After a bit of a delay, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex began their tour of Morocco last night. The Duchess choose a custom piece by Italian fashion house, Valentino. This was a surprising choice for royal fashion watchers as Meghan has never chosen to wear Valentino for Royal Engagements so far and most were banking on a Givenchy ensemble for Clare Waight Keller.

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The Duchess chose a bespoke red dress and embroidered caplet design from Valentino. The bright crimson red dress features a crew neckline, bracelet length sleeves and a wide a-line flared skirt to a knee length, giving a very airy and free feel to the dress. This is a bit of a step away from the Duchess’ usual maternity look with Meghan normally choosing dresses that showcase her bump.

A small split at the front middle of the skirt can just be seen when viewing photos up close. The choice of red was very fitting to her visit to Morocco, with red being represented in the countries flag, a nice nod to Meghan’s host nation and a great use of royal diplomatic dressing.

The #VRING observed.
On her trip to Casablanca, Duchess of Sussex #MeghanMarkle wears a red dress, cape and VRING bag by #PierpaoloPiccioli. pic.twitter.com/Ii4j48eyIw

— Valentino (@MaisonValentino) February 23, 2019

A matching red intricately embroidered swirl pattern capelet adorned the dress. The capelet at first appeared to be attached to the dress, though it was confirmed to be separates with small button fastenings across the shoulder. The pieces originate from the designer’s Spring 2013 Collection.

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Meghan added a new Valentino Bag to her ensemble. The ‘Small VRing Calf Leather Crossbody bag’, retailing for £1,544. The front flap bag features a tri-colour style, with the flap being a blush leather with an maroon contrasting under panel and a cream leather body. The bag has a distinctive red leather strip knotted to the gold ring attached the ‘V’ gold plaque on the front of the bag. The bag features three fold out compartments and an internal red zip pocket. An optional adjustable shoulder strap for a crossbody style and two knotted leather flaps hangs from either side of the bag for some more decoration. You can pre-order the Duchess’ bag here. A larger version of the bag is available here.

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The design of this bag comes from Valentino Spring 2018 Collection where much of the hardware on the bags was changed to a new style of a solid letter ‘V’ encircled in a ring.

Meghan wore her Natalie Marie ‘Sun Diamond Stud’ earrings, retailing for £1,338. The 0.64ct white marquise diamonds are inspired by a sunbeam and are available in rose-gold, yellow gold and white gold. Meghan wears the yellow gold style. Whilst these earrings do look similar in style to her Adina Reyter earrings, the distinguishing feature is that each diamond is around the same size whilst the Adina Reyter ones are different sizes and have quite pointed ends. We have only seen Meghan wear these earrings on a handful of occasions. You can purchase Meghan’s earrings here.

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Meghan wore a new pair of Aquazzura blush leather pumps, originally retailing for £466 but now on sale for £360. The leather pumps have a strong sharp point at the the front and a curved heel of about 100mm. You can purchase Meghan’s heels here.

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Meghan carried a pair of very pale beige leather wrist length gloves. Some have suggested Gianvito Rossi gloves for these, though there is no confirmation as yet. We often see Meghan carry glove she to events but seldom wear them.

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The Duchess accessorised with one of her Catbird NYC ‘Threadbare Rings’, retailing for £35. These very fine 14k gold hammered rings are some of Meghan’s go-to accessories, having been worn on almost all outings. You can purchase Meghan’s ring here.

We loved the striking red colour on the Duchess today, very chic.

Get Meghan’s look here:

with thanks to @ufonomore for dress info