Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Wore Carolina Herrera To The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala 2024 

When Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stepped onto the red carpet at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala 2024, all eyes were on her sartorial choice—a Carolina Herrera Pre-Fall 2022 red column dress.

I’m sure you instantly recognised it from the Salute To Freedom Gala which she wore back in November 2021, where it featured a dramatic train. That version, however, didn’t win universal praise, even making it onto the ‘2022 Looks You Didn’t Like List’ despite the fact that she wore it in 2021.

The question here today is: did Meghan manage to elevate the look this time around?

The recycling of this dress was intriguing, to say the least. On the one hand, Meghan’s styling for the gala was notably more refined. She dropped the train, aiming for a sleeker silhouette, paired with Aquazzura’s classic So Nude sandals. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for a clean and confident reintroduction of a look that, frankly, had disappointed many the first time around.

However, even without the train, the dress still had issues that were hard to ignore. The pulls on the bodice and skirt, and those frustratingly imperfect darts, returned for round two. In fact, without the drama of the original train to distract, these flaws became even more apparent. I was left wondering why the effort wasn’t made to address these problems during this revamp—surely that was the entire point of giving this dress a second chance?

In theory, this outfit redux had the potential to be a powerful statement—an example of how Meghan could refine and perfect a previous miss, and of course present a message of fashion suitability. But, in practice, it felt like a missed opportunity. A good idea on paper, yet it fell flat in execution.

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