The list of things Meghan Markle has had to give up in order to become a part of the royal family is huge. From deleting her social media to the colour of her nails, the Duchess of Sussex’s life has completely changed.
Since the wedding, we’re also starting to see small changes in the way Meghan dresses. First, she began adhering to perhaps the worst style rule the royal women follow: wearing nude stockings, and now the 37-year-old seems to have ditched the casual crossbody bags she was favouring at previous royal outings, opting instead for elegant clutches.
Apparently, Meghan’s change in tune has everything to do with the way she’s photographed. “Cross-body bags look great with jeans and trousers and more informal clothes, but not with designer outfits, especially when you are being photographed and scrutinized from every angle,” Royal expert Penny Junor said to Harper’s Bazaar UK.
Of course, there’s more to how the royals dress than just looking good in photos. We recently learnt that Queen Elizabeth II uses the placement of her handbag to secretly communicate with her staff members: If she places her handbag on the table at dinner, it signals that she wants the event to end in the next five minutes. If she puts her bag on the floor, it shows she wants to leave the conversation, and if she places it on a chair, it means she’s happy to keep chatting.
The Duchess of Cambridge also chooses clutches for a reason other than fashion: to avoid shaking hands with people. Handbag designer Anya Hindmarsh once revealed that Princess Diana preferred holding clutches as a way to hide her cleavage from the media.
“We used to laugh when we designed what she called her ‘cleavage bags’, little satin clutches which she would cover her cleavage with when she stepped out of cars,” she told The Telegraph.
It looks like Meghan’s well and truly part of the royal family now.
