Meet Meghan’s Friend and Stylist, Jessica Mulroney

We are back with some news updates and the first of our profiles on names to know in Meghan’s inner circle.

First, in case you missed the news, Harry and Meghan have several engagements in Edinburgh on Tuesday, the 13th. More from our Meg Events page.

Tuesday, February 13: Meghan and Harry will be in Edinburgh, Scotland. They will first visit Edinburgh Castle; after being welcomed by the Royal Marines Scotland Band, they will watch the firing of the One O’clock Gun inside the Castle. Their second stop is at Social Bite, a group of cafes using its profits to end homelessness in Scotland.  Their final engagement will be at the Palace of Holyroodhouse where they will attend a reception celebrating Scotland’s Year of Young People.

We will have full coverage of this Tuesday on Facebook and on Twitter.

Next, news that Meghan is expected to have a role at this April’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, a weeklong event that will be attended by as many as 52 Commonwealth heads of state. More from Camilla Tominey’s story in The Express:

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also expected to take part in the summit, and Foreign Office staff are thought to be keen to harness the popularity of Ms Markle, who was cheered as she has accompanied Harry on engagements in Brixton and Cardiff in recent weeks.

This could see Harry and Meghan attend a glittering state banquet at Buckingham Palace, where the American actress could be asked to don a royal tiara for the very first time – just weeks before her wedding on May 19.

We’ll update as we learn more information about the events.

Now we turn our attention to Jessica Mulroney, one of Meghan’s closest friends as well as her stylist. Many of you have probably seen some of the news coverage about Meghan’s wedding gown.

If not, here is a quick update: in mid-January royal correspondent, Omid Scobie reported on Good Morning America that a dress had been chosen and Jessica Mulroney is involved in the process. More from ABC:

“We have a wedding dress designer,” said Scobie, also a royal biographer. “Meghan flew in her close friend and bridal stylist Jessica Mulroney from Toronto to London last weekend where she attended a top-secret fitting at Kensington Palace with the designer.”

Mulroney’s four-day visit to Kensington Palace last week also allowed Markle and Mulroney to start reviewing plans for the May 19, 2018, wedding and reception. Mulroney, also a bridal planner, is assisting Markle in the entire design and concept of the wedding party outfits and look for the reception.

It occurred to us that perhaps not everyone is familiar with Jessica Mulroney or knows about her friendship with Meghan, thus our post today.

Ms. Mulroney is a fashion stylist based in Toronto, Canada; one of her most notable clients is Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. She has referred to herself as a ‘fashion strategist,’ and she does style commentary for a variety of media outlets. Her husband, Ben Mulroney, is a TV presenter whose father is former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The couple has three children, fraternal twins Brian and John, and daughter Isabel (often called Ivy). The Mulroneys shared a family photo at Christmas, seen above.

Below, you see Ms. Mulroney in photos from her Instagram account.Ms. Mulroney co-founded The Shoebox Project with her sisters-in-law, it is a charity that supplies boxes filled with personal care items to women in shelters in the US and Canada. Meghan has been seen wearing the SHARE JOY bracelet, sold as a fundraiser for the Shoebox Project.

It is said that Ms. Mulroney suggested the styles worn when Meghan and Harry met the media after their engagement was announced, a coat from Line the Label and dress by Parosh. 

More on the friendship from a 2016 Toronto Life piece about Jessica and Ben Mulroney. 

Just last summer, when Markle’s relationship with Prince Harry was still top secret, the gal pals spent a few days living la dolce vita on the Amalfi Coast (and because it was 2016, their getaway had its own hashtag: #­MJxItaly).

Another picture via Jessica’s Instagram from that Aug 2016 vacation.

It is likely Ms. Mulroney introduced Meghan to Birks Jewelry; she is a style expert for the company. Daughter Ivy also starred in an ad campaign for Birks with her mother.

Ivy is rumored to have a role as a flower girl in the wedding.

What sort of wedding designs does the stylist like? You can have a look by visiting the Jessica Mulroney Weddings Instagram account. 

Here is a style shown on the page; the caption reads “This new off the shoulder gown is giving me all kinds of bridal inspiration.” 

This look from the Instagram feed was captioned “I love a bride that isn’t afraid to wear something different.”

I’m not suggesting Meghan would wear anything like the dresses shown above; they merely offer a very brief look at Ms. Mulroney’s feed.

How much influence does Jessica Mulroney have? This is from a Women’s Wear Daily story:

…the Los Angeles-born Markle has also made a point of wearing an assortment of Canadian labels, many of which she discovered through her stylist Jessica Mulroney — Sentaler, Aritzia, Mackage, Reitmans, Soia Kyo, Pink Tartan and Smythe.

Meghan and Jessica discussed wedding gowns well before the actress was engaged to Prince Harry. The stylist is featured in a video with Meghan as she works on picking out the wedding dress Rachel Zane (Meghan’s character) will wear in an episode of Suits.

Suits Blog – USA Network

Ultimately Meghan wore a dress by Anne Barge for the Suits episode, as seen in this photo from Kleinfeld Bridal. The style is the “Versailles” from the spring 2016 collection.

The names that continue to be bandied about as likely designers include Roland Mouret and Erdem, and today a new name was added to the mix in this Hello! story by Laura Sutcliffe:

The word on the London fashion circuit is that the former Suits star is planning to wear a dress by London designer Antonio Berardi.

The piece points out that Meghan wore an Antonio Berardi dress when watching Prince Harry play polo last May (photos here).

As noted above, Roland Mouret continues to be discussed as a likely designer. This is via Page Six.

Designer Roland Mouret isn’t only a close friend of Meghan Markle’s, he’s also rumored to be in the running to design her royal wedding dress. “Meghan knows really well what she likes and the main thing with Meghan is to listen to her and work in collaboration with her,” Mouret tells Alexa, coyly refusing to divulge more. “I’ve already said too much.”

Clearly, Jessica Mulroney would work with any designer Meghan selected, wanting her friend to shine on her special day. Susan Courter believes Roland Mouret is a likely designer. I (Susan Kelley) continue to waffle, and think the Berardi option is a good one. There’s also the possibility Meghan will choose separate designers for the wedding and the second reception.

We’ll see you next Tuesday, if not before!

LINKAGE:

• Toronto Life’s profile of Jessica and husband Ben Mulroney, “The Ben & Jess Show,” may be read here
• Town and Country‘s story, “Meet Meghan Markle’s Best Friend Jessica Mulroney,” is here 
• People’s backgrounder, “Who is Meghan Markle’s Stylist BFF Jessica Mulroney?” is here 
• Click here to read a National Post story, “Meghan Markle’s new social circle — will there be room for stylist Jessica Mulroney?”