If You Thought Meghan Markle Left Royal Life to Be A Fashion Influencer, You Would Be Right
Meghan's NYT's article and, will ARO have a Christmas launch?
Meghan Markle carrying a Strathberry for the first time in 2017. She cites this moment to the NYT’s as her first understanding of her power in the fashion world. Getty.
I hope everyone in the US is having a good, extra-long weekend! This weekend is our Labor Day weekend, known as the unofficial end of summer. This newsletter happens to be extra-long too. For this holiday weekend, we are also leaving it open for all to read!! Be sure to sign-up for a subscription and share to friends! This really does feel like a pivotal time for Meghan and Harry. There’s a lot going on, both professionally and personally. As I was writing this, I was referencing back to newsletters from 2023 and it’s so interesting to see the patterns with them. I’m glad Kate is safely tucked away, at home, with her family. Meghan and Harry tend to lash out during their launches and Kate is always their target.
In last Sunday’s newsletter, I cheekily asked what was on the fall agenda for Meghan and Harry. This week, we got a flood of information about their plans. But first, there’s two things I want to touch on from Rebecca English on this week’s Palace Confidential. One of their discussions centered on Balmoral and Crathie Kirk, then the ride from church last year that William and Kate gave Andrew. Do you remember it? Kate was stone-faced and William, seething as he drove. Andrew, looking as gutless as ever. Rebecca shared that William was indeed furious and it sounded like there was probably a fight about Andrew riding with them. Rebecca quoted sources close to William as telling her, that is “never going to happen again”. I was very happy to hear this. It’s already been confirmed that William and Kate refused to attend any more royal engagements if Andrew was present. So, the scene at the church was upsetting. I’m sure for William and Kate as well. I think Rebecca also reported this several weeks after it originally happened, but I don’t think it can be mentioned enough. The second point I wanted to share, Rebecca confirmed that Kate’s chemotherapy will continue this fall. Rebecca had hinted at this earlier, but this was the first direct confirmation. We shared this yesterday in our IG stories also. Rebecca had reported earlier that Kate will need months to recover after chemotherapy ends because she was indeed ill before her cancer diagnosis. But, this gives us a better understanding of a timeline. I think from all the reports and pictures, they have had a great summer, considering everything.
On to Meghan and Harry. Awhile back, I received a DM question from someone I talk with regularly and they simply said, you think ARO is going to be a real thing? This made me chuckle, because I knew what they meant, but it was also phrased so funny. Yes, I said. Is it going to be the kind of thing Meghan wants it to be? I don’t know about that. As I shared with them, it’s not just ARO launching, but her cooking show will be the fuel to launch ARO. I know many have tried to separate ARO from the cooking show, but you can’t. The show will provide the fuel for ARO to launch.
Looking back over their projects, Meghan and Harry’s most successful launch was their Netflix “docuseries”. (Although, I say that with a disclaimer because, I think it also badly hurt their reputation.) It was successful because Netflix did the heavy lifting, it was not dependent on Meghan and Harry. Similarly, Netflix has a vested interest in making the cooking show a success, and ARO will be there tagging along for the ride. Netflix is the driving force running it. And that’s the difference. Netflix will be utilizing their platform of customers. However, there’s a big caveat. So much has changed in the public’s response to Meghan and Harry since their first Netflix launch. And I say this all the time. Meghan and Harry do not understand the change that’s happened. Meghan is betting that Netflix can prefill accounts and push her cooking show on people. I’m not convinced that’s possible. Meghan lacks genuine warmth and connection with the public now, that’s a tough hurdle to fix. It’s an issue she refuses to acknowledge. Her show could very easily be primed to be turned into a drinking game, based on a number of unflattering things.
This week, US Magazine seemed to confirm this, with their EIC Dan Wakeford discussing how Meghan’s cooking show debut will “coincide” with ARO’s launch. We have said this since the beginning. What is interesting, there seems to be a purposeful tactic to mislead about when they will launch, whether it’s this fall or early next year. Wakeford on video this week, reports that it will launch “early next year”. However, People this week explains, “… American Riviera Orchard, which PEOPLE confirmed on Aug. 28 is set to launch later this year.” I think this is to surprise people and add drama. Is ARO going to launch in the new year, having missed the whole holiday buying season? Likely not. Meghan and Harry’s first Netflix launch happened at the beginning of December. Remember the vulgar drama their ads caused during Earthshot in Boston? I think they want people to be surprised, but this December it just might be Meghan the Christmas elf with her sack of ARO products to sell.
