Meghan and Melania are two of the most divisive women in America. They couldn't be more different. But there's a clever trick they both depend on, writes JANE TIPPETT

They are without question two of the most divisive female public figures of the moment. Boasting a bi-partisan contingent of detractors, it is almost impossible to find anyone who doesn't have an opinion about either Meghan Markle or Melania Trump and it's the negative voices that tend to be loudest. Their every move, statement and outfit is scrutinized on a granular level, and turned into supporting evidence for almost universally damning conclusions about who they are both professionally and personally.

Perhaps the forty-three-year-old Duchess of Sussex would rail against any comparison between herself and the fifty-four-year old Slovenian model turned First Lady whose husband just days ago denounced Meghan as 'terrible.'. But, while it may be tempting to conclude that these high-profile consorts have little in common, nothing could be further from the truth that they wear on their expensively couture-clad sleeves.

Though both celebrities in their own right prior to their marriages, their union with much more famous men catapulted them onto a stage that neither ever expected to occupy. To complicate matters further, neither fit the traditional expectations of what was required for their newfound status. A divorced American whose claim to fame was as an actress on the legal drama, Suits was as unlikely a candidate for the role of royal duchess, as was a model turned mogul's wife for that of First Lady.

Boasting a bi-partisan contingent of detractors, it is almost impossible to find anyone who doesn't have an opinion about either Meghan Markle (pictured) or Melania Trump and it's the negative voices that tend to be loudest. Perhaps the forty-three-year-old Duchess of Sussex would rail against any comparison between herself and the fifty-four-year old Slovenian model turned First Lady (pictured at the Liberty Ball) whose husband just days ago denounced Meghan as 'terrible.'.

Though both celebrities in their own right prior to their marriages, their union with much more famous men catapulted them onto a stage that neither ever expected to occupy. (Meghan and Harry are pictured at their 2018 wedding). But despite President Trump's vocal criticism of Team Sussex, I wonder if Meghan might have felt a pang of sympathy for the 47th President's other half in recent weeks. Vogue's scathing review of Melania's newly released official White House portrait, which slammed her as looking, 'more like a magician than a public servant,' was a visceral attack on a woman whom even Meghan must recognize is every bit as scrutinized and criticized as she is.

Imagine if that photograph had been of Michelle Obama or Jill Biden. Instead of being sneered at for its theatrical styling, might pundits have praised it as an expression of female agency and strength?. It's the sort of double standard to which Meghan herself is frequently victim. In October 2024, appearing at a Los Angeles benefit, she upcycled an extravagant red silk Carolina Herrera evening dress first worn when she and Harry attended the Salute to Freedom Gala in New York City.

Removing its voluminous train, the gown took on a lighter more relaxed feel, mirrored in Meghan's decision to fallow her dark brown locks to fall in beachy-style waves against her shoulder. Fashion thrift is usually a source of praise for royal women – the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal have all been applauded for appearing in the same outfit more than once. Yet Meghan drew not praise but opprobrium.

Most of the reaction centered on her unkempt hair and the fact that she had appeared without her other half. The reality is that the more closely you look, the more closely Meghan and Melania align in both the challenges they face and how they have chosen to navigate them. It has not been plain sailing for either. Each has wobbled as they struggled to adapt to settings and situations that clearly did not come naturally.

For women allotted few opportunities to speak, that meant that their clothes became the best barometer of what was clearly at times an unsettling journey. Who can forget Meghan's awkward debut at a Buckingham Palace garden party? Just two days after her wedding, the former poster girl for ripped jeans and Chanel flats went full on 'repli-Kate' in a rose pink below the knee dress, Philip Treacy hat, satin clutch and (shock!) sheer panty-hose that shimmered in the May afternoon sun.

Clearly taking cues from her sister-in-law, Meghan looked uncomfortably not herself - an apt metaphor as it transpired for the tumult already taking place behind palace walls. A few weeks later, she opted for a protocol-breaking pink off-the-shoulder-dress with a matching hat, again by Treacy, to attend the Trooping of the Color. If this outfit was an attempt to find some compromise between her own style and that of her new in-laws, it merely served to demonstrate the conflict between who Meghan was and what convention said she should be.