Meghan Markle reportedly fell out with French designer Roland Mouret after an embarrassing blunder involving dresses loaned to the Duchess of Sussex sparked a furious row, leaving her vowing never to wear his designs again. The designer, whose luxury creations have been worn by Princess Catherine, Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian, reveals the fractured friendship in his forthcoming memoir, I Am Roland Mouret: The Butcher’s Boy Who Dressed the World.
Rower over a mistaken phone call
According to extracts from the autobiography reported by the Daily Mail, the disagreement began when one of Mouret’s employees mistakenly contacted the Princess of Wales’s office at Kensington Palace to arrange the return of dresses loaned to Meghan. The Duchess allegedly phoned the designer to express her anger, claiming the mistake had left her humiliated and insisting she could no longer be seen wearing his designs.
Writing in his memoir, Mouret recalls the uncomfortable conversation that followed his employee’s mistake. He wrote: “Meghan was furious and called me. ‘You don’t realise what you’ve done! You’ve embarrassed me’.” According to Mouret, Meghan refused to accept his apology and told him: “You know now I can never wear your clothes again.”
Timing of the alleged fallout
The designer does not reveal precisely when the incident occurred, although he places it after Meghan and Harry’s relationship became public and before the couple stepped back from royal duties in 2020. Reflecting on the disagreement, Mouret wrote: “Meghan’s decision not to wear my clothes was hers, not the palace’s, not anybody else’s. I don’t think anyone else cared.” He added: “I didn’t see the logic of that but I didn’t question it.”
The Daily Express has asked the Duchess of Sussex to comment.
Friendship and fashion history
The pair’s friendship reportedly began during a chance encounter in Turkey in 2015, when Meghan was staying at a hotel and heading to the Soho House spa wearing a dressing gown. Recalling their unusual introduction, Mouret wrote: “I said: ‘You don’t know me, but you do know me in a way. I am Roland Mouret’.” He continued: “She screamed and laughed, and we chatted for a few moments. I told her that Suits was being very good to me”, referring to the television drama in which Meghan starred and whose costume department had used his designs.
The pair arranged to meet again at a party that evening and reportedly became close enough for Meghan to confide in the designer about her blossoming relationship with Prince Harry. However, Mouret claims their friendship later became strained, alleging that Meghan wore what he described as a “cheap high street copy” of one of his creations, prompting him to send her a message calling her “ridiculous”.
Despite the designer’s account of Meghan’s vow never to wear his creations again, the Duchess appeared in one of his dresses in an Instagram advertisement for her lifestyle brand As Ever earlier this year.
