London - Fashion designer Stella McCartney on Monday withdrew a social media post plugging one of her coats worn by the Duchess of Sussex to the Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the Cenotaph.
The 48-year-old designer posted a picture on Instagram of Meghan in the £1,545 (about R29 000) black-belted creation hours after the duchess wore it.
Meghan Duchess of Sussex attends the National Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph in London. Picture: Reuters
The image carried the caption: "So honoured to have HRH Duchess of Sussex in our Autumn ’19 coat at Remembrance Day service. x Stella." The sign-off indicated the words had been posted by the designer, not her press team.
Stella McCarthy has deleted this post. Picture:Instagram
But her remark prompted a backlash from fans who deemed it "insensitive" and "inappropriate" to use the image to advertise the coat on such a poignant occasion.
"Remembrance Day is to honour those that fought for it not to use for advertising purposes. Pretty shocked," said one post. "Nice, but not really time to be advertising your clothes, Stella!" said another.
The post was then deleted. In its place was a single mention of the Remembrance weekend, a video of poppies blowing in the wind and the message: "Remembering the ones that sacrificed to give us freedom x Stella."
View this post on Instagram
Remembering the ones that sacrificed to give us freedom x Stella #RemembranceDay
A post shared by Stella McCartney(@stellamccartney) on Nov 10, 2019 at 5:29am PST
The Daily Mail understands that Meghan, who has long championed the designer’s high-end fashion, paid for the coat herself.