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Did Jill Biden wear lemon print dress for Meghan Markle? FLOTUS was showing 'solidarity,' says Internet

One tweet said: '@FLOTUS wore this @OscardelaRenta dress for her event today. Meghan Markle wore the similar version last month. I don't believe in coincidences'

First lady Jill Biden recently addressed the State Department's International Women of Courage Award ceremony on Monday, March 8. But it was her dress that caught the attention of social media users who were convinced it was a subtle gesture of support for Meghan Markle after her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey on March 7.

For her International Women's Day speech, the 69-year-old Dr Biden wore a teal lemon-print Oscar de la Renta dress. Soon after, Twitter users couldn't stop obsessing over the blatant similarities to the sleeveless peplum dress that the 39-year-old 'Suits' actor had worn to Spotify's Stream On event last month.

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Dr Biden's dress was from the same Spring 2021 collection as Markle's dress and this did not go unnoticed. Many Twitter users commenting on Dr Biden's dress are convinced the outfit expressed "solidarity" after Meghan dropped explosive claims about the royal family's alleged racism against her and baby Archie. She also spoke about how the British media bullied her and her husband Harry into quitting their Royal titles and duties in 2020.

The timing of Dr Biden's speech was also telling, as it was the very next day after the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened up to Oprah Winfrey about their harrowing experiences. Meghan claimed there were concerns about her then-unborn first child's skin colour, and that she was denied professional help when she felt suicidal as it would look bad for "the institution".

Although Dr Biden did not speak about the interview, tweets piled up about how her sartorial choice for the Women's Day event said it all. Taking it to Twitter, one user wrote "I'm choosing to believe flotus Jill Biden wore this Oscar de la Renta in solidarity with #MeghanMarkle."

Another tweet said: "@FLOTUS wore this @OscardelaRenta dress for her event today. Meghan Markle wore the similar version last month. I don't believe in coincidences." A third user shared: "Nice to see our @FLOTUS give a nod to #MeghanMarkle by wearing a dress like what she wore in the Spotify trailer." Another user remarked: " I love that our FLOTUS, Dr Jill Biden is wearing a similar dress to Meghan Markle. Definitely a sign of solidarity & we love to see women supporting women."

In her speech, Dr. Biden helped the State Department honor 21 women from 15 countries around world with the International Women of Courage Awards, touting the recipients' "fearlessness" as a reminder that everyone on Earth is interconnected. "Justice can only be justice if it's for all," Dr Biden said in her seven-minute-address. "Your fight is our fight, and your courage calls us to come together again and again and again."

The 15th annual award ceremony saw the FLOTUS congratulate the award recipients' "intentional decision" to "right the wrongs of the past and build a brighter future for everyone." The event honoured seven women from Afghanistan posthumously, while the other 14 were women living in Belarus, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Venezuela. "It's easy to think of them as mythical heroes or angels among us," Biden said in her speech. "What else could explain such herculean acts of fortitude and fearlessness?"

It is to be noted that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki lauded Meghan Markle's "courage" for revealing her struggles to the public during a press conference on Women's Day. "Obviously, many of us caught the interview," Psaki said when asked whether the Biden administration had anything to say about the explosive tell-all. "For anyone to come forward and speak about their own struggles with mental health and tell their own personal story, that takes courage," Psaki added. "That's certainly something the president [Joe Biden] believes."