Meghan Markle hosted a “Sayonara Zara” party after landing her role on Suits — giving guests clothes bought from a budget store, sparking controversy over one detail…Meghan Markle hosted a “Sayonara Zara” party after landing her role on Suits — giving guests clothes bought from a budget store, sparking controversy over one detail…
When Meghan Markle landed the role of paralegal Rachel Zane in American television drama Suits in 2011, she could hardly believe her luck.
The Californian actress, then 29, had auditioned tirelessly for years and long dreamt of finally catching her big break.
So when the joyous opportunity finally arrived, it certainly didn’t take long for Meghan to share the glitz and glamour of her new life with her nearest and dearest.
Indeed, not long after Meghan’s first day on set, the up-and-coming actress even threw a ‘Sayonara Zara’ party to gift her friends the high street clothes in her wardrobe, according to an insider.
The future Duchess was said to have thrown the low-key bash at her home in a bid to make room for some of the pricier items she could now afford.
The insider, who claimed to be a close friend of Meghan, described the former Suits star as ‘the kind of person who wants to be friends with her stylist’.
Since she first graced our television screens and wed into the Royal Family in 2018, Meghan has gradually built up an eclectic wardrobe often filled with custom and high-end designer pieces.
Certainly, as her acting career grew, Meghan likely received an abundance of free fashion items due to her high profile.
Fashion expert Giorgina Ramazzotti previously told The Daily Mail: ‘Meghan would have been very used to a world in which everything is given on loan for photoshoots, an appearance or borrowed from wardrobe as part of her character in Suits.
‘Celebrities rarely have to part with cold hard cash in exchange for fashion items.
‘Whilst Meghan wasn’t a well-known actress before meeting Prince Harry, she would still have been given freebies – albeit from smaller brands.’
During her seven-season stint on Suits, from 2011 to 2017, Meghan was often seen attending brand events and embracing the novel opportunity to pick up any freebies at luxury gifting suites.
As her status in the acting world took shape, Meghan was also snapped on the red carpet dressed in a sophisticated and chic wardrobe that showcased her interest in building her luxury wardrobe.
A world away from her former life of high-street clothing, the Suits star donned stellar designer pieces from the likes of Stella McCartney and Diane von Furstenberg to Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana.
After disposing of her high-street items during the ‘Sayonara Zara’ party, the future Duchess was then said to have enlisted the help of her former friend and socialite Jessica Mulroney to give her wardrobe a makeover.
Meghan met Jessica, now 45, in 2011 shortly after she started filming for Suits in Toronto and quickly recognised her as a model for how to turn visibility into influence.
Since she first graced our television screens and wed into the Royal Family in 2018, Meghan has gradually built up an eclectic wardrobe often filled with custom, high-end designer pieces
During her seven-season stint on Suits, Meghan was often seen attending brand events and embracing the novel opportunity to pick up any freebies at luxury gifting suites. Pictured: Meghan dressed in a Diane von Furstenberg dress at a red carpet event in 2012
The Suits star donned stellar designer pieces from the likes of Stella McCartney and Diane von Frustenberg to Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. Pictured: Meghan wearing a sleeveless Stella McCartney dress at an event in Los Angeles in October 2011
Describing Meghan as ‘an aspiring cosmopolite’, royal author Tina Brown noted that the former Suits star ‘has always been astute in flattering fashionable and famous women and absorbing their networks’.
‘Jessica Mulroney – a buzzed-up Toronto tastemaker – was Meghan’s thirty-something role model in style and new BFF,’ wrote Ms Brown in her bestselling book, The Palace Papers.
For years, the duo were scarcely seen apart and often took to social media to post gushing tributes and endless images of shared trips together.
They even took a ‘girl squad’ trip to Europe together in 2015, which Jessica called a #fakehoneymoon, adding ‘Happy wife, happy life’ to images she posted accompanying the getaway.
Jessica and her then-husband Ben Mulroney attended Harry and Meghan’s 2018 Royal Wedding, with their sons Brian and John serving as page boys and daughter Ivy as one of Meghan’s flower girls.
The Canadian socialite even helped style Meghan for her engagement photocall and later travelled with her on her first Royal tour in October 2018, again as a stylist but also as a best friend and sounding board.
Across the two-week tour to Australia, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga and New Zealand, Meghan’s wardrobe was estimated to have cost an eye-watering £50,000.
However, their friendship was thought to have come monumentally crashing down in 2020.
After disposing of her high-street items during the ‘Sayonara Zara’ party, the future Duchess was then said to have enlisted the help of her former friend and socialite Jessica Mulroney (left) to give her wardrobe a makeover
