When Meghan Markle embraced the role of Rachel Zane, a paralegal in the American TV drama Suits back in 2011, it seemed like a dream come true.

The actress from California, then 29, had been auditioning relentlessly for years, hoping for the moment that would elevate her career.

As soon as this exciting opportunity came her way, Meghan was eager to celebrate the glitzy new chapter of her life with those closest to her.

Shortly after stepping onto the set, Meghan reportedly hosted a “Sayonara Zara” party, generously offering her friends the high street fashion from her closet, according to a source.

This future Duchess apparently organized the casual gathering at her home to make space for the more luxurious wardrobe she could now afford.

A source, who claimed close ties with Meghan, described the former Suits star as someone who enjoys building friendships with her stylist.

Since she first graced our television screens and wed into the Royal Family in 2018, Meghan has gradually built up an eclectic wardrobe often filled with custom and high-end designer pieces. 

Certainly, as her acting career grew, Meghan likely received an abundance of free fashion items due to her high profile.

When Meghan Markle (pictured) landed the role of paralegal Rachel Zane in American television drama Suits in 2011, she hosted a ‘Sayonara Zara’ party to gift her friends the high street clothes in her wardrobe, according to an insider

Fashion expert Giorgina Ramazzotti previously told The Daily Mail: ‘Meghan would have been very used to a world in which everything is given on loan for photoshoots, an appearance or borrowed from wardrobe as part of her character in Suits. 

‘Celebrities rarely have to part with cold hard cash in exchange for fashion items.

‘Whilst Meghan wasn’t a well-known actress before meeting Prince Harry, she would still have been given freebies – albeit from smaller brands.’

During her seven-season stint on Suits, from 2011 to 2017, Meghan was often seen attending brand events and embracing the novel opportunity to pick up any freebies at luxury gifting suites.

As her status in the acting world took shape, Meghan was also snapped on the red carpet dressed in a sophisticated and chic wardrobe that showcased her interest in building her luxury wardrobe. 

A world away from her former life of high-street clothing, the Suits star donned stellar designer pieces from the likes of Stella McCartney and Diane von Furstenberg to Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. 

After disposing of her high-street items during the ‘Sayonara Zara’ party, the future Duchess was then said to have enlisted the help of her former friend and socialite Jessica Mulroney to give her wardrobe a makeover. 

Meghan met Jessica, now 45, in 2011 shortly after she started filming for Suits in Toronto and quickly recognised her as a model for how to turn visibility into influence.

Since she first graced our television screens and wed into the Royal Family in 2018, Meghan has gradually built up an eclectic wardrobe often filled with custom, high-end designer pieces

During her seven-season stint on Suits, Meghan was often seen attending brand events and embracing the novel opportunity to pick up any freebies at luxury gifting suites. Pictured: Meghan dressed in a Diane von Furstenberg dress at a red carpet event in 2012

The Suits star donned stellar designer pieces from the likes of Stella McCartney and Diane von Frustenberg to Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. Pictured: Meghan wearing a sleeveless Stella McCartney dress at an event in Los Angeles in October 2011

Describing Meghan as ‘an aspiring cosmopolite’, royal author Tina Brown noted that the former Suits star ‘has always been astute in flattering fashionable and famous women and absorbing their networks’.

‘Jessica Mulroney – a buzzed-up Toronto tastemaker – was Meghan’s thirty-something role model in style and new BFF,’ wrote Ms Brown in her bestselling book, The Palace Papers.

For years, the duo were scarcely seen apart and often took to social media to post gushing tributes and endless images of shared trips together.

They even took a ‘girl squad’ trip to Europe together in 2015, which Jessica called a #fakehoneymoon, adding ‘Happy wife, happy life’ to images she posted accompanying the getaway.

Jessica and her then-husband Ben Mulroney attended Harry and Meghan’s 2018 Royal Wedding, with their sons Brian and John serving as page boys and daughter Ivy as one of Meghan’s flower girls.

The Canadian socialite even helped style Meghan for her engagement photocall and later travelled with her on her first Royal tour in October 2018, again as a stylist but also as a best friend and sounding board.

Across the two-week tour to Australia, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga and New Zealand, Meghan’s wardrobe was estimated to have cost an eye-watering £50,000.

However, their friendship was thought to have come monumentally crashing down in 2020.

After disposing of her high-street items during the ‘Sayonara Zara’ party, the future Duchess was then said to have enlisted the help of her former friend and socialite Jessica Mulroney (left) to give her wardrobe a makeover

Jessica’s children were part of Harry and Meghan’s Royal Wedding (pictured) and the Canadian socialite even helped style Meghan for her engagement photocall and on her first Royal tour. But their friendship was believed to have come crashing down in 2020

Jessica became caught up in a ‘white-privilege’ scandal where she was axed from TV gigs following her racially charged spat with lifestyle blogger Sasha Exeter.

She issued an apology at the time, while her then-husband Ben quit his job as a television presenter to help her with the rampant online and professional backlash.

The incident led to a very public souring of her once beloved friendship with Meghan. At the time of writing, Jessica no longer follows Meghan or her brands on Instagram and the pair have not been publicly seen together in years.

A well-placed source previously told the Daily Mail that nearly six years since their notorious fallout, Jessica now regrets watching her former BFF wed Britain’s most eligible bachelor at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel in 2018.

‘If she could go back, a part of her wishes she was never part of that wedding,’ they claimed.

‘She really did consider Meghan family. But now she sees that whole time as a “dark cloud”’.