Though Prince Harry uses his memoir Spare to explain why he felt like he didn’t always fit in with his family, he does reveal that he inherited some of the classic Windsor thriftiness. Though Queen Elizabeth and King Charles III were both known for buying high-quality clothing and maintaining it for decades with expert mending, Harry says that he doesn’t “fundamentally believe in fashion” and instead describes shopping as a quest to get a good deal. Though Harry has had a collection of suits since he was a child, he has long been known for favoring jeans and henleys on less formal occasions. In the book, he also explains why his wardrobe is so bifurcated.
“Each year I received from Pa an official clothing allowance, but that was strictly for formal wear. Suits and ties, ceremonial outfits,” he writes. “For my everyday casual clothes I’d go to TK Maxx, the discount store. I was particularly fond of their once a year sale, when they’d be flush with items from Gap or J. Crew that were slightly damaged. If you timed it just right, got there on the first day of the sale, you could snag the same clothes that others were paying top prices for down the high street! With two hundred quid you could look like a fashion plate.” (TK Maxx is the name for TJ Maxx stores outside of the US, to avoid confusion with another department store.)
In 2013, Harry was spotted by a shopper at the TK Maxx store in London’s Kensington neighborhood, wearing a North Face fleece and holding a shopping bag. But with this admission in his memoir, it’s clear that it wasn’t just a fluke—Harry is actually a Maxxinista at heart. Harry has also long been known to be a fan of J. Crew, and from 2018 to 2019, he wore the company’s Ludlow jacket in multiple styles and fabrics. At the time, a tailor who spoke to Insider speculated that he might have been fond of the jacket for its stylish cut and wrinkle-resistant fabric, but now, there’s also a chance that he just got a really great bulk discount.
Ever since leaving his royal role and relocating to California with wife Meghan Markle, Harry has leaned into the casual look, and from a distance, you might even mistake him for a taller Mark Zuckerberg in his Silicon Valley-esque hoodies. But in the Harry & Meghan interview scenes, he opts for a nice, low-key black long-sleeved polo and jeans, looking classy enough that it is clear he gets away with his disinterest in fashion because he really can rock the look.
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