Meghan Markle seems like she is always shocking entire countries at a time. Most of the time, this is due to something she said. However, there are times Meghan has been scandalous as soon as she walked out of the door!
That’s because she has a well-established history of wearing outfits that are “royally” inappropriate. Don’t believe it? These are the most inappropriate fits she has rocked in recent years!
Meghan spills out of her dress
“Royal peepshow” may sound like the kind of video that England would once have labeled a “video nasty.” However, “royal peepshow” also serves as a good description of the outfit that Meghan wore to the wedding of Charlie van Straubenzee.
At a glance, her outfit may not look very scandalous. But at one point, her top button popped open and gave everyone a look at the lacy black bra she was wearing. This caused fashion guru Joy Musa to muse on Twitter, “Did she deliberately flaunt her bra for the camera? The bride, 27, and groom, 30, look young and cute, but Meghan stole the show with her deliberate wardrobe malfunction.”
Giving a peepshow and upstaging the bride? Bad form, Meghan!
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No sleeves? No way
Back when she was still performing royal duties, Meghan Markle and her hubby met with youthful delegates from dozens of different countries. Harry stuck with a conservative suit, but Meghan decided to wear a sleeveless Altuzarra dress.
This prompted a slew of online comments claiming that Meghan was being too informal and that she was snubbing the royals by dressing that way. And royal etiquette expert Alexandra Messervy said the same thing in an interview with InStyle. “They don’t usually wear sleeveless dresses.”
Then again, Meghan has always gone her own way!
Did Meghan send a message with her dress at Pippa’s wedding?
Meghan Markle made an effort to play things safe when she went to the wedding reception for Pippa Middleton. To this end, Meghan rocked a simple black dress.
However, some took exception to her choice of color. Why? According to StyleCaster, wearing black to a wedding used to be a way of staging a “passive-aggressive protest” against the union of the happy couple.
So, while Meghan didn’t violate any royal rules or even modern fashion recommendations, some saw her choice of dress as an old-timey attack on a very old-timey family.
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Black dress faux pas, part deux
In April of 2018, Meghan stayed very true to her brand by attending a female empowerment reception in London. Once again, she played things safe by wearing a basic “little black dress” to the event.
Believe it or not, the choice of color ended up leading to scandal. As etiquette guru Alexandra Messervy explained to InStyle, “Generally it is thought that black is not usually worn unless in mourning.” This builds off an actual royal protocol that says traveling royals must always pack something black in case someone dies and they need to show they are in mourning.
Long story short? By rocking black to a female empowerment event, Meghan made it look like she was mourning the death of said empowerment!
Off-the-shoulder casual
Sometimes, it seemed like Meghan just set out on the wrong foot when it came to being a royal. For example, when she attended her first Trooping of the Colour event, she wore an off-the-shoulder dress designed by Carolina Herrera.
While Meghan was serving up looks, many were displeased because she looked too informal. As Myka Meier told People, “Traditionally, the Trooping the Colour events is seen as a more formal day event. In the past, we have seen female royals wearing conservative dress, much like that which you would see at a British wedding.”
In other words, Meghan decided to dress sexy and cute during one of the main events when everyone expected her to dress like an old maid!
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Skinny jeans debacle
Meghan Markle, like most people, dresses a bit more casually outside of formal events. But some of her fashion choices had people asking when “casual” becomes “too casual.”
The best example of this was when she attended the Invictus Games in 2018. Most of her outfit looked pretty dressed-up, including the tasteful black turtleneck and the pinstripe blazer. But what really stuck out to everyone was that she wore black skinny jeans to complete the look!
As the BBC reports, etiquette expert Diana Mather said of the jeans that the Palace expects royal ladies to wear skirts or dresses because “many places will not allow jeans as they are still seen as very casual wear, so it is better to play safe for both sexes.”
In the eyes of critics, Meghan dressing too informally meant that she wasn’t taking Harry’s Invictus Games very seriously.
Ripped jeans
Meghan has been making wild fashion choices from the very beginning… literally! In fact, she wore ripped jeans to her first public appearance as a couple with Prince Harry.
This was at the 2017 Invictus Games. Meghan’s outfit (which was basically ripped jeans paired with a nice white shirt) made her look super stylish, but many online thought she was crazy for dressing so informally and casually while sitting next to a prince.
As Twitter user @TheLadyRockwell put it, “Meghan Markle’s first official appearance w/ Prince Harry, all eyes on her – and she wears ripped jeans?”
Of course, we can’t lose sight of the fact that Harry still decided to marry her after this. Maybe it doesn’t matter if you shock the world with ripped jeans so long as you land your Prince Charming!