Meghan Markle’s Oprah interview dress has been named Dress of the Year

Virgin Radio

25 Feb 2022, 10:13

“This look now, through sheer association with a viral television moment, is firmly ingrained in our pop culture psyche.”

The outfit Meghan Markle wore for that bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey has been awarded as Dress of the Year 2021 by the Fashion Museum in Bath.

A version of the dress by Giorgio Armani will be going on display as the final item in the museum’s exhibition, A History Of Fashion In 100 Objects.

It felt like the whole world watched the Oprah interview, where the Duchess wore a black dress embellished with a white lotus flower tied together with a matching belt from Armani’s Spring/Summer 2022 Cruise Collection.

The museum stated this floral pattern had a “symbolic association with rebirth, self-regeneration and spiritual enlightenment, and its ability to flourish despite seemingly challenging conditions.”

Every year, they invite an expert from the fashion industry to choose a dress that will embody the year just passed.

In 2020, the Dress of Hope won the spot and included a Riccardo Tisci/Burberry camel cashmere cape worn by Naomi Campbell with a Tyvek hazmat suit, facemask and pink latex gloves.

This year Dazed magazine’s Ibrahim Kamara and Gareth Wrighton were asked to make the choice for 2021.

In a statement, they said: “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.

“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.

“This look now, through sheer association with a viral television moment, is firmly ingrained in our pop culture psyche.”

On top of this, the museum labelled the two-hour bombshell TV special as “one of the defining pop-cultural moments of 2021.”

Rosemary Harden, manager of the Fashion Museum, said: “This is a fabulous addition to the Fashion Museum collection. There are moments in history that are all about the dress, and Meghan’s interview with Oprah was just such an occasion.

“The softly structured Armani dress with beautiful appliqued lotus flower motif was part of a carefully curated look, guaranteed to send messages, and to imprint itself in our consciousness time and time again.

“Thank you to Ibrahim and Gareth for this landmark selection for Dress of the Year Collection and to Armani for most generously gifting the dress to the Museum.”

It certainly is a beautiful dress, but it comes at quite a price.

If you fancied getting your hands on the now-infamous garment, it would set you back a whopping $4,7000 (approximately £3,458)!