Before Meghan Markle became a royal, she was a front-row fixture of various fashion weeks. Now, she’s stepping behind the scenes and teaming up with designer Misha Nonoo for her very own fashion line.
In her guest-edited September issue of British Vogue, Markle revealed that the duo will craft a collection of women’s workwear to be released this fall.
And on Wednesday, the new mom shared a series of never-before-seen photos of her multiple “quiet” visits to the organization while pregnant with her now-two-month-old, Archie Harrison.
On top of dressing the general population, the royal will be giving back to one of her very first royal patronages, Smart Works, a charity that helps unemployed women find jobs while dressing them for success.
“When you walk into a Smart Works space you’re met with racks of clothing and an array of bags and shoes,” the duchess writes in Vogue. “Sometimes, however, it can be a potpourri of mismatched sizes and colors, not always the right stylistic choices or range of sizes.”
“To help with this, I asked Marks & Spencer, John Lewis & Partners, Jigsaw and my friends, the designer Mischa (sic) Nonoo, if they were willing to design a capsule collection of more classic options for a workwear wardrobe,” she continued. “Taking the idea further, many of the brands agreed to use the one-for-one model: for each item purchased by a customer, one is donated to the charity. Not only does this allow us to be part of each other’s story, it reminds us we are in it together.”
Nonoo has known Markle and Prince Harry separately for years.
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Markle sat front row at many of Nonoo’s fashion shows over the years. The British-Bahraini designer attended Markle’s New York City baby shower back in February, as well as her royal wedding at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle back in May 2018.
The Duchess of Sussex first visited Smart Works in January, where she met with officials and helped style women benefiting from the program.
Markle has previously collaborated with clothing stores on designs. She helped create two capsule collections for Reitman’s in 2016 as one of the clothing line’s former ambassadors.
Weeks before her partnership with the brand ended, she shut down her lifestyle blog, The Tig, where she often talked about her personal style and emerging trends.
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meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca