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Meghan Markle's show-stopping style evolution
It's every little girl's dream to grow up and become a princess, not least for the fabulous ballgowns and events you get to wear them to.
And while Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, may have discovered being royalty isn't all it's cracked up to be, it has definitely influenced her sense of style and access to designer clothes.
When Meghan first started to win traction in Hollywood as an actor and presenter in 2006, she was just 26, a time when we are all trying to work out who we are, and what looks good on us.
However, Meghan always had a sense of style.
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Meghan's A-list style
At the 2007 Golden Globe Suites, she stuck to simple black and white, and was better known as a model for the TV show Deal or No Deal than as an actress, despite a number of minor roles in US TV shows.
Meghan dated film and TV producer Trevor Engelson in 2004.
They were married in 2011, before divorcing in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences.
As their relationship developed, so did her fashion style and she started dressing as the A-list actress she wanted to be.
In 2011, Meghan joined the cast of Suits in the main role of Rachel Zane.
This saw the start of her coming into her own style.
It was also during her time filming the show that she met fashion stylist Jessica Mulroney, who soon became her close friend.
Meghan was not afraid to experiment with fashion styles, while ensuring she didn't wear anything that swamped her petite frame.
Post-divorce from Trevor and now an A-list TV actress, Meghan launched her lifestyle blog, The Tig, in 2014 and it quickly became popular amongst Suits fans.
Her unique fashion sense was quickly recognised and she was heralded as a "fashion maven".
She even released two fashion lines based on her and her legal secretary character's styles.
In 2016 she was thrust into the international limelight when it was rumoured she was dating Prince Harry.
It was then she started to land feature interviews about her acting and fashion sense.
"My sensibility had always been relaxed California girl style and, on any given day, I was in jeans, cut-offs and flip-flops, but the weather alone in Toronto changes your wardrobe!," she told Glamour Magazine that year.
"The fashion on Suits is gorgeous, so it also became my education of designers and really knowing what fits my body well.
"Now what I'm starting to learn is, even though things look amazing on the hanger, it doesn't mean they're going to look amazing on me."
In the same article, she revealed her style icons were former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Emmanuelle Alt and the magazine's stylist Geraldine Saglio.
In November 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement.
From that moment, Meghan was looked upon as a fashion icon, with her personal fashion choices resulting in a huge upswing in sales for the labels and brands she chose.
After their wedding, Meghan adopted a more demure look, as suited a senior royal, but she also had access to any designer she wanted.
It was in 2018 that designer online retailer Net-a-Porter named Meghan as one of the best-dressed women of 2018.
By the end of the year, Meghan was pregnant with her first child and was also chosen as one of the 25 most influential women in the United Kingdom by British Vogue, an accolade they gave to her again in 2019.
As a new mum and seemingly embracing her role in the Royal Family as Harry's wife, Meghan's pick of clothing saw record sales and many copycats of her outfits.
October 2019 saw their first official royal tour as a family, as Meghan and Harry took baby Archie with them to Southern Africa.
However, not long after, the couple decided they no longer wanted to be a part of the Royal Family and, in January, 2020, their departure was announced.
Meghan's return firstly to Canada and then California, to be close to her mother, saw her re-adopt her laid-back casual style of simple white shirts, paired with jeans.
But no one foresaw the pandemic and, as with most people, aside from the couple's planned TV interviews with Good Morning America and Oprah, there weren't many opportunities to see the Duchess's changing style.
Restrictions eased slightly in 2021, allowing a few opportunities for celebs to attend events, but when Meghan finally was spotted at the Global Citizen Live event in 2021, the now mum of two, having given birth to Lilibet in June, was wearing couture designers such as Georgio Armani and Valentino.
While she may have formally departed the royal family, Meghan's relationship with the world's top designers was still strong.
And just this week Prince Harry and Megan have been at the Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands.
Her outfits have already created column inches of coverage, with Marie Claire stating her style is: "Famous for merging the cool, casual Californian aesthetic with regal silhouettes."
It was estimated that she wore $69,000 worth of clothes and jewellery, with one outfit alone said to cost an estimated $19,035, not including any of her jewellery.
It seems Meghan may still be oscillating between California casual and formal couture, but one thing is for sure, the fashion world will be waiting to see what she chooses next!
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