Meghan Markle perfects the art of ‘shrobing’ at Commonwealth event

In the few short months since she began participating in royal duties, Meghan Markle has already managed to make her fashion mark – whether it be through championing little-known designers, or her penchant for mismatched earrings. 

And the latest trend the bride-to-be has introduced to the occasionally staid world of formal royal engagements is perhaps her most fashion forward yet – shrobing 

While accompanying Prince Harry to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in beautiful spring weather on Wednesday, Meghan, 36, wore her Camilla and Marc blazer artfully draped over her shoulders, rather than putting her arms through the sleeves. 

While the ‘shoulder-robe’ – shortened to shrobing by fashion insiders – is more typically seen on fashion editors on the front row than the likes of senior royals, Meghan isn’t the first member of The Firm to adopt the draping technique. 

That accolade goes to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who was doing it as far back as 1981.  

Meghan Markle stepped out with her jacket draped over the shoulders in a trend known as ‘shoulder-robing’ or ‘shrobing’ 

Meghan had draped her blazer daintily around her shoulders, worn over a striped Aquazzura dress and killer heels by Tamara Mellon at her latest high-profile outing on Harry’s arm. 

Stylist and blogger, Simon Glazin told FEMAIL that former Suits star Meghan is likely to have picked up her shrobing habit from her days of hob-nobbing with Hollywood types.

‘Love it or hate it, it’s a trend that is here to stay. Just like Victoria Beckham has perfected turning every single handbag, no matter how big, into a clutch, she has been a pioneer of the jacket drape too.

‘Fashion editors have been doing it for decades. You only have to Google pictures of Anna Wintour or Diana Vreeland to see.

‘There is something effortlessly chic about ‘caping’ your jacket. A leather jacket draped over a form-fitting dress is Meghan’s favourite look.

‘Think of it as the new version of tying a preppy jumper round ones neck. It’s making a piece of clothing into an accessory.

While the trend has seen a surge in the past decade it dates back much earlier with Princess Diana seen sporting the trend in 1981 (pictured)

While the trend has seen a surge in the past decade it dates back much earlier with Princess Diana seen sporting the trend in 1981 (pictured)

Initially dubbed as fashion week fad it has since become a staple style for style's elite including US Vogue editor Anna Wintour

The look has become as much as a staple for Wintour as her signature sunglasses

Initially dubbed as fashion week fad it has since become a staple style for style’s elite including US Vogue editor Anna Wintour (pictured at fashion week in 2018)

‘All the Kardashian’s seem to be pros at this trend too, maybe Meghan is taking advice from Kim?’ 

It may have been a fashion week fad when it first emerged but the trend – known variously as slinging, draping and shrobing – has stayed the course, with US Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour among those still stubbornly refusing to use sleeves in the traditional way. 

Meghan was first pictured with her jacket draped over her shoulders back in 2014.

Melania Trump is another high-powered figure to adopt the trend both inside and outside the White House, seen at G7 Summit

The First Lady receives her Christmas tree at the White House in a plaid shrobe

Melania Trump is another high-powered figure to adopt the trend both inside and outside the White House, seen at G7 Summit (left) and the White House in 2017 (right)

The Kardashians were one of the pioneers of chic style with Kim (seen here in 2016) a stickler for the trend

The Kardashians were one of the pioneers of chic style with Kim (seen here in 2016) a stickler for the trend

Victoria Beckham is a long-term pioneer of the trend, pictured here with Carey Mulligan and Kate Winslet in 2017

Victoria Beckham is a long-term pioneer of the trend, pictured here with Carey Mulligan and Kate Winslet in 2017

Meghan embraced the trend around the same time as it hit the front rows of fashion week first pictured with her jacket draped over her shoulders in 2014 (pictured)

Meghan embraced the trend around the same time as it hit the front rows of fashion week first pictured with her jacket draped over her shoulders in 2014 (pictured)

She continued to rock the style throughout her time as an actress seen at fashion week in 2014

She wore a blue draped coat over her shoulders on the Today Show in 2016

She continued to rock the style throughout her time as an actress seen at fashion week in 2014 (left) and on the Today Show in 2016 (right)

And most recently was spotted in a burgundy leather shrobe while supporting fiance Prince Harry during the Invictus Games in 2017

And most recently was spotted in a burgundy leather shrobe while supporting fiance Prince Harry during the Invictus Games in 2017

And while the trend has been absent from her relatively low-key wardrobe at all of her previous official engagements, she was seen returning to it while supporting her then boyfriend Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in Toronto last summer. 

While Meghan has made increasingly confident fashion choices since joining Prince Harry in an official capacity on engagements, for many, her husband-to-be’s late mother will always remain ‘history’s most stylish royal’.  

Princess Diana was photographed shrobing on many occasions.  

Other high-profile figures outside of the fashion industry to rock the trend include Melania Trump, the wife of the US President.  

What is shrobing?

The trend for draping a jacket over the shoulders, dubbed ‘shrobing’ in recent years, has been embraced by socialites and celebrities of late but actually goes back decades, having been spotted on Princess Diana as early as 1981.

It had something of a renaissance when the influential style-blogger The Satorialist acknowledged the trend back in 2008.

Writing at the time the blogger said: ‘I have seen a few young Americans doing it lately but it still seems so specific to the Italians.’  

The explosion of Instagram in 2013 saw bloggers, models and journalists avoiding their sleeves at all costs, and newspapers and magazines hailed the arrival of ‘shoulder-robing’, ‘shrobing’ and ‘slinging’.   

As Vogue put it ‘the chicest way to wear your coat is to not’.  

It’s article on the trend said ‘the best times for slinging are when you’re in transit’, citing a nearby meeting or a short walk as ideal opportunities to try it out.  

 

 



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