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Meghan Markle stepped out on official duty for the first time since welcoming baby Archie Harrison. The Duchess of Sussex debuted The Smart Set capsule collection in collaboration with her patronage Smart Works that will feature five essential items for women who are going back to the workforce in the hopes to empower them and provide support when they return to employment and take steps to transform their lives.
The collection includes five items—a blazer and trousers from Jigsaw, a dress from Marks & Spencer, a classic white t-shirt from Misha Nonoo and a tote bag perfect to pack all your interview essentials from John Lewis & Partners. For the royal engagement, which was held at the rooftop of the Oxford Street John Lewis in London, the 38-year-old royal dressed to the nines in items from the collection. She wore the black Jigsaw trousers paired with a white button-down Misha Nonoo shirt. To complete the look, she wore chic pumpkin-colored heels.
During her launch, she addressed the crowd and spoke about the importance of the collection. “When I first moved to the U.K. it was incredibly important to me personally to be able to connect with people on the ground who were doing really important work. One of the places that I went to really early on was Smart Works,” she said. “To be able to have one small project that has such big impact is something I’m really connected to. This is the kind of work that I’ve been doing for a really long time and to be able to do it here in my new home of the U.K. means quite a bit to me. It’s also the same vein of work that my husband and I will continue doing, really strong community-based projects. And this is something we’ll be excited to share more about next year when we launch our foundation, Sussex Royal, in 2020.”
She also took to her social media page to announce the news explaining how this collection will work to with the women in the organization. "For every item bought during the sale of the collection, one will be donated to Smart Works," the statement reads. "This 1:1 model allows customers to directly support the Smart Works women by playing a part in their success story - how they look and more importantly, how they feel.”
Meghan previously shared a behind-the-scenes look at the Smart Set capsule collection in August, when she posted on the Sussex Royal social media page video footage of the photoshoot. The collection came to fruition after the royal mom visited the charity and saw that the pieces donated were not suitable. “When you walk into a Smart Works space you’re met with racks of clothing and an array of bags and shoes,” she wrote in the September issue of British Vogue, where she guest-edited. “Sometimes, however, it can be a potpourri of mismatched sizes and colors, not always the right stylistic choices or range of sizes.”
The collection will go on sale Thursday, September 12 and will be available for two weeks!