Monthly Archives: June 2013

Danish Royals Open CHIO 2013 in Germany

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Crown Princess Mary of and Princess Benedikte Denmark opened the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany yesterday. Princess Mary repeated the grey flowered, feathered, netted, fascinator she wore for the Dutch Enthronement in April this year. I love this headpiece and thought it looked great against her patterned dress and white coat (the whole look would have had too much going on without the coat to subdue it, don’t you think?)

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: April 30, 2013

Princess Benedikte wore a navy ribbed straw hat with a high, rolled upturned brim trimmed with a large ombre poppy (quite possibly a Susanne Juul design). I just love the modern brim shape on Benedikte and thought the dark blue colour made her blue eyes ‘pop’. I also thought the poppy on the side worked really well on this hat and made it quite summery. Beautiful!

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn:  July 26, 2012, October 12, 2011

Photos from Getty as indicated

Dutch Royals Visit Denmark

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Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik of Denmark welcomed King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands for lunch at Fredensborg Palace today. While it was not a formal state visit, it was special enough for both Queens to unveil new hats! Queen Margrethe wore this pale blue straw picture hat with an upturned brim and side spray of pink blossoms. I liked the textured, open weave of the brim and thought that the upturned brim looked great on her (it saves the hat from making her look bald, which most hats do on dear Margrethe). I think I would have liked the side leaves on his hat to be less spiky but that’s just splitting hairs. I thought she looked great in this hat.

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Queen Máxima wore a new headpiece of pale aqua feathers. From the front, it creates the same face-framing effect that her recent army of toques. From the side, it’s a large headband… a large headband that does not match her dress. I love the colour of the feathers but I don’t love them with this lace dress. To me, the whole look is not cohesive.

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Photos from Getty as indicated

Queen Margrethe Opens Museum Exhibition

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Last Thursday, June 20, Queen Margrethe opened the an exhibition on Vikings at the National Museum in Copenhagen. She wore a white straw summer hat trimmed with a band of red polka dots and a side spray of red and white straw folded circle flowers (a hat and dress we saw her wear on a visit to the USA in 2011). Margrethe has worn some beautiful hats recently and while this one is a lovely compliment  to this fun summer dress, it is another one of her many hats that makes her look bald. On that basis alone, I just can’t be a fan.

Photo from Jesper Sunesen via The Danish Monarchy

Japanese Imperial Couple Visit Kyoto and Osaka

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With our focus on Ascot, we missed two hats worn by Empress Michiko of Japan this week. On June 21, 2013, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan arrived in Kyoto to visit the Myōshin-ji Buddhist Temple. This temple is significant as it stands on the grounds of the former palace of the late Emperor Hanazono of Japan. The Empress wore a petite white pillbox style hat trimmed with grey fabric in an origami-style fold. This hat, which she wore in July 2009 during a visit to Canada, is another one of Michiko’s signature mini-hats.

On June 23, 2013 the Imperial couple traveled to Osaka where they visited the Osaka Prefecture Environmental Learning Center Eco Museum of Osaka and toured a manufacturing company. For these events, Empress Michiko wore an elegant dove grey saucer style hat embellished with a two-tone grey bow. She first wore this hat in October last year at the Emporer’s Cup at the Tokyo Racecourse; I like larger hats on the Empress and this one is particularly elegant although I would love to see Michiko in a little more colour.

Photos taken from Ann News Footage and Ann News Footage

Queen Attends Polo Final At Windsor

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Queen Elizabeth attended the polo final of ‘The Al Habtoor Royal Windsor Cup’ at the Guards Polo Club near Windsor yesterday. She wore a vibrant royal blue textured straw hat with slightly sloped crown, cartwheel brim and large navy and black looped bow. We have seen this hat on the Queen a few times and while it’s a lovely hat, it somehow doesn’t capture my fancy. I’m not sure why. What do you think of this hat?

Designer: Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: November 2011, October 2009, June 2008

Photo from Corbis