Meghan Markle, Teen Style Icon? The Duchess of Sussex may be fashionable, but she hardly deserves a gong!
Meghan Markle has done it again. The 36-year-old Duchess of Sussex has been nominated for a Teen Choice Style Icon Award, making her the first member of royalty to ever be featured on such a platform. Who is she battling to win the award you ask? Only the most stylish people to have walked this Earth in the recent times - 'Gossip Girl's golden girl Blake Lively, 'Black Panther' Chadwick Boseman, the fabulous and quirky Zendaya, hip-hop star Migos and the laidback hunk, singer Harry Styles. Meghan's style has, without a speck of doubt, evolved in the recent times. She has certainly found her place in the royal circle by settling down in the neutral style palace, but does she have an impeccable eye for original style? If you think switching titles suddenly make her a fashionista who deserves to be a Style Icon winner, I beg to differ.
The Teen Choice Style Icon Award has previously honored trendsetters. Britney Spears, Cara Delevigne, Miley Cyrus, and Zendaya have won these awards previously. They are style icons in the real sense of the word - they have individuality when it comes to fashion. Make no mistake, Meghan is gorgeous and has been more popular and influential (the clothes she wears sell out in minutes) than she's ever been, but being a style icon means more than just hiring a stylist to put together a set of clothes that fit a particular role. There is no originality when it comes to Markle's looks - its the same old floppy-collared coats and fascinators.
She rocks the Duchess look to boot, yes, but style icon? More like trying to fit in fashion. Markle used to be a blogger before her royal life and wrote a blog called 'The Tig'. At the time if she had been nominated for an award in the Digital category, it would have perhaps made sense. In the recent times, the way she is mirroring sis-in-law Kate Middleton and channeling the spirit of Princess Diana, there isn't much room left for Markle's original sparkle. If you look at her fashion evolution, her pre-Harry days too, don't have any iconic looks - most of them are bad, some are atrocious and handpicked few also happen to be good. But a few good looks don't make you are an icon.
She's been put in the same list as one of the greatest fashion inspirations there are. Blake Lively, for example, never fails us with her courage, on or off the red carpet. The 30-year-old actor not only has a keen sense of style but dares to pull off any look and does so with elan. Her looks always end up being iconic - be it her rendition of 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination' at this year's Met Gala in Versace and Lorraine Schwartz or her running an errand in NYC in a maroon leather coat over a blue suede dress and patterned boots, you cannot help but stand there in absolute awe. At the Gala this year, she added another goal look, but to her, it was perhaps just another day's outfit - that's how flawless this woman's style is. To make matters even better (or worse because we can only strive to get there) she confessed in an interview in 2011 that she doesn't have a stylist. If that doesn't make a style icon, I don't know what does.
Cara Delevigne is another example of changing the face of what is stylish. Did we know we could not only be okay with our natural brows but also flaunt them? Cara did that. She made bushy brows cool - so much so to the point that the pencil-thin trend for brows before her completely died with no hopes of ever surfacing. She totally worked what she had to look super stylish. Her presence as a style icon was far from being someone with great brows - she stood for being proud of whoever you are. She didn't follow a trend, she set it.
Chadwick Boseman, who is a relatively new candidate in the style game has also shown promise. Recently, along with his fellow co-stars Michael B. Jordan and Winston Duke, Boseman rocked a denim on denim look - and managed to look like he had been doing it for years. He's got a very event appropriate take on fashion - he knows when to go all out and he knows when to take it down a notch. Similarly, his look at the MTV awards was totally fun - he went with a matchy-matchy denim from top to bottom. On any other day, I'd say denim on denim never works, but I stand corrected.
The outfit, from Off White, was like a kitschy artwork - with a canvas like that, I'm not surprised. The light blue jacket and trouser co-ordination had some really nice pops of pale pink and Prussian blue here and there. He slipped a similar watercolor inspired polo-neck tee underneath. What really brought this outfit together was the pair of pristine white Louboutin Homme shoes. Perfect fit, a super crisp head of hair and a little wily beard, this look was totally on point for the hottie.
He gave off a very young, fun but artsy vibe which is perfect for the occasion.
Like an icon that he is, he experiments. This look is a far cry from his all-white Versace outfit for the Met Gala. But even then, one thing is consistent - his ability to switch styles according to the mood. It's like he told Hollywood Reporter once, "You have to have somebody that understands what your style is and what you're willing to try." And boy, does he try - for Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and Catholic Imagination, Chadwick went with a regal priest look - a white button down and matching blazer along with a pair of ivory pants. Red tassels, gold shoes, antique looking crosses and a cape - the sight was enough to cleanse sins.
If we pick Meghan's style off late, you'd see that every time she tries to stray a little away from her prim and proper neutrals, she fails - miserably. Just last week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex decided to attend Harry's cousin Celia's wedding. Celia McCorquodale is the niece of the late Princess Diana. A sweet little royal affair, the guests were all impeccably dressed, except for Markle. She showed up in a blue and white floral maxi that had no business being seen at a wedding, let alone a royal one. Meghan wore an Oscar de la Renta summer gown that featured little blue flowers, long billowy sleeves, and a wrap style front. She accessorized this dress with a white titled fascinator, matching clutch and a pair of nude pumps. This look was a break from her tailor-made royal style - for the first time in a long time, November 2017 to be exact, she strayed from the pastel path.
Meghan does not nail the look she's wearing, which is perhaps why it is so hard to consider her to be one of the greats in terms of style. Her trousers are a tad too long, her shoes a little big, her scarves tend to look like they are suffocating her and her colors extremely monotonous and boring. Every time she decides to experiment, it's either with a sailor-inspired look or an ill-fitting dungaree lookalike dress. This is a clear indication that the Duchess is absolutely great at pulling off the 'I'm a new Kate' look but doesn't really have a fashion identity outside of that.