Meghan Markle wore a sapphire gown that had a powerful message at her first public appearance of 2022

• Meghan and Prince Harry received the President's Award at the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday.
• The couple wore outfits by Black designers to accept the award for their work in social justice.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex showed their support for Black designers at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards on Saturday.

Founded in 1909, NAACP is a civil rights organization that aims to eliminate race-based discrimination. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were honored with the organization's President's Award for their work in social justice, according to a NAACP press release.

Both Markle and Harry wore Black designers to accept the award, with Markle opting for a custom Christopher John Rogers dress and the prince wearing an Ozwald Boateng tuxedo, Insider previously reported.

Markle's one-shoulder dress had a thigh-high slit and a flowing cape. Rogers designed the dress after receiving a request from the duchess a month before the ceremony, Vogue reports.

"I was immediately struck by her warmth and just her overall demeanor—her sense of ease and confidence within herself," Rogers told the publication.

"We quickly touched on this idea of a reveal. She hadn't really stepped out like this in a while," he added, which Vogue reports is a reference to the NAACP Image Awards being Markle's first public appearance of 2022.

During the ceremony, Harry thanked the Black community for "welcoming me so warmly," and acknowledged that his upbringing was different from that of his wife, Insider previously reported.

"We share a commitment to a life of service, a responsibility to confront injustice, and a belief that the most often overlooked are the most important to listen to," Harry said.

The Duke and Duchess have been vocal in their support for the Black Lives Matter movement since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

Markle first addressed Floyd's death the following month in a speech to graduating students at her former school, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, saying that "the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing." Since then, Markle and Harry have spoken about racism and unconscious bias at several virtual engagements and panels.

The NAACP also introduced a new award this year in partnership with Harry and Meghan's Archewell foundation, titled the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award.

The award "acknowledges and supports a new generation of leaders that are creating transformational change at the intersection of social justice and technology," according to a statement released by Archewell. This year's award went to Dr. Safiya Noble, professor at UCLA and an internet studies scholar.

Representatives for Christopher John Rogers and Ozwald Boateng did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.