Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives at Variety’s Power of Women on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, at Mother Wolf in Los Angeles. When Meghan Markle announced the launch of her American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand nearly two weeks ago, her Sussex Squad fans were delighted and her reported new pal Kris Jenner signed up to follow the company on Instagram.
TOPSHOT – Britain’s Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends the “Keynote: Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen,” during the SXSW 2024 Conference and Festivals at the Austin Convention Center on March 8, 2024, in Austin, Texas. That’s because Meghan “appears to be all but trying to re-create Flamingo Estate herself after a potential partnership fell through,” Strugatz said.
Flamingo Estate is run by fashion and retail industry expert Richard Christiansen and his partner, Aaron Harvey. Their pink 1940s home once was a porn studio but the duo have transformed it into “an Instagram playground” and a purveyor of the California good life,. They started the company during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially as an enterprise to sell beautifully packaged food boxes, containing produce from local farmers, to their wealthy friends, the Times also said.
Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Britain’s Meghan, Duchess of Sussex return in a horse-drawn carriage after attending the Queen’s Birthday Parade, ‘Trooping the Colour’ on Horseguards parade in London on June 9, 2018. Christiansen declined to comment to Puck, and a spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex didn’t respond to a request for a statement.
To whatever extent Meghan has borrowed from Flamingo Estate, it still will be challenging for her to launch a successful lifestyle brand, even if she is globally famous and has a hard-core fan base, Strugatz said.