The under-the-radar high street label the royals love

When the Duchess of Cambridge needed to look ‘like a princess’ in a pink dress, as she’d promised she would for her meeting with four-year-old cancer sufferer Mila Sneddon last month, it wasn’t one of her usual formalwear labels that she turned to.

Instead of Jenny Packham, Alexander McQueen or Emilia Wickstead - all of which have made red carpet gowns for the Duchess in the past - she wore a dress from Me+Em, the under-the-radar, high-end-of-the-high street British label.

It wasn’t just Mila who loved the shirt-style, ankle-length dress (£450, Me+Em). Lots of women, inspired by photos of Kate in the following day’s papers, tried to buy it, and as a result it quickly sold out.

This is happening more and more frequently for the brand, which was founded by Clare Hornby in 2016. Typically the label sees an immediate spike in traffic to its website, with visitors from all over the world, and the item in question subsequently sells out quickly.

Kate was an early fan of the brand and has been seen in its Breton tops for casual occasions since it launched. But the pink dress is the first of its more formal pieces that we’ve seen her in.

She joins the Countess of Wessex in loving its flattering, versatile designs. Sophie wore a Me+Em cream polka-dot dress with a pleated skirt (£295, Me+Em) on Wednesday to give a speech at the WI’s Annual Meeting. She also wore a navy version (£250, Me+Em) last month for a visit to Frimley Park Hospital.

It’s even on the Duchess of Sussex’s radar: before quitting her role as a working royal and leaving the UK, Meghan attended an engagement at a Dagenham school wearing a Me+Em cream boucle fringe jacket, in March 2020.

It’s not surprising that all of these women - with very different lives and personal styles - have found something to love at Me+Em. The brand has carved a niche in the fashion landscape , producing the kind of clothing that transcends occasions, yet is still interesting enough to satisfy someone who likes to stay ahead of the style curve.

It’s not eye-wateringly expensive either. While £450 for a dress isn’t cheap, Kate’s dress was a bit of an outlier, and a fraction of the cost of a typical McQueen creation. Other dresses cost between £95 and £295. They’re classic enough not to date too quickly as well - there’s potential for this kind of clothing to last a good decade in one’s wardrobe.

Most importantly though, everything is thoughtfully designed so that it flatters different body types. You don’t have to be a size zero to wear Me+Em, which is actually quite rare, as many brands design clothes around the body of a model, not the real life curves of the average woman.

“The modern royals need their clothes to work hard for them. They need to jump out of a car and look as pristine as when they got in. They need to focus on the appointment in hand and not worry if their clothes are sitting properly,” Hornby says. “We spend a disproportionate amount of time on the fit process, ensuring everything fits beautifully. We select fabrics that don’t crease, are comfortable and drape and move with the wearer."

Sure, not all of us are being snapped from every angle when we go to work, but the knowledge that one does look good from every angle is a definite confidence booster. There are other practical details too, like trousers with adjustable waistbands, zip-up jumpsuits and decorative cuffs to add to your sleeves - while the bomber jacket with a shoulder strap (£225, Me+Em) is a stroke of genius.

So apart from Kate and Sophie’s new dresses, what’s worth buying at Me+Em? These are our five must-buys from the spring/summer 21 collection:

Icy pink fluid zip-up jumpsuit, £250; Super wide culotte, £95; Swing trench coat, £375; Cotton pearl button stripe polo top, £125; Cotton pearl button stripe polo top, £125, all Me+Em

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