US is also reporting that Meghan’s cooking show will be a reflection on Meghan’s “joy of living” and recognizable faces from pop culture, the culinary world, and the beauty sector will appear. The article states that Meghan has become “very close” with neighbor and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd. Another source mentions IT Cosmetics founder, Jamie Kern Lima, as a close friend. Similar to Meghan attending the G9 Summit in the Hamptons, US is painting a picture of Meghan, the business woman. Meghan wants the public to organically accept this as her new image, cue the roll call of business women friends. When Meghan was focused more on her Hollywood ambitions, she was trying to publicly court celebrity friends. Now with her change of focus to ARO, she wants to be associated with female founders in the public gaze. It feels like a crafted image instead of an organic one.
Which brings us to this week’s New York Times’ article about Meghan, “Meghan Markle is a ‘Dolphin’, Not A Shark”. On its face, the article is Meghan’s version of how and why she became an “investor” in niche fashion brands. But, of course, that’s not the whole story. Or the whole truth. Like so many celebs before her, we knew months ago that this was the path Meghan would take. Why? Because she can’t get the large brand deals she so desperately wants.
Remember Dior last year? The Daily Mail, TMZ, and the New York Post stated multiple times that a deal between Dior and Meghan could be “imminent”, according to WWD. Clearly planted by Meghan’s team. However, on June 20, 2023, to blunt this speculation, Dior clarified the situation to WWD, “On Tuesday, a spokesman for Dior in Paris told WWD the reports are unfounded, stressing there have been no contract negotiations or recent contact with Markle.”
Do you remember the pap walks Meghan would make, covered in high-end designers in 2023? No one was biting. Small, niche brands were where she was getting the attention. But, how do you extract value from brands so small, they lack the budget to pay for your advertising? You take an equity stake in them. And that’s what Meghan is doing. She’s calling it investing, but I’m sure a hefty part of her equity share is for her association with the brand, her advertising for them. This is a common tactic with celebrities.
In the article, Meghan relays a story from 2017, when she first wore a Strathberry purse and it sold out in 11 minutes. When Meghan realized that this event would shape Strathberry’s future and allow them to expand, she realized her power. She would go on to wear their bags at least three more times during her royal career. (Editor’s note: Most fashion brands do not fair this well after royal attention. It actually causes many to fail because the attention comes in a storm and can’t be sustained. It’s a credit to Strathberry, their product line and planning that they were able to make this royal moment a building time.)
It’s interesting that she’s so openly talking like this, Kate has that same power too. More so now because she’s the POW. But, you can hear Meghan internally becoming giddy at the thought of this much power. Also, I think she’s misunderstanding a lot of this cause and effect. These are very small brands, with miniscule inventory. Any pressure on them, causes an earthquake. The story Meghan references is from 7 years ago, before they were even married. Is she aware of the damage since then, she’s done to her brand? Clearly not. She was at the height of her world popularity when she was selling out Strathberry purses. Now, she can’t even break a million followers on IG. It’s a very different world.
Cartier’s Juste un Clou necklace has been worn continuously by Meghan for months. Perhaps she’s hoping for a Cartier deal? Backgrid.
This article is also to serve as an invitation to other brands, including the gold standard luxury ones. Meghan is still looking for a deal with them. Over the past several months, including all through their trip to Colombia, her pap shots with Kimberly Williams, Meghan has been wearing the nail necklace from Cartier. I don’t think that’s a coincidence either. She wants a deal with Cartier. She’s brand flirting with them.
Meghan sees this as central to her public persona, which is why she went to the NYT’s about it. She wanted it out there in a serious publication. Meghan wants to be respected in the fashion industry as an influencing power that can build brands. It’s very interesting to see how she internally views herself. Unfortunately for her, it’s her personality and how she’s treated so many business partners and team members, it’s made her untouchable. She can’t see that.
Finally, in the NYT’s article, the point is to frame Meghan as a benign investor, setting out to do good. After the allegations from Flamingo Estate sources shared to Puck News, I have a very hard time believing that. One major point of this article was for Meghan to prove that she’s not a predator in business, aligning herself as a “dolphin” not a “shark”. Flamingo had no legal protections or safeguards signed with Meghan per sources. Yet she was given financials, customer lists, supplier and vendor lists, proprietary information, etc. Representing herself as a friend of a friend, not as a possible future competitor. I think Flamingo and ARO will have two very different price points, but I think we will see ideas and similar things between the two brands that Meghan has poached from Flamingo. It’s scary to think that she’s running around to many different small brands, all within the fashion industry, and they are willingly sharing information with her. Having likely signed no legal safeguards. Cause remember, she’s just a sweet dolphin.
It kinda seems like the NYT’s is taunting Meghan, with that article’s title. Maybe they can’t believe it either?