Meghan Markle Wears White Pantyhose for Her First Public Outing

The Duchess wore white, and it wasn’t even her wedding day. Less than one full week into her new role as Duchess of Sussex and Meghan Markle is already acing her royal duties—for her first public outing following the royal wedding, she wore bespoke creamy-colored hat by the iconic milliner Philip Treacy, a dress by GOAT, and… white pantyhose? Yes, you read that correctly—white pantyhose.

Before you go ahead and chastise Markle for her befuddling fashion choices, it’s important to note that pantyhose are actually a part of the royal dress code (indeed, it’s a real thing). The California-native is trading in sundresses for stockings, among a list of other strict sartorial and beauty-related guidelines that were put in place by Queen Elizabeth. Colored nail polish and dresses above the knees, for example, are not considered appropriate attire for her majesty.

To many people, these rules probably sound extremely stifling. Millennials are, after all, a generation that is obsessed with championing body positivity and overturning rules that dictate gender norms—funny that Markle has so quickly adopted these rules, given the fact that she was battling the patriarchy on Nickelodeon at age 12, but maybe she was making up for the fact that she didn’t wear pantyhose to her engagement announcement (the drama).

Despite all of the social media mockery, meme’ing, and general agreement that pantyhose suck as a hosiery option, Markle still managed to crash GOAT’s website with shoppers looking to scoop up the ladylike “Flavia”-style dress that Markle wore over top her pantyhose. Like a bad stress rash, the “Markle Effect,” #MarkleSparkle, Markle Madness (we’re coining that one), is clearly not showing any signs of calming down.

That’s bad news for people who hate pantyhose, because we might just be seeing the stuffy style back in stores and the legs of Instagram influencers all too soon. The old-school style even made a comeback on the runway, too, at Chanel’s Resort 2019 show, where models wore their’s with frilled skirts and peacoats.