Love Meghan Markle & Kate Middleton’s Style? Now You Can Take a Class on It

There’s no denying the style power that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle hold. The 37-year-old Duchess of Cambridge and 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex have been crowned the top royal fashion influencers year after year and have been responsible for more than a few of our personal purchases. So, it seems only natural that some enterprising professor would develop a class devoted to the royal fashionistas’ sartorial impact.

The University of Glasgow has officially introduced a five-week online course devoted to royal fashion past and present. Beginning with the Tudors, Stuarts and Georgians, the course will culminate with a focus on the Windsors and how they’ve utilized fashion to project a narrative of power and wealth. Quite possibly the best part? This university course is totally free.

Students will have exclusive access to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection and insight from leading curators of the Historic Royal Palaces foundation.

Dress and textile histories lecture Sally Tuckett explained the program in greater depth: “By studying their clothes, we can learn a lot about the monarchs of the past and about their subjects…This free online course is going to take you behind the scenes of the royal wardrobes of the kings and queens of Britain. Historic royal fashion could be practical and functional.”

In addition to the historical significance of royal fashion, the class will zero in on the especially ornate outfits of Queen Victoria, Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II. It will also, as the course description states, highlight “royal fashion with diplomacy and expectations in an era of mass media and celebrity,” (i.e. the Markle and Middleton effect). Tuckett says this educational experience will also shed light on how the duchesses “often choose designers close to their hearts.”

Time to clear our schedule. Looks like we’re heading back to school.