Every royal has her own style, and Meghan Markle’s style has frequently been about making a statement. For royal baby Archie’s christening, Markle’s look was no different: she wore a gorgeous long-sleeved, white Dior gown and matching hat, paired with Cartier earrings. The dress doesn’t look like much of a departure from the cream-colored gown Kate Middleton wore at her firstborn’s christening, but Markle’s always finding subtle ways to mix things up at Windsor Castle, especially as far as fashion is concerned.
Middleton has typically followed traditional royal code and opted to wear British designers for everything from date nights with William to her 2011 wedding; in particular, she’s a fan of Alexander McQueen, and has worn McQueen to her three children’s christenings. Markle, on the other hand, frequently mixes it up: while her famous wedding dress was Brit-designed, she’s also been known for supporting French fashion houses like Givenchy, shopping at accessible North American stores like Aritzia and Madewell and, most notably, uplifting lesser-known female designers from around the world. After Markle wore a maternity dress by Australian artist Karen Gee, the designer’s website crashed; more recently, Markle announced Archie’s birth in a white tuxedo dress designed by Grace Wales Bonner, one of Britain’s few high-profile Black female designers.
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This brings us to Dior, the French fashion powerhouse that recently partnered with Bonner on a cruise collection. The house announced Maria Grazia Chiuri, their first female creative director, in 2016, and Chiuri has since been moving the brand in a progressive, feminist-focused direction — with a little help from Markle, who’s been sporting Chiuri’s designs ever since. And not just the clothing: Daniel Martin, Markle's makeup artist, is a Dior brand ambassador. “She’s always had such an innate sense of her own style,” Martin previously told Gayle King on a CBS special. “Everything she wears, she picks herself.”
This is all to say that Markle’s decision to wear Dior to such an important event makes sense. Her dress is a nod to one of her favorite designers and undeniably more Markle than Mountbatten-Windsor — but, especially in color and style, it still honors the looks of royal christenings past.
And for his part, baby Archie kept it classic: the youngest royal wore a replica of the family’s baptism gown that dates back to Queen Victoria’s christening in 1841.