Who on earth would want to buy any of Meghan’s Australian looks, asks SHANE WATSON. They’re stiff, impractical and worst of all, horribly ageing

The Not Quite Royal Tour of Sussex (but they hope it looks like it) ended on Friday after four jam-packed days and seven outfit changes for the Duchess.

There could have been so much more, but there was no evening gala on the itinerary so only royal tour ‘adjacent’ casual wear was required. He could wear any designer label, but only if he followed royal diplomatic protocol and only wore Australian labels. The Duchess was accessorized with her signature ultra-high heels, Diana’s Cartier Tank watch, a Cartier gold bracelet and a few pieces of “don’t scare the horses” jewelry.

And this ‘Not Royal Tour’ could be an opportunity for Meghan to showcase her personal style and solidify her image as a woman of taste with her finger on the pulse of fashion. Last October, she parachuted into Paris fashion week and sat front row at the Balenciaga show; She wore a head-to-toe white outfit by the brand’s creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli; this look was widely accepted as the starting gun for the launch of her own luxury clothing line.

The Australia trip was a golden opportunity, four days in the international spotlight, where Meghan was able to flex her personal style free of the royal protocol (tights with everything) that she struggled so hard with the last time she was in Australia in 2018.

As a result, Meghan has become more ordinary: a series of bland, predictable outfits, all available for instant purchase via OneOff (oneoff.world), a new AI-powered fashion platform; will receive half of the share from retailers’ 10 or 25 percent.

Like many celebrities, Meghan makes money from online style searches, and her presence on OneOff proves she’s among the hundred or so celebrities whose style is most searched for, but given the number of misfires on this outing, it’s unlikely to be a moneymaker in terms of sales.

On the first day, Meghan wore a £655 navy sleeveless waist midi dress by Australian designer Karen Gee, which featured six decorative buttons and was paired with £500 Dior black leather heels.

This look makes you look less like a California-style guru and more like a parade-ready politician or urban businesswoman.

The Duchess wore jeans and a trench coat to the Scar Tree Walk in Melbourne and will also appear as a guest star on Masterchef Australia.

Meghan is on the next stage of her journey with As Ever, the company she started selling jams, and now hopes to expand into all retail markets; She’s emerged from the kitchen (mostly wearing cool cream separates) and is eager to show that she can walk boardrooms.

This tailored navy blue dress might be Ted Talk, it might be Davos, but it’s not great fashion: it looks a lot like the uniform you might find on the doorman of a five-star hotel or the front of an uptown restaurant at any point in the last 40 years. Polished but ordinary.

And the navy, why the navy? On the previous Not A Royal Tour, Meghan gravitated towards white linen pieces. Admittedly, they were in Jordan and it was hot, but we were sure the Duchess was trying to make white (the color of purity, innocence and high fashion minimalism) her personal signature, and it would be a smart move.

Meghan previously wore a series of white tailored sleeveless dresses. He has great arms and his arms now have a flexible status; if you have them, you flaunt them, especially in cool weather. But the navy felt like a step backwards; more boring, more conservative and less youthful.

Leaving the whites behind was not a practical decision, as you can imagine. Her next outfit was a suede khaki two-piece from St Agni, consisting of a £760 cocoon bomber jacket and £675 long column midi skirt worn over a £175 sleeveless taupe knit top by P. Johnson, and once again with ultra-high heels, this time with £570 nude ‘Purist’ heels from Aquazzura.

The skirt looked bulky and difficult to walk in (the longer pencil style was always dangerous, ten times stiffer with tacky suede) and when she took off her jacket (a bit Camp David in my opinion) she was in a putty-coloured sleeveless, unpleasantly solid scoop-neck nothing. An ivory sweater (if maintaining the hidden wealth trope was the priority) would brighten up the room. Or camel with a red stripe. A white shirt… Everything else. It looked terribly flat and sloppy. Thank goodness for Cartier’s gold love bracelet.

For her final date on the first day at the Nexus summit meeting, she chose a long-sleeved off-the-shoulder Beare wool top worth £223, Dissh wide-leg linen trousers worth £150, and Emme Parsons hoop leather sandals worth £417, all in black. Another safe, dull choice that won’t find a place in the style books.

The 44-year-old wears a simple jumper and matching brown denim jacket and skirt in Melbourne

Meghan smiles while wearing a white suit, left, before switching to a black suit for an event

On day two, Meghan made a surprise appearance as a guest judge on MasterChef Australia, and so far no one is surprised that she chose an all-simple black outfit for her grand studio entrance: a £395 long-sleeved silk shirt from Matteau, a £587 silky high-waisted midi skirt with a high front split from Camilla and Marc, and £695 Manolo Blahnik BB heels.

She’s monochrome from head to toe, save for some pearl earrings that she wore on her original Australian tour in 2018. Meghan obviously wanted to get away from the well-dressed female presenters, but the slim-fit black on her slim frame was dull and stiff; Morticia wasn’t dramatic. A fuller, shorter, off-the-shoulder black dress with some texture would have more spark and energy; Not to mention attraction.

Just like ‘How about white?’ Then, on day two, she brought an ivory two-piece for the leadership summit, another long pencil skirt, this time with a back slit (£328), and a matching vest (£338), accessorised with nude Aquazurra heels, both by Posse. This was Meghan’s signature part, but slim fits aren’t ideal for very petite figures. Meghan tends to look featureless; She is so skinny that she needs definition and curves, a slightly padded shoulder, a fitted peplum top, a fluid skirt in textured soft tweed will make all the difference. Chanel would do wonders for him.

It’s day three and Meghan’s outfit choice for the Scar Tree Walk should have been a walk in the park for her: £117 boot-cut jeans from Rolla’s, a £30 T-shirt from Alliance of Moms, £220 ivory trainers from Freda Salvador and a £317 lightweight camel coat from Melbourne label Friends with Frank. Once again, this outfit manages to look tough, stilted, and out of the fashion conversation (except for the t-shirt she wore to support a charity in Los Angeles). Eight years ago, Meghan put Veja sneakers on the map when she was photographed wearing Veja sneakers with slim-fit jeans on a boat in Sydney harbor during her first Actually Royal visit. We all wanted what he had back then – Vejas flew out of stores – now it feels as if expediency is getting in the way of good style.

Her final outfit of the tour, another Friends with Frank offering, a £287 short khaki dress worn with black Wolford tights and Manolo Blahnik black suede BB heels, was a fashion rule-breaker (short dress plus sky-high heels) and definitely the low fashion point of the tour.

Any competent stylist would not have allowed her to wear such high shoes, let alone such a short dress. However, it is worth noting that by the time the tour ended, all the high heels she wore were sold out. As for the clothes, only the black MasterChef skirt with slit was out of stock. Maybe this is an aberration? Or maybe there’s a ways to go before Meghan conquers her next challenge. Who hasn’t had a Royal Visit to Paris?

Additional research: Amy Kester