The Duchess of Sussex’s designs, in partnership with Marks & Spencer and others, are in aid of Smart Works, which dresses women for job interviews. But who will benefit?

The September issue of UK Vogue, guest edited by the Duchess of Sussex, has not yet hit newsstands, but much of its content has been revealed, discussed and dissected – among it news of the duchess’s own capsule collection of “classic options for a workwear wardrobe”.

The duchess teamed up with her friend, the designer Misha Nonoo, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Jigsaw for the collection, with “many of the brands” agreeing to the “one-to-one model”, whereby an item is donated to charity for every item that is bought. The beneficiary in this case is Smart Works, an organisation supporting unemployed women in dressing and preparing for job interviews, of which the duchess is the royal patron.

“We have seen time and time again how finding the right clothes for women when they come for their first interview outfit makes a huge difference – you see the shoulders go back, the head held high, the huge smile on their face,” says Kate Stephens, the CEO of Smart Works. “We are hugely grateful to the duchess for driving this capsule collection, and to the generosity of the brands involved. It will make a huge difference to thousands of women’s lives across the UK.”

The one-to-one model was popularised by the canvas shoe brand Toms, which promised, when it launched in 2006, that for every pair it sold, it would deliver a pair of free shoes to a child in need. The approach came in for some criticism from the international development community, which argued that it did more to make consumers feel good than it did for those in poverty in Ethiopia, Haiti, Mexico and the other countries to which shoes were going. In May this year, the company changed tack, instead opting to give customers the choice between giving shoes or financial grants to their cause of choice.

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The duchess may sidestep that criticism, with Smart Works helping women into work in the UK, which means that the initiative is less likely to have an impact on small, local businesses which offer a similar product. At the moment, Smart Works relies on donations in order to dress its clients for job interviews, as well as for their first month of work, resulting in what the Duchess describes as “a potpourri of mismatched sizes and colours, not always the right stylistic choices”.

The introduction of her own range, launching next month, will combat that – although there are no suggestions yet as to what those “right stylistic choices” may be. No matter what the collection entails, Smart Works is sure to benefit from the “Meghan effect”. The fashion search engine Lyst reports that the duchess’s outfits lead to an average 216% increase in online searches in the week after a public appearance, and it is reasonable to assume that her own collection will prompt a similar reaction – meaning plenty of smart new clothes for women seeking to enter the workplace.