The Duchess of Sussex paid a surprise visit to one of her patronages, SmartWorks, on Wednesday to share a special moment in the charity’s story. Meghan was on hand to see the photo shoot for the new capsule collection she’s helped create for the organisation.
The duchess announced the initiative last month, explaining that she wanted to boost the work of the charity even further. Smart Works provides women trying to get back into the job market with an outfit and skills ahead of interviews. Meghan said that she was impressed with the generous donations to the organisation but noticed that there ” were also notably a combination of mismatched items and colors which weren’t always the right stylistic choices or sizes that didn’t necessarily ‘suit’ the job at hand”.
Her new project has seen four fashion voices – John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Jigsaw and designer Misha Nonoo – create a collection of workwear essentials to help provide the women approaching Smart Works with an even better selection of clothes. The ultimate aim, says the duchess, is ” to make a woman feel confident and inspired as she walked into her job interview”.
And she got a chance to see that firsthand on Wednesday when she made a surprise visit to the photoshoot for the collection. The behind the scenes peek was shared on Sussex Royal’s Instagram stories.
Meghan is seen hugging some of the women taking part in the shoot as well as going behind the camera to see the videos and photos in production. The story is set to the ‘Lovely Day’ by Bill Withers.
Meghan announced she was becoming patron of Smart Works in January this year. The organisation is one of four chosen by the duchess as her first royal patronages. The capsule collection is due to be revealed this autumn.