So, What Is A Princess Influencer?

I have been kicking around versions of this Substack idea for years. Historical figures, fashion and beauty trends, pop culture, media analysis, celebrity and fame, viral memes, powerful women, the Kris Jenner of it all…I was dancing around everything that fascinates me, but couldn’t put my finger on how it was all connected.

Then one day, Meghan Markle returned to Instagram and announced a new Netflix series. Suddenly, it all clicked into place for me: the phrase “princess influencers” immediately came to mind, and I was finally ready to roll.

Meghan is going back to her influencer roots with a fluffy lifestyle show. After a terrible nine years (yes it’s really been that long) with the royal family, which included nonstop online harassment, an onslaught of unabashedly negative and racist media coverage (including wild speculation about the skin color of her children) and near-constant death threats, it’s a great time to take the narrative back into her own hands.

Meghan is a Princess Influencer.

But Meghan Markle is hardly the first (or last) woman to turn her life into a brand for other people who want to emulate her taste, style, and overall aesthetic. You can’t walk down an aisle at Menards or Target without spotting a product from Magnolia Home, one of the many outputs of the Joanna Gaines Cinematic Universe. Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop is so popular it’s almost beyond parody, and yet it remains the single most crystalized version of a Princess Influencer’s vision come to life. Grace Kelly might be the woman who embodied both aspects of the Princess Influencer moniker most literally, while someone like Selena Quintanilla is absolutely a member of cultural royalty. And while a tragic demise is not necessarily a component of being a Princess Influencer, it’s sometimes part of the myth-making ethos that renders their influence even more powerful.

This Substack’s description is “the royalty that shaped culture.” My definition of royalty is broad, and includes people like Sofia Coppola, Queen Victoria, Alexa Chung, Shonda Rimes, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and the Olsen Twins.

My goal is to use our modern understanding of “influencer” as a framework to analyze women of the past and present. As much as possible, I want to really dial in on their influence in real time. Take, for example, this piece of information about Marie-Antoinette from Caroline Weber’s excellent book, Queen of Fashion:

Even as the people were criticizing the Queen for her outfits, they continued frenetically to imitate her. Every woman wanted to have the same déshabillé, the same bonnet, that they had seen her wear.

You could write the same thing now about any of the Kardashians. Which, of course, makes the fact that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West held their rehearsal dinner at Versailles all the more interesting. Welcome to my brain!

Since this newsletter is new, I’m going to make one month of content free to all subscribers. This way you can get a feel for what a paid subscription will entail. Then, starting in April, I will turn on paid subscriptions. These are the tiers that I have outlined:

Princess Influencer Subscriptions

Emerald Tier: Free

Sapphire Tier: $5/month or $50/year

Diamond Tier: $100+/year

What’s included:

Emerald Tier (Free) = 2 newsletters/month

• flagship Princess Influencer essays, Part I and Part II

Sapphire Tier ($5/month or $50/year) = 4 newsletters/month

• flagship Princess Influencer essays, Part I and Part II

• bonus Extra Jewels essay that includes juicy details that didn’t make it into the main essays

• bonus Paper Dolls essay on a fictitious Princess Influencer

Diamond Tier ($100/year) = 5 newsletters/month + 4 surveys/year

• flagship Princess Influencer essays, Part I and Part II

• bonus Extra Jewels essay that includes juicy detail that didn’t make it into the main essays

• bonus Paper Dolls essay on a fictitious Princess Influencer

• bonus Royal Decree curated list of books, newsletters, podcasts, films, or other products fit for a Princess Influencer

• bonus Quart Circular quarterly survey to help influence the direction of the newsletter

I’m so excited to start this journey, and to take you all along for the ride. If you know me at all, you can make a pretty good guess as to who our very first Princess Influencer will be…I’ll see you in March 😎