The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Fiji today to start their tour there, before an official state dinner. Both Harry and Meghan were dressed very formally for the red carpet military arrival at the airport. The Duchess was dressed in a pretty white Zimmermann dress.
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Meghan chose the Zimmermann blouson sleeve dress retailing for £408. The beautiful feminine dress is made from floaty lightweight draped fabric in a clean lined silhouettes. The crisp white dress has a crew neck, striking vintage style long voluminous blouson sleeves with elasticated cuffs, cinched waistline and an asymmetric hem. The Zimmermann design has body contouring dart details and an invisible rear zip closure. The Duchess appears to have had her dress slightly shortened as the ready to wear dress sweeps to the ankle. Meghan has also had the elasticated cuff removed and the sleeve ends in a more relaxed fit, though this does remove the construction of the pretty voluminous sleeve.
Zimmermann is an Australian designer that we have seen the Duchess of Cambridge wear on her visit to Australia in 2014. We love this dress on Meghan, she looks regal, elegant and poised.
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In terms of the typical Zimmermann style and signature look, this dress is very far removed from their normal aesthetic and design concepts. We were quite surprised to learn the dress was one of their pieces. The dress is quite reminiscent of Meghan’s Goat dress she wore to Prince Charle’s 70th birthday garden party (remind yourself here); we would love to have seen a bolder Zimmermann design chosen as their dresses are quite unique.
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This dress is sold out, though you can still view it here. This dress is also available in black, red, a rose print and a floral print. You can purchase all these different styles from Zimmermann online here.
Meghan wore a new fascinator from contemporary and avant garde UK Milliner Stephen Jones. A sinamay slanted beret in white with a white folded flat bow and white netting. The adornment on top of the hat is actually quite similar to that of Meghan’s other Stephen Jones hat that she wore to Prince Louis’ Christening (see here). This is a bespoke piece and we suspect it may be part of his bridal collection. Stephen Jones is also responsible for creating many fashion houses hats for runway shows, including Dior.
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Meghan carried her Kayu ‘Anna’ straw clutch in black, retailing for £191. Meghan very much brought an island vibe with this black hand woven raffia rounded edge box clutch, featuring a jewel inlaid clasp. A raffia/straw bag or clutch always reminds us of lazy summer days. An interesting offset of the very formal dress and hat with the clutch as a way to show the formal engagement, but on a tropical island setting. We saw Meghan carry this clutch with her to a friends wedding earlier in the year. The clutch is also available in black raffia with white gems and beige raffia with black gems.
This clutch has sold out, though you can purchase an almost identical style of this Kayu clutch here.
Meghan wore her Tabitha Simmons ‘Millie Slingback’ pumps, retailing for £515. We saw these black suede, pointed toe slingback pumps with side bow detail debut a few days ago in Sydney. Many royal fashion watchers are now getting her Tabitha Simmons and Aquazzura Bow Pumps confused as they do look so similar in style, especially when the first grainy photos are released; however, there is a difference in height that can be the key to deducing which shoes they are! These heels are also available in red and white patent, and green and yellow satin. Due to their popularity these heels have sold out.
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Meghan wore 2 of her Catbird NYC Threadbare Rings, retailing for £34. You can purchase the ring here.
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The Duchess accessorised with some beautiful jewellery gifted to her by the Royal Family. A pair of diamond and pearl drop stud earrings gifted by The Queen and a delicate diamond tennis bracelet that was gifted to her by her father-in-law Prince Charles.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex later attended the official state banquet of Fiji. Meghan chose a sweeping vibrant blue gown by British label Safiyaa London. We are more than pleased that the Duchess has chosen a British label to wear, especially as the representative of The Queen at a formal banquet.
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The Duchess wore Safiyaa ‘Ginkgo Cape Dress’, retailing for £1,095. This gorgeous fitted floor-length gown is crafted in stretch heavy crepe fabric. The amazing feature of this gown is the full-length cape that sweeps over the rear to elevate this look to regal status. The cape clings to the front of the dress with fitted short sleeves, and the long flowing tailed back showcases a deep split; it is fixed in place with six fabric covered loop buttons at the nape of the neck. The colour of the gown is described as ‘bluette’. The blue has been intentionally chosen by Meghan as it is the Fijian blue that features over the main body of the country’s flag. A nice diplomatic nod to her host country. Meghan looked truly beautiful as the cape of the dress elegantly glided down the stairs behind her as she entered the banquet.
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The brand was build out of it’s founder’s Daniela Karnuts want to provide women the same bespoke tailoring service that is offered to men on the Saville Road in London. Safiyaa aims to create a demi-couture collection for women, crafting garments from luxe fabrics, for beautifully tailored feminine evening wear. The website states “In a world of fast fashion and conform trends, Safiyaa stands for timeless elegance and products that are lovingly hand stitched piece by piece. With a focus on bespoke requests, it is the idea of our brand becoming for dresses what Savile Row is for suits.” — Daniela Karnuts, Founder of Safiyaa
This dress is entirely created bespoke for each client with an estimated time of 3-7 weeks delivery from time of purchase. You can purchase this dress here. Try this to get the look for less, purchase here.
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Meghan wore her Manolo Blahnik ‘BB 105’ navy pumps with Tora Heel, retailing for £509. The dark navy of the heels contrasted against the lighter blue of the dress, and also work to match with the colours of the Fijian Flag, great work on behalf of Meghan on the colour matching of her outfit from head to toe. We like this look, and if we get to see a re-wear of this piece her Givenchy wedding heels would match perfectly with the sparkling diamonds.
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You can purchase these pumps here. Try these to get the look for less, purchase here.
The Duchess wore a pair of glittering white and yellow diamond cascading chandelier earrings, on loan to her from an unknown person. A large oval yellow diamond stud is surrounded by a halo of smaller set white diamonds. Three longer branch cascades of diamonds dangle from the centre stones with identical styling. In each branch are three smaller set diamonds in a vertical drop, followed by a yellow diamond teardrop surrounded by a halo of smaller set diamonds, one last smaller diamond gives way to a large circular yellow diamond also surrounded by a halo of small inlaid white diamonds. The centre branch dangles every so slightly longer than the left and right to create a statement chandelier piece.
Our best guest is that these earrings may once have belonged to Queen Mary (or May) of Teck, Queen Elizabeth’s grandmother, but the palace will not tell use who they have been loaned by… We know The Queen favours many of her grandmother’s pieces to wear. Get Meghan’s earring style here.
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The Duchess also wore a diamond bracelet, this also looks to be a borrowed piece and just slightly wider than the tennis bracelet from Prince Charles. You can get the look for less of this bracelet here.
Meghan looked elegant, regal and beautiful in her simmering and dazzling diamonds. We can’t wait to see Meghan attend her first official state banquet and wear another tiara. In fact we can’t wait to see Meghan and Kate together for a dual tiara moment!
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with @PresidentFiji, First Lady Sarote Konrote and Speaker to @fijiparliament Dr Jiko Luveni at tonight's state dinner at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva. #FijiNews #RoyalVisitFiji Source: @FijianGovt pic.twitter.com/Y7Zw487avs
— The Fiji Times (@fijitimes) October 23, 2018
You can get Meghan’s arrival look here:
Get Meghan’s elegant banquet look here:
with thanks to @whatmegwore, @heavenQRF(fbanquet dress) @japanese_ginger (zimmermann dress), @MeghansFashion, @MadAbout Meghan for fashion insights.