Meghan Markle Carries A Custom Version of Princess Diana’s Beloved Dior Bag

Meghan Markle gave a subtle nod to her late mother-in-law through her choice of accessories over the weekend, and this time it’s not even a case of royal watchers grasping at straws. While attending Global Citizen Live in New York City on Saturday, the Duchess opted to carry a Dior purse with her white Valentino mini dress. But this wasn’t just any Dior purse, it was a Lady Dior, named after Princess Diana herself.

According to The Financial Times, Diana was initially gifted the bag in 1995 by the then-First Lady of France, Bernadette Chirac. At the time, the bag had just been designed by Dior’s then-designer Gianfranco Ferré and it was still unnamed. Diana began to wear it everywhere, even to the Met Gala, and in 1996, Dior renamed the bag the Lady Dior, in honor of Diana.

Markle is not carrying the original 1995 design, but the Lady D-Lite, a reimagined version by Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri in honor of the bag’s 25th anniversary last year. “I made the bag soft, changed the dimensions and the materials, then added opaque finishes and an ultra-opaque leather,” Churi told FT. “I transformed it into a piece with infinite potential.”

Markle’s bag is also custom, featuring her title, “DSOS,” embroidered in black on the front. Despite the differences between Markle’s and the original, the accessory choice is an obvious nod to Diana, considering her history with the design.