Meghan Markle has launched her own lifestyle brand on Instagram, but it is speculated another Californian rustic brand may have inspired her.
In the trailer that launched last week, Meghan can be seen in her kitchen in a ballgown arranging flowers and stirring a pot as the song I Wish You Love by 1960s singer Nancy Wilson plays in the background.
This has led to people believing that her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard will be focused on cooking, and US trademark applications have appeared to show that the brand will be selling cookbooks and home goods such as jellies and marmalades.
Professor Pauline Maclaran, a marketing research professor from the University of London, has told BBC News that the “domestic goodness in the kitchen” similar to Martha Stewart appears to directly cater to an American audience.
She said: “I would see this as a much more domestic goddess kind of market, with these new regal connections now, and, you know, promoting elegance.”
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However, some people believe the Duchess of Sussex may have been inspired by the brand Flamingo Estate, a Californian lifestyle brand, and may even have wished to have become a partner in this business.
Flamingo Estate was launched in 2020 by stylist Richard Christiansen and is a luxury goods brand that sells soaps, candles, and other products from the “lush orchard and dense gardens” of his home and other trusted Los Angeles farmers.
Celebrities such as model Chrissy Teigen have made three jams for Flamingo Estate and the company sells honey from the bee hives kept by celebrities such as Will Ferrell. Even Martha Stewart has written a foreword for the Flamingo Estate Cookbook.
While praising Richard Christiansen, Martha Stewart said: “He buys a house on the top of the hill overlooking Los Angeles, and he transforms this ex-porn king’s mansion into a veritable paradise of gardens and deep, dark baths and furniture that’s crazy and good.
“He looks like a young boy with pink cheeks, and he’s generous and thoughtful and busy, yet you never think he’s that busy.”
Francesca Shuck, founder of the brand’s insight agency Matter has said Flamingo Estate is the “ultimate escapist universe” for the rich.
In an interview with the Times, Francesca said: “Among those ultra-high-net-worths who lead busy lives — luxurious, yes, but complex too — there’s a desire to buy into an Instagram-perfect, heavily curated ‘simple life’.
“For the rest of us, brands like this feel like an antidote to the permacrisis we’re all living through.”
Rachel Strugatz, a writer for the entertainment website Puck News has said Meghan “expressed a desire to come on as an active partner” in Flamingo Estate in 2022.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Rachel added: “Apparently, Markle and Prince Harry became such big fans that they displayed Flamingo Estate products in their home.”
In a 2022 video clip, Prince Harry showed his study while promoting a New Zealand eco-travel project, and it appears a series of books from Flamingo Estate can be seen in the background, which seem to be books on gardening and the environment.
Rachel said that while Meghan met with the Flamingo Estate team multiple times, no deal was made. She said: “Ultimately, the estate realized they didn’t want to take the business in that direction.”
It is unknown what direction American Riviera Orchard will take and if it will be able to be compared to the Flamingo Estate, but it is believed that the brand will go live in mid to late April.
