Meghan’s Midas Touch

[Twistybranch]

So Clare Keller who once designed for the likes of Gucci, Chloe, Givenchy is now at Uniqlo.

NYT has done an article on Clare, where Clare tries to make out that Clare wanted her stint at Givenchy to be a short one …sure Clare

Meghan has emailed in to say she got a few items from Clare’s Uniqlo collection. Bet she’s gutted she can’t get the designer togs anymore! But my god…Meghans hardly the person to call upon as a fashion ambassador.

But I’m thinking, 2017- April 2020, when she left Givenchy. Is a very short time for a head at an atelier. So it looks obvious she was let go or was ‘mutually agreed’ as the Sussex’s like to say.

But could it be, that her stand out garment from her time there, Meghans wedding dress, was her downfall?

Im sure on paper the dress looked gorgeous. Simple, elegant, clean lines. But with the bespoke duchess satin used, which was incredibly thick - it didnt lend itself to elegant sleeves or a fine fit. We also know from the flower girl dresses it was a rush job. Charlottes dress was shocking, with a hanging hemline etc.

The fit of some of the flower girl dresses and Meghan dress didn’t look good. This must have reflected on Givenchy and Clare. I’m guessing that’s why she left so soon with no job to go to and now is at a fast fashion label!

Her Trajectory seems the same as Meghans. Duchess to D list. Givenchy to Uniqlo.

So why on earth she got Meghan to write an email talking her up I don’t know. Working with her seems like the kiss of death!

https://archive.ph/lpnqP - for those that don’t have an NYT subscription

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/style/clare-waight-keller-uniqlo-givenchy.html

I don't think anyone is saying she can't

Just that in these specific circumstances it strikes a bum note, as the comparison does not work in her favour

Anyone remember how (then) Prince Charles introduced himself on Jackanory?

A title means nothing to little children. It's pretentious. I've seen many a reel with Catherine speaking to little children and saying " hello my name is Catherine" . It's typical of Meghan and her thirst for recognition. It benefits HER in that situation not the children.

'The key difference here though is that only one of the three readers is an author'

Why would that require her to use her title when reading to small children?

'Anyone remember how (then) Prince Charles introduced himself on Jackanory?'

Probably Prince Charles, but I'll forgive him as it was 40 years ago!

He also read it in Gaelic and Welsh, and all the book's profits went to the Princes Trust.

The episode is available on the intranet. He tells the story and there is a caption saying HRH Prince of Wales underneath. He doesn’t actually introduce himself.

That was forty years ago?! God I am old!

Meghan is acutely aware that without the connection to royalty, she would be another faded actress who had one relatively well known role but would have slipped into obscurity since then if she hadn't married Harry. Harry is aware that their remaining relevance is slipping away. The odd insistence on giving their children titles is very strange as they don't live in this country and have no connection with it. They are being raised as normal American children I would assume. If we all ignored them and the press stopped giving a hoot then they would just fade into obscurity as well. In the next 20 years, Harry's brother will become King, pushing them even further out of view. Time will eventually do the job of making them an irrelevance. They are presumably happily married and will want to live out their lives in peace in the States. The connection to royalty just seems to have been something that has made them miserable. Perhaps they would be happier people if they gave up the titles once and for all and lived like normal private citizens.

When the trademark issue is settled, will she have an actual products to sell? 🤔

Yes Harry and David is very well-known and popular for corporate gifts.

Also the Lemonada thing, Twistybranch, to go with ARO, 40x40 and - as you say - Archetypes

Actually I believe it's the Archetypes broadcasts which Lemonada were supposed to be making generally available, which presumably would have been a lot more straightforward than producing new ones, but even that hasn't happened

I'm not so sure that it is Harry's fate to fade completely into obscurity. Diana did have that star factor that significantly raised the (already very high) public profile of her children and he is William's only sibling (so more like Margaret than Andrew/Anne/Edward).

I think there are lots of people aged 40 and under today who wouldn't know who Margaret was if they were shown a photo but that is more than 20 years after her death and when she was younger, most would have known who she was and even more would have known who she was if she had done her version of Oprah, Netflix, Spare, etc.

I would expect Harry to have a lower profile as time goes on but as a rebel and as Diana's son and William's only sibling, I think he'll always be able to command attention when he wants it.

Because I was responding to a previous poster who claimed

She isn’t a fan of formality generally,
When she clearly is by using her title when it was completely unnecessary “author” or not.

Meghan loves her title!

But could she point to Sussex on a map of England??😀 I'd love to check!

It strikes me as very funny because, of all the possible titles, for some reason I think 'duchess' is the most....frumpy and unglamorous. I don't know why - I suppose for me it evokes an older, larger and rather ferocious woman like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland. Those unflattering illustrations by Sir John Tenniel come to mind.

Whereas Princess, Marchioness, Countess, Lady.. much better.

That’s the question for me, will she have quality products and be able to sustain interest in the brand? I find them particularly lazy when it comes to promoting their ‘work’ (apart from
Harry’s book lol)

You are playing with a pigeon chess master.

lol - I was looking up a film I was considering watching the other week, I looked at the cast (never heard of the film and am very picky on not watching trash in the bit of tv time I get to myself) and she was in it .... I was 🤡🤡🙄🙄 when I saw she has it on her film credentials too!! Meghan Duchess of Sussex
🤣🤣🤣 ... twat!

Exactly @CoffeeCantata and as I've said before this is where those who don't really know the UK don't get it 😂

There are also slang-type uses in England of 'Duchess' to address women e.g. duchess meaning wife (?Cockney, London area) and 'the Duchess' meaning mother (most unfortunately by the appalling Jimmy Savile - not a nice thing to remember, but it was quite famous at the time and sticks in one's mind for all the wrong reasons - it's part of a dark cultural landscape that will linger for a long time).

The illustrations from Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass and their suggested origins all add to that feeling of inelegance.

'Princess' and 'Prince' are a bit slang-battered as well with their use as endearments and as forenames in celebrity culture and beyond.

I think Lady Sussex (and Lady York) sound a bit better than 'the duchess' to my ears, although in the US they probably sound like session recording artistes looking for a break; and 'Baron[ess]' sounds like Trump's son and 'Count[ess]' has jazz leanings.

Without use of the HRHs, there's no royal dignitas to attach to the title.

(I find the whole lot ridiculous, tbh. What even is a 'highness'? Same with a lot of those high level religious titles. Peace & Socialism ✌)

Also makes me think of when you use the term dowager duchess. Maybe that’s what makes it sound old too

I rather like Countess, agree Duchess is very staid, If I remember correctly didn’t Catherine not want the title Duchess either?

Yes - I can't think of a logical reason why it doesn't seem compatible with youth - but it doesn't. There must have been young duchesses over the centuries. In my mind's eye I see a stern woman with an enormous bosom laden with diamonds!

Whereas the incredibly beautiful and glamorous Emma Thynne is the Marchioness of Bath, I seem to remember the Marchioness of Tavistock was very glamorous too. And Princess Margaret was Countess of Snowdon.

I find it amusing when MM is referred as "Duchess Meghan" - think it might be a US approach a bit like Chef Ramsey.

It always puts me in mind of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess".

Honestly I don't think it matters to most people as she has put her fame trajectory up into the the stratosphere by marrying Harry , But the hanging on to the titles looks a bit declasse to me - Everyone mostly knows who she is as Meghan Markle so why hang on to a title by marriage if you are trying to forge your own career

I may very well be wrong here and probably am