The Armani dress worn by Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, during her televised tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey has been named the 2021 dress of the year by the Fashion Museum.

Each year, the museum invites an expert from the fashion industry to choose an iconic dress that represents the year just gone.

This year’s honour went to Dazed magazine’s Ibrahim Kamara and Gareth Wrighton who were asked to choose the winning frock.

For her sit-down chat, the Duchess, 40, wore a black gown featuring white lotus flower embroidery, which the museum in Bath, UK, says had a “symbolic association with rebirth, self-regeneration and spiritual enlightenment, and its ability to flourish despite seemingly challenging conditions”.

A version of the Giorgio Armani dress will go on display as the final item in its headline exhibition, A History Of Fashion In 100 Objects.

Speaking about the winning ensemble in a press release, a spokesperson for the museum said: “In today’s hyper-stylised pop culture, the Dress of the Year now has the potential to also be “meme of the year” and we both latched upon Meghan and Harry’s now-iconic interview with Oprah as the definitive anti-establishment moment that will forever endure in the British collective consciousness.

“Meghan’s wrap dress by Armani, worn to showcase a divine pregnancy, framed the Duchess in black against the bountiful landscaping of Tyler Perry’s Hollywood garden.”

Adding: “This look now, through sheer association with a viral television moment, is firmly ingrained in our pop culture psyche.”