to wear my clothes was hers, not the palace’s, not anybody else’s. I don’t think anyone else cared. But the following year, I saw a photo of her out in a cheap high street copy of one of my designs. I messaged her: “I can understand if you don’t wear my stuff, but if it’s to wear a cheap copy then that’s ridiculous. Come back.” She texted back: “I think I should come and see you.”

[From The Times]

I’m not sure I even follow the story – when Meghan was first dating Harry (in late 2016/early 2017), Mouret had dresses sent to the palace? And then one of his staffers then called Kate’s stylist and asked for the dresses to be returned? If that’s what happened, then Meghan had every right to cut off Mouret, because that’s a major mix-up. Why would anyone from his office contact Kate’s stylist about Meghan’s clothes? I wonder if this is possibly the root of Kate and Natalie Archer’s fixation on Meghan and Meghan’s style though – god knows how many designers were trying to send Meghan clothes, and I bet some of them even tried to go through Archer. Is this the explanation for Kate’s tantrum about “fashion contacts” as well? Was Kate trying to say that only *she* could wear Mouret? Interesting.

Photos of Meghan wearing Roland Mouret dresses, courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.