When it comes to dressing for winter, it’s natural to play it safe with darker hues – unless you’re Meghan Markle, of course. The mother-to-be took her first royal engagement of 2019 as a chance to start the year with some truly bold color-blocking, a departure from her previous ensembles that tend to feature more muted tones.
Wearing a red, wide-collar wrap coat by Sentaler, the purple ‘Babaton Maxwell’ dress by Aritzia, and red Stuart Weitzman pumps, the Duchess of Sussex put a lively twist on her classic style. Avid royal watchers couldn’t help but notice that this color combination was often favored by her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who paired red with purple while attending a dinner in Bangkok in 1988, and then again during her trip to Hong Kong in 1989. A lot more memorable, however, is when Lady Di posed alone in a red jacket and purple skirt in front of the Taj Mahal in 1992, a moment that made for this now-iconic photo.