If there’s one word that captured 2024’s vibe it is “mess”.
Last year started off unhinged then Brat summer dominated and it ended with a man accused of murder becoming the internet’s boyfriend.
The celebrities that won 2024 were unapologetic like Chappell Roan, awkward like Amelia Dimoldenberg and embraced organic madness with their whole being like Timothée Chalamet.
Those who tried to sell us anything that didn’t feel 100 per cent authentic were roundly rejected.
I’m thinking of Katy Perry and JLo, and also Kate Middleton’s ill-fated attempt to stop speculation about her health.
So as 2025 begins and chaos continues to be IN, and highly polished very much OUT, the way Meghan Markle has returned to Instagram, after a five year hiatus, is totally confounding.
Not only did the playful video of her running barefoot on the beach in an all-white outfit – and later the slick trailer for her new Netflix show – feel like a throwback to 2015’s lifestyle influencing’s peak, the glossy, luxe aesthetic is in total opposition to what we know wins in culture right now.
The content feels just as dated, with Meghan seemingly picking up where she left off before she meet Prince Harry in 2016.
Back then she ran an aspirational lifestyle blog called The Tig (named after her favourite red wine) and had her own Instagram with three million followers who lapped up pictures of Meghan’s dog, travels, food and the various yoga poses she could contort her body into.
The same high-end lifestyle guru vibes are present on her new account and appears to be the singular focus of the new series, With Love, Meghan.
The promo sees her serving elaborate cakes, picking fresh produce from a garden, selecting flowers by the stem and harvesting honey.
In a voiceover she says: “We are not in the pursuit of perfection, we are in the pursuit of joy.”
But everything in the trailer, from the stunning country kitchen to the parade of deeply impractical pale-toned outfits she wears while cooking are nothing short of flawless.
If what is shown in the sizzle reel isn’t perfection, I am not sure what is because this is giving tradwife.
PRINCE Harry has always wanted out of the Royal Family and the repercussions will be felt for years, an expert has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex has lived in California with his wife Meghan Markle since 2020 after they dramatically quit their jobs as working royals and moved across the pond.
Katie Nicholl, who is Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show that Megxit did not come as a surprise to her.
Speaking to The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson, the commentator explained: “Anyone who knows Harry is aware he’s always wanted a way out of the Royal Family.
“He’s said multiple times on the record that he wished he’d never been born a prince.
“I think he really is living the life he wants to now. It’s very, very sad that it’s played out the way it has.”
In a statement made on the Sussexes’ Instagram account as they stepped back in 2020, the pair wrote: “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.
“It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment.
“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.
“This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”
Markle seems to have missed that uber rich lifestyle porn became so ubiquitous – and reviled – prior to 2020, that a wave of Schadenfreude-themed dramas became some of television’s biggest hits in the preceding years.
The White Lotus, The Undoing, The Perfect Couple all relied on viewers contempt for the wealthy and their fancy lifestyles.
MEGHAN Markle proved herself as a feminist long before hitting the spotlight - pushing for change at just 12.
Footage of the US actress as a school student has surfaced, with the young woman having written letters demanding for a cleaning ad to change their sexist ad’s phrasing from “women” to “people”.
Meghan had taken issue with Ivory’s ad for dishwasher soap, that claimed “women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans”.
Taking up a pen and paper, the determined student wrote to the company, asking for them to make a change – and they did.
Nickelodeon footage of Meghan explaining just why she had decided to speak out has since resurfaced, with the fresh-faced student already well-spoken and thoughtful.
Speaking to the camera, she explained: “I said – wait a minute, how could someone say that?”
She said that she realised a number of commercials would hurt people’s feelings, and was determined to make a change.
In the 1993 interview, she said: “I don’t think it is right for kids to grow up thinking that mom does everything.
“If you see something that you don’t like or offended by on television or any other place, write letters and send them to the right people and you can really make a difference, not just for yourself but for lots of other people.”
At the same time Eat the Rich became a common refrain and wealth-flashing backlash commonplace.
Maybe understanding the dynamics of culture in 2025 doesn’t matter to Markle.
After all Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to give her her full title, has racked up over eight million views across the two videos in little more than a day, and her new account already has over one million followers.
But while attention is one thing, relevance is something else entirely.
Rachel Richardson writes the trends newsletter highly flammable on Substack.
