Despite being well-acquainted with plenty of front-row types, Megan Markle isn’t especially well known for fashion week theatrics, despite having dipped a toe into the New York Fashion week scene back in her Suits days.
But this all changed when the Duchess of Sussex made an unexpected Paris Fashion Week — and Balenciaga — double debut this weekend, landing in the city for a whistle-stop tour wearing a fashion and beauty look that was part high-fashion priestess, part understated power-play.
Meghan arrived at the Balenciaga show on Saturday to support Pierpaolo Piccioli’s debut collection for the house, brushing shoulders with fellow guests including Anna Wintour, Anne Hathaway, FKA Twigs, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, swathed in crisp white — a structured shawl draped a-top a sharp, collared button-down shirt and flowing, wide-legged pants.
Her beauty look was just as precise, considered and refined: dewy, perfected skin paired with a modern buffed-out, barely-there smoky eye that nailed the no-makeup-makeup-look ideal. And her hair? Slicked back into a bun with a vibe somewhere between Clean Girl and Balletcore. A milky blush manicure completed the look.
It was all very subtle, elegant and — while not at all daring — highly effective in ensuring that nothing distracted from the tailoring, nor the very clear message: I flew in, I’m here and I know what I’m doing.
Then — of course — there was The Reel. Posted some hours later via her Instagram account, it offer a curated glimpse into the Duchess’s weekend: a taxi ride past the Arc de Triomphe under crisp blue skies, swathes of blooming hydrangeas, some spectacular looking frites, evidence of an impressive 100-day Duolingo streak, a grinning glam squad and an enviable array of hot-red Tom Ford Lipsticks. The final shot? Meghan gliding (despite her black Balenciaga Knife heels) out of the hotel lobby, flash bulbs popping. She stayed — naturally — at the five-star Hôtel Plaza Athénée - where the lighting is excellent, the guests refined and the pillows perfection.
For the evening there was Look Two: a sleek, black, asymmetrical midi dress worn with a taupe colour-wash across the eyelids, another balmy nude lip, and the same shoes she had worn earlier that day. In keeping with the rest of the trip, the vibe was more legacy elegance than fashion week fun.
Whatever your opinion of Meghan, for someone long accused of over-exposure, this is undeniably a woman who understands the power of showing up somewhere fabulous, wearing white and disappearing before the unbecoming behaviour begins.
