Meghan Markle’s stunning cape dress: where to find it

Dress to impress in gowns similar to the Stella McCartney creation worn by the future princess to the queen’s birthday party

The Dictator

Published: 7:00pm, 2 May 2018

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I’m obsessed with the blue cape dress that Meghan Markle wore for the queen’s birthday. Who made it and can they make me one too?
Cinderella, Happy Valley

The Dictator rules: Why, didn’t you know? Princesses have their dresses made by magical mice and birds! Get the old Cinderella reference? Stop looking at me like that.

To celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 92nd birthday, the future Princess Meghan – royalists, go ahead and write in about appropriate titles, I’ll be sure to file your email (in the bin) – wore a creation by Stella McCartney, who is the daughter of rock royalty after all. The Neiman Marcus website has a similar crew-neck, cape-front, belted, knee-length dress in navy by the British designer (HK$13,723). McCartney also uses the silhouette for a long evening gown in lipstick red (HK$23,500).

Those of you into fashion or celebrities or both will find all this vaguely familiar. In 2012, actress Gwyneth Paltrow wore a white Tom Ford cape gown to the Academy Awards. In 2014, fellow actress Lupita Nyong’o wore a red cape gown by Ralph Lauren to the Golden Globes. Last year, model Karlie Kloss wore a white cape gown by Stella McCartney to the Oscars.

You know who else likes them? American first lady Melania Trump. Hers have mostly been made by Givenchy, which sells silk, above-the-knee cape dresses in white or black (HK$16,800). Valentino does cape dresses in two-tone silk cady, from a mini to a maxi gown length (HK$28,000 to HK$53,000). Or, if you need to feed your kids and pay rent, you might consider a less expensive take on the look, such as Alice + Olivia’s Neely cape back overlay dress in red or black poly mix crepe (HK$3,950; Lane Crawford).

Scrunchies have been resurrected from the annals of fashion thanks to Demna Gvasalia and his leather re-boot for Balenciaga.

Are scrunchies back? I saw photos of models wearing leather ones and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
Hair Today, Mid-Levels

The Dictator: Well then, let’s get serious. With all that’s happening in the world, you should definitely take a stance on the scrunchie, and the only way to know how you feel about it is to wear one. They never completely went away. Well, that is if you’re still dressing like it’s 1988.

Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia re-booted the scrunchie for the French fashion house’s resort 2018 collection, which came out late last year. You know what that means. Yup, its leather scrunchies have sold out in most boutiques. However, you can still find a few online – in green or light blue leather (HK$1,500) at matchesfashion.com, and in black lambskin (HK$1,350) at ssense.com; 24sevres.comhas it in bright pink (HK$1,530) and calls it a “chouchou”.

Somehow, removing the word “scrunchie”, and the stigma that comes with it, makes the hair accessory more acceptable. As in the case of Danish designer Line Sander Johansen, who calls it a “hair cloud”. Hers use an entirely different luxury material – silk: recycled Hermès scarves and Liberty print fabrics (HK$589 to HK$973; comfortobjects.dk).

If you have a leather fetish to feed, don’t worry. Apparently, there are other geniuses out there who thought a leather scrunchie was a good idea. First, you should know by now that if there is an obscure product to find, Etsy probably has it (about HK$75 and up). Accessories label Jennifer Behr does them in black leather (HK$1,005). L Erickson has a black lambskin one at an unbelievably low price (HK$188; franceluxe.com).

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