Meghan Markle Launches New Lifestyle Brand Years After Shutting Down The Tig
Meghan Markle has a new business venture.
On Thursday, the duchess debuted a new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, on Instagram. Alongside the soft launch, she shared a link to its new website. However, the site only shows a golden logo written in calligraphy as of press time. It also does not provide details about the company's products yet.
A trademark application for the business reveals that she plans to sell cookbooks and home goods like spreads, jams and jellies. A video uploaded on its Instagram Story shows Markle cooking in a kitchen and picking flowers. Markle will also reportedly offer tableware staples, including cutlery, table lines and drinkware, via the new brand.
The New York Post's lifestyle writer Johnny Oleksinski called Markle's recent venture her other stop on her "Quixotic quest to become Martha Stewart." The 82-year-old personality became famous for being an entrepreneur and domestic lifestyle innovator. Many turn to the "Martha Stewart Show" host for guidance in their daily living, from cooking, gardening, entertaining, organizing, crafting and healthy living because she turns domestic duties into a form of art.
Oleksinski's comment is not far-fetched since Omid Scobie, a royal correspondent and author of "Finding Freedom," also sees Markle following in Stewart's footsteps. He previously said in an interview with The Independent in November while promoting his controversial book "Endgame" that Markle seemed focused on building "something more accessible, something rooted in her love of details, curating, hosting, life's simple pleasures and family."
"I'm not being deliberately mysterious," Scobie explained. "My mind always goes to [Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle business] Goop, but when I suggested that to someone with some knowledge they said, 'Oh, no, this isn't going to be about selling products.' So who knows? The next Martha Stewart?"
Last week, Markle was among the speakers at the SXSW Conference for International Women's Day. She gave Prine Harry a shoutout for being an "incredible partner," who always supports her activism. However, Prince Harry's biographer, Angela Levin, claimed that the move was only part of her rebrand.
"These new PR people are telling her: 'You've got to be positive. You've got to be lovey-dovey,'" the royal commentator told The Sun. "'You've got to be upbeat and bring him in.' It's all so phony. I don't think any of us should believe it. It's all for show and part of her rebrand."
