Meghan Comes Full Circle

Meghan Markle 3.0? After a flashy stop at Paris Fashion Week, the duchess seems poised to return to her Hollywood roots and make her professional mark sans husband Prince Harry. Insiders dish on her latest rebrand and what she'll need to do to make it work

- JAIME HARKIN

Meghan Markle made quite a splash at her very first Paris Fashion Week appearance in early October. Looking chic in a silky white top with matching trousers and a dramatic cape, the Duchess of Sussex sat front row at Balenciaga's Spring/Summer 2026 runway show and mingled with members of the fashion elite, including famed former Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour and Balenciaga's new creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, who custom-designed her outfit. "Meghan was excited [for her] Paris Fashion Week debut," an insider tells Us. "She was looking forward to the moment. It's a big statement about where she's headed."

The former Suits star has been steadily embracing the spotlight more and more in recent months. She launched her Netflix series With Love, Meghan in March and her As Ever lifestyle brand in April, and now she's clearly looking to enter the world of high fashion. (Piccioli revealed in an interview with The Cut that he and Meghan stayed in touch after meeting several years ago and that she reached out to him about attending his first show with Balenciaga.) She was also spotted having drinks with Chloe Malle, the new editor in chief of Vogue, in NYC on Oct. 10, and the Daily Mail reports she'll soon be on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.

Over on the girl-boss front, she spoke at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit on Oct. 14 and attended a vegan dinner party thrown by buzzy British entrepreneur Emma Grede (co-founder of Skims and Good American) in L.A. the next day. "Meghan didn't want to just stay [put] in Montecito, and now has more time to do other things," says a second insider. "She wants to get out there, reach out to people and work on her relationships."