As Diana demonstrated in her historic 1995 interview, bold black eyeliner will allow Meghan to 'emphasize every emotion-filled glance' as she describes life in the royal family.
For Meghan Markle’s internationally televised take-down of her royal in-laws Sunday, the former Hollywood actress definitely knows how to dress the part of avenging angel, all the way down to the bold black liner she uses to surround her eyes.
The Duchess of Sussex also appears to be taking some cues from her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who displayed a similar appreciation for black eyeliner and the theatrics of a cultural moment in her famous 1995 TV confessional.
Meghan Markle's thickly lined eyes feel strikingly reminiscent of Princess Diana's makeup in her own 1995 bombshell interview. https://t.co/KEXLZqFFO3
— Glamour (@glamourmag) March 1, 2021
For her BBC appearance, Diana wore a stark black suit and simple white top to “pound the final nail in the coffin” of her marriage to Prince Charles and to accuse the royal establishment of plotting against her, as Vanity Fair said.
What people remember most about Diana’s look was the eye make-up. As Glamour observed, heavy black liner allowed Prince Harry’s mother to disclose the harsh realities of her marriage with “a kohl-rimmed stare.” That stare was especially effective for delivering her iconic line, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”
For her highly-anticipated CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan also dons a black outfit — a black silk Armani dress with a white lotus-flower embellishment. She accessorizes it with a bracelet that belonged to Diana and likewise wears heavy black eyeliner, which is a departure from the more muted, natural look she is said to have adopted during her time with the royal family.
Glamour said the eyeliner allows Meghan to “emphasize every emotion-filled glance,” as she calls out the royal family for denying her the ability to speak for herself and instead perpetuating “falsehoods” about her and Harry. The prince joins Meghan for part of the two-hour interview.
“And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, there’s a lot that’s been lost already,” Meghan tells Winfrey, according to a promotional clip. It’s a burning-her-bridges type line that prompted one royal observer to say that she and Harry probably won’t ever be invited back to participate in royal events, such as Trooping the Colour. “I can’t ever see those two back on the balcony.”
To make such powerful statements, Meghan has carefully considered how she wants to present herself, a beauty and royal family expert explained to Glamour.
“Makeup is often an opportunity to reflect on the outside the way we feel inside,” Myka Meier, founder of Beaumont Etiquette, told Glamour. “Also considered a groundbreaking interview, I’m not surprised to see Meghan’s choice of makeup to be bold and empowered, similar to Princess Diana’s during her Martin interview.”
Whether or not Meghan’s makeup choice is directly borrowed from Diana, Meier said it certainly reflects her look before she married Harry. As a TV star who made her share of red-carpet appearances, she often chose many dark eye colors and shades, so the black eyeliner could be one way of her reflecting her return to an independent non-royal life.
The idea of freedom and rebirth also is expressed in Meghan’s Armani dress, with the lotus flower embellishment, observers have said. Town and Country said: “Meghan specifically chose a dress with a lotus flower for her landmark interview with Oprah because of the symbolism behind the bloom … it is associated with rebirth and spiritual enlightenment.”
The Daily Beast added that the dress “is a carefully-crafted statement of resilience:” Meghan wears it to describe her “almost unsurvivable” life as a royal and the painful media attention that came with it. “The dress screams. I made it out,” the Daily Beast said.
Two days before Meghan and Harry’s interview airs on CBS, tensions between the couple and Buckingham Palace have erupted into an all-out war of words. Following newly reported accusations this that Meghan bullied her royal staff, British media has suggested that multiple witnesses are ready to come forward to give evidence against her in a human-resources inquiry hastily arranged by palace officials.
Meghan’s representatives have hit back by accusing Buckingham Palace of engaging in “a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful misinformation” ahead of the interview.
The duchess’s friends and celebrity supporters also have launched a social media pushback against the bullying claims, saying saying she’s always “been kindness; goodwill runs in her bones.” They also said she’s being targeted because she’s a woman and because she’s biracial.
“Those British papers really cannot tolerate that Prince Harry loves a black woman,” writer Roxane Gay tweeted. “He was right to leave. I don’t even think it was a hard decision. They will never ever stop trying to tear Meghan apart. It’s absolutely grotesque.”
