We’ve never seen a royal wear anything like Meghan Markle’s ballgown covered in birds

Meghan Markle achieved fashion icon status even before her wedding to Prince Harry, so we’re not surprised that she’s continuing to slay the royal style game on her first royal tour. And the tea-length Oscar de la Renta gown she wore during her latest outing on October 25th might be her best look yet. Seriously, this is a dream dress, and only Markle would think to pull it off.

After traveling to Fiji and Tonga this week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to Australia on Friday, October 26th for the next part of their tour. They attended the Australian Geographic Society Gala Awards in Sydney, where all eyes were on Markle, who wore a gorgeous fairytale ballgown featuring hundreds of black birds.

The gown is from de la Renta’s Pre-Fall 2018 collection, and is described as a “white tulle gown with black bonded looped ribbon tweed laser cut birds.” (It’s giving you subtle Alfred Hitchcock vibes, right?) According to royal fashion-watchers, the bird design on the dress was actually created by Sarah Esmoingt, a French embellishment designer who works for de la Renta, Zac Posen, and other designers.

Take a look at Markle’s radiant gown below:

She wore her hair loose and to one side and her makeup minimal, and paired the gown with black Aquazurra Deneuve pumps and a Birks Bee Stackable Ring.

We seriously cannot wait to see what the duchess will wear next.