Meghan returns to work to launch new charity fashion range

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Duchess Meghan returned to work for the first time following the birth of her first child with husband Prince Harry to launch a new fashion range whose sales will help a charity supporting unemployed women. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has made a handful of public appearances since son Archie was born in May but the launch of the fashion collection, created in collaboration with well-known British stores and fashion designers, marks her first official engagement. The sale of the “Smart Set Capsule Collection” will last for at least two weeks and is designed to help Smart Works, a charity that provides quality clothes and training for unemployed women for job interviews. For every item bought, one will be donated to the charity which Meghan became the patron of earlier this year. The items include a blazer and trousers from fashion chain Jigsaw; a tote bag from department store John Lewis; a classic dress from Marks & Spencer and a white shirt from fashion designer Misha Nonoo, a friend of the U.S.-born Duchess. “Since moving to the UK, it has been deeply important to me to meet with communities and organizations on the ground doing meaningful work and to try to do whatever I can to help them amplify their impact,” Meghan, 38, said in a statement. “Thank you to the four brands who came together in supporting Smart Works on this special project - placing purpose over profit and community over competition.” Elton John recalled his friendship with Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, in a series of tweets in which he appealed to the press to stop the almost daily “relentless and untrue assassinations on their character.” The “Rocketman” singer was responding to criticism in Britain over two recent vacations taken by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their three-month-old baby Archie to Spain, and to the south of France, where the couple stayed at John’s villa in Nice.