Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and Meghan Markle have long been locked in a royal fashion war over who looks best in the eyes of royal fashion fans. The Sussex Squad will always claim that ‘Kate’ steals Meghan’s style and is not original when it is quite the opposite. The future Queen’s style is inspiring while the former actress looks like she’s come out of a car wash with a messy style. Moreover, this has nothing to do with favouritism. It has to do with how both women dress.
Meghan’s fashion is usually oversized, too tight, untailored, or unsuitable. Catherine is always dressed impeccably, with proper tailoring and an understanding of the dress code, where she is going, and how much is too much for an outfit. In this post, we’re going examine some of the Princess of Wales and the former actress favourite brands and how they stack up.
Royal Fashion Wars: Round 1 – Prices
Regarding royal fashion, it is unclear whether each royal woman has a clothing budget. However, what is known is many of them rewear items they have worn before. One example of this is Princess Anne, The Princess Royal. She is well-known for re-wearing outfits sometimes 20 years later.
Another is Princess Catherine, who has re-worn outfits on multiple occasions. Sometimes, she alters the original to give it a new lease on life. One example of this is her BAFTAs dress from a few years ago.
We HATED the rewear of the dress. It looked better in 2019. However, the look did allegedly inspire a recent look from the singer of the moment, Taylor Swift.
Meghan must’ve been screaming and smashing plates when she saw people making that comparison since she allegedly tried to get Ms Swift on her podcast, Archetypes, but was turned down, as per Perez Hilton.
Catherine doesn’t have to spend a fortune on her wardrobe to look good. Her outfits rarely venture over $100k. However, Meghan loves spending money on outfits that don’t suit her and barely fit her correctly. Her most expensive outfit was the maternity gown in Morocco, which cost $100k. She only ever wore it once and that was on just one outfit.
One of Catherine’s favourite things is wearing accessory jewellery that doesn’t cost the Earth. Meghan wears jewellery from designers that she only wears, again, once. One of Meghan’s favourite pieces is her beloved blood diamond pinky ring that she wears everywhere. Who knows how much thing cost.
Expensive vs. Cheap
Meghan’s engagement portrait dress by Ralph and Russo caused an uproar as it cost $75k. Also, where is Markle’s other arm? Not to mention, we have never seen her wear this dress again.
Sure, we haven’t seen Catherine wear her engagement dress again, but we have seen her wear the shirt she was wearing in her engagement portraits.
According to the What Kate Wore fashion website, Catherine could have been wearing at least two shirts in the above photo. One is the Amy Blouse from Whistles. The second one became known as the Kate blouse.
Also, the site says that the shirt is just over $120, given it is made of silk. This is a big difference compared to the $70k price tag of Meghan’s sheer tulle grown.
Royal Fashion Wars: Round 2 – Fit
Catherine’s clothing, whether the items are bought for her or loaned, always fit perfectly. Then, you have the wrinkled mess of everything Meghan wears.
Every item is tailored, ironed and pressed for the Princess of Wales, whereas Meghan doesn’t appear to believe in any of those things. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this.
Let’s start with Meghan and her beloved Dior.
So, the item we are going to look at is a recent Dior shirt Meghan wore to some event.
Okay, forgetting the over-photoshopping of Markle’s face (pot meet kettle), the shirt is insanely wrinkled and looks too big for Meghan’s torso. It looks like she’s wearing it backward or it is a reverse straightjacket.
Now, we move onto Catherine.
The picture you see above is from a larger family of Catherine with William, George, Charlotte and Louis. As you can see, the shirt is pressed, no wrinkles, and it fits her as it should. The Mabel Broderie Anglaise Shirt would hang a little better if it weren’t tucked into her M.I.H Jeans.
Example Number Two
Let’s do two more examples; trousers.
Meghan has a weird obsession with trousers that drag on the ground.
These Beige (Meghan’s favourite colour) Wide-Leg pants, supposedly by Tronjori, can be found on both Amazon and eBay. Do you really think Meghan would be scrolling through a peasant’s website like Amazon or eBay? Nope. She’d go through the actual brand site.
As you can see in the photo, the pants are dragging on the ground. The People Magazine article we linked in the previous paragraph includes a picture of how the pants are meant to sit: at the ankle. They are not supposed to cover the whole foot. Meghan did this with trousers she wore to Wimbledon in 2019, too.
Royal Fashion Wars: Round 3 – Brands
Finally, we get to the reason we’re here: the brands. When have we ever seen Meghan dress in outfits that aren’t over $1000? It does happen, but not a lot. What is the most uncommon thing is that she rarely wears anything under $100.
Catherine, meanwhile, is well known for her savvy spending. She has been known to wear outfits and accessories that are under $100.
Let’s go over the cheapest and expensive brands worn by Catherine and Meghan.
Cheapest – Meghan
Many of the brands listed here are from a Town and Country article with Nordstrom sale items.
- Birkenstock
- Madewell
- Adidas
- Smythe
- Club Monaco
- Mother
- BaubleBar
- Longchamp Le Pliage
- Burberry
- Missoma
- Frame
- Hunter
- J.Crew
Cheapest – Catherine
This information comes from Dress Like A Duchess.
- Zara
- Asos
- Marks & Spencer
- & Other Stories
- Gap
- Topshop
- J.Crew
- Sezane
- Boden
- Missoma
Expensive – Meghan
Many items listed here are mentioned in a Daily Mail article about the German Invictus Games.
- Givenchy
- Chanel
- Ralph Lauren
- Gucci
- Prada
- Dior (oh so beloved!)
- Hermès
- Cartier
- Valentino
- Aquazzura
- Luna Skye
- Manoloblahnik
- Shiffon and Co
- Lagencefashion
- Gabriela Hearst
- Cesta
- YSL
Expensive – Catherine
The items here are from The List.
- Alexander McQueen
- Walker & Co
- Chanel
- Dolce & Gabbana
- Jenny Packham
- Missoni
- Gucci
- Catherine Walker
- Mulberry
- Alessandra Rich
- Suzannah London
- Laura Green
- Emilia Wickstead
You’ll notice there are less expensive brands for Catherine than those for Meghan. The Princess of Wales does not need to show off her status to be reliable. She also doesn’t need to spend $300k on clothing and jewellery for less than a week’s events.
Also, in Meghan’s mind, it seems that wearing cheap brands means you’re nothing special. Well, that is where she is wrong.
Meghan needs to show off her new money vibe. If anything, people are turned off by her flaunting her wealth. Just because you wear expensive clothes does not mean you’re inspirational. Most people will wear what feels right to them.
