If you are petty like me then the suggestion that ‘living well is the best revenge’ is of little to no interest, and the pursuit of ‘the last laugh’ is a full-time occupation. Yes, friends, I inherited my diplomacy skills straight from the Trump White House via Alan Partridge.

But fellow last laugh chasers will tell you the problem is that the harder you push for the punchline, the more elusive it becomes. So – assuming you don’t wish to descend into, you know, crime – most of us have little option but to ‘live well’. Or at least try to. And to visibly live well, one must learn to dress the part.

Two women find themselves embroiled in tittle-tattle gossipy headlines this week – Meghan Markle and Florence Pugh – that are terribly, or perfectly, timed to coincide with particularly visible weeks for them both (Markle, in Europe for the One Young World summit and Invictus Games; Pugh in Venice for the Don’t Worry Darling premiere).

And how do they react? In clothes plucked straight from the clapback closet. Bigger, better, brighter looks for bigger, better, brighter outlooks. For Meghan, strident tailoring in punchy, look-at-me red from sustainable brand Another Tomorrow. And for Miss Flo? Balloon-sleeved, confetti-speckled, knicker-revealing gown – by Valentino haute couture.

Both looks that were handsomely glamorous rather than twee-ly pretty, they exuded a sass and confidence that says more (and says it with more class) than a pointed Instagram comment ever could. The ultimate clapback clothes demand to be seen, they are uninhabited and do not beg for approval. They are empowered.

In our real, civilian lives when they (whoever ‘they’ are) go low, we probably don’t have the budget or option to go couture as they do. But what we can take is a lesson in the power of clothes to help us show up, head held high and own it – our voices, our choices. As Princess Diana proved in 1994 with her legendary ‘revenge dress’, sometimes dressing the part is the last laugh.

Laura