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On the back of guest editing the September issue of British Vogue, Meghan Markle has announced she is releasing a capsule fashion collection for a very good cause.
The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she has created a capsule workwear collection in aid of women’s charity Smart Works, a charity that supports unemployed women through interview coaching and personalised styling and of which Meghan Markle is a patron.
Smart Works provides coaching and personalised styling for unemployed women. In January of this year, the Duchess visited the Smart Works’ headquarters to style a number of the charity’s guests. During her visit in January, she spoke about how important it is to ‘really [be] part of each others’ success stories as women.
For the collection, she has partnered with Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Jigsaw and Misha Nonoo. The pieces will be sold on a one-for-one system, meaning for each item purchased, one will be donated to the charity. Though a release date has not been announced, it is believed the collection will launch later this year.
This year, Lyst reported that the ‘Meghan Effect’ is so powerful that her fashion choices lead to an average increase in interest of 119%, which bodes well for this collaboration.
More information about the collaboration was released in a post on the official Sussex Royal Instagram page yesterday, along with unseen photos of Meghan herself visiting Smart Works. The Instagram caption says: “After quiet visits to Smart Works over the last year, The Duchess was moved by the impactful work being done by this non-profit organisation that helps women into the workforce, equipping them with both the skills and clothes they need to feel job-ready.”
It continues: “Throughout her visits she noticed that while the donations were plentiful, they were also notably a combination of mismatched items and colours which weren’t always the right stylistic choices or sizes that didn’t necessarily “suit” the job at hand: to make a woman feel confident and inspired as she walked into her job interview.”
The Duchess, who became Royal Patron of Smart Works at the start of this year, has greatly increased the charity’s reach. Kate Stephens, Smart Works CEO, said of the appointment: “Our Smart Works family is flourishing under the Duchess’s patronage. We have dressed more women than ever before, and we have just had our best ever July, helping 27% more women across the UK than the same time last year. We want to help more women find their way to a Smart Works centre so that they may, in the words of the Duchess, be ready to take on the world, get a job and transform their lives”.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the Duchess of Sussex is guest editor of the September issue of British Vogue, which is on shelves this Friday. The Faces for Change issue features 15 women (including Irish activist Sinéad Burke) who are making waves in the world. Each of the women was chosen by the Duchess, who is the first person ever to guest edit the September issue of British Vogue.
She announced the news of the upcoming Smart Works collection in a letter within the issue and spoke of the power of the one-for-one system saying: “Not only does this allow us to be part of each other’s story, it reminds us we are in it together.”
Image: Official Sussex Royal Instagram
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