Meghan Markle Wore an Off-the-Shoulder Dress and Internet Trolls Are Criticizing Her for It
It's 2018, and in an unprecedented move, a divorced, biracial American actress has married into the British royal family. But despite being a groundbreaker, she apparently can't wear whatever she wants to wear. Over the weekend, Meghan Markle joined many of her new in-laws at Trooping the Colour, Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday celebration, and has since been brutally dragged on the Internet by people claiming that her outfit was "inappropriate."
To attend the outdoor event, Meghan opted for a pale pink, off-the-shoulder Carolina Herrera dress with a matching wide-brimmed fascinator. She rode to Buckingham Palace in an open-top carriage with Prince Harry, who wore his full military uniform; once at the palace, they joined Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their kids, as well as many other members of the extended royal family, to watch as the Royal Air Force flew overhead. Though Meghan's outfit looked very classy — not to mention season- and weather-appropriate — Cosmopolitan notes that many people still came for the Duchess of Sussex online, attacking her decision to (gasp!) show her shoulders, and comparing her to new sister-in-law Kate.
For the record, The Sun reports that "fashion tradition usually dictates that Royal women do not wear off-shoulder or other more revealing styles." That said, this outdated rule has been broken several times before by Kate herself: The Duchess of Cambridge wore a bright red Alexander McQueen off-the-shoulder dress for an outdoor event in Berlin last summer, a white Barbara Casasola shoulder-baring gown to an event in London the summer before that, and yet another gorgeous Alexander McQueen off-shoulder gown to the 2017 BAFTA Awards.
Furthermore, Prince Harry's mother, Princess Diana, was also a big fan of off-the-shoulder dresses back in the '80s and '90s — proving that this is one "rule" that has been broken for decades now, and that the Markle-haters need to do better research before they start comparing her to other royals who have worn even more "scandalous" outfits. In an ideal world, of course, we wouldn't compare anyone, royal or not, to others around them, and we also wouldn't expect people in 2018 to abide by outdated and sexist guidelines laid down decades, if not centuries, before.
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