One of Meghan Markle’s most notable fashion looks will be heading to a museum.
Fashion Museum Bath announced Tuesday that the Armani dress worn by the Duchess of Sussex for her CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey has been selected as the museum’s Dress of the Year 2021.
Meghan wore the iconic dress during the two-hour sit-down interview alongside Prince Harry, which aired in the US on 7 March 2021.
The black and white silk georgette dress with lotus flower embroidery and matching belt will go on display at the Fashion Museum from 22 February, where it will be featured as the final item in the exhibit A History of Fashion in 100 Objects.
“It’s well known that members of the royal family often use outfits to send a message through their choice of style, colour or motif,” the museum said in a statement. “It was reported that the duchess chose a dress with a lotus flower design because of the flower’s symbolic association with rebirth, self-regeneration and spiritual enlightenment, and its ability to flourish despite seemingly challenging conditions.”
In the statement, the museum explained that, each year it invites top names in the fashion industry to select a Dress of the Year that “encapsulates the prevailing mood of fashion, represents the past year, and captures the imagination.” This year’s selection was chosen by Dazed magazine’s Ibrahim Kamara and Gareth Wrighton.
“In today’s hyper-stylised pop culture, the Dress of the Year now has the potential to also be ‘meme of the year’ and we both latched upon Meghan and Harry’s now iconic interview with Oprah as the definitive anti-establishment moment that will forever endure in the British collective consciousness,” the pair said.
“Meghan’s wrap dress by Armani, worn to showcase a divine pregnancy, framed the duchess in black against the bountiful landscaping of Tyler Perry’s Hollywood garden,” they added. “This look now, through sheer association with a viral television moment, is firmly engrained in our pop culture psyche.”
The dress, which is from Georgio Armani’s Spring/Summer 2022 Cruise Collection, is still available to purchase in the US for $4,700.
