King Philippe and Queen Mathilde continued their tour of Belgium today with a visit to Mons, capital of the province of Hainaut. Queen Mathilde wore a new hat, a simple straw picture hat with a slightly upturned brim in the front. Designer Fabienne Delvigne described it as, “a wide brimmed hat in balibuntal” (balibuntal is a finely woven straw). The edges of the brim were left unfinished which, in my humble opinion, provides some textural interest but makes the hat seem unfinished as well. What do you think of this new chapeau?
Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
I like the hat better in the updated photo which showed her skirt and shoes, but those earrings still have to go. 🙂
I like the color of the hat and even the hat if she was on vacation at the beach or with her children. And as *Rodney* says, throw the earrings out, they are tooooo big, to bright and gaudy looking. She is a elegant woman, chic yet this hat?
The earrings are SO on trend now and I think the whole look is styled perfectly. This really is the perfect ensemble for this hat.
really, really bad hat http://crosti.ru/patterns/00/01/a8/8b6c00c59c/preview.jpg
I hope both queens will discover other hat designers
Great shape, nice color. However it would be much better if the edge was finished properly. Definitely bordering on Elly-Mae territory!
I think the rough edges are so chic especially with the Ikat print of her dress. It’s a total winner for me.
On second thought…. I think I would have disliked this hat more had it been worn with a different dress. The Ikat print redeems it considerably!
Well I would like that hat if she were working in her garden (would she do such a thing?) or on the beach building a sand castle. Looks too casual for where she is wearing it. But then I’m no expert on the matter just my opinion.
farmer hat
Queen Mathilde is so elegant and her look usually wows me, but this look leaves me disappointed. I like the shape of the hat but that is all. It needed to be a different fabric and color (black or gray) and have a finished edge. The earrings need to be thrown off the nearest cliff!
I am heartened to see Mathilde has been upping her hat-wearing quotient since becoming Queen (at least that’s my impression). So I applaud her in a nice big statement hat. Myself, I think the unfinished edge does make it a bit too informal in overall look.
Yes, Queen Mathilde is certainly wearing more hats than Princess Mathilde did. That’s something to celebrate! This hat is informal and I think she made a smart styling move wearing it with this Ikat printed dress.
I like the hat – it’s been ‘in’ in fashion for some time off/on…but I think it’s way too far into fall where she is wearing it geographically speaking to show up in a truly summer hat. it needs to go away and come out in late spring – summer. i don’t care how extended summer temps are with global warming..it’s not right for this time of yr – I agree with the other commenter over her HUGE button earnings which I know buttons are coming back in but these are way too 80’s looking…smaller buttons would be better and they so don’t go with the look of this hat..they are way too structured and statement.
FD has done great hats with rough-edged/shredded brims, as seen on this very blog: https://royalhats.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/2013-06-large.jpg?w=411&h=199
But I agree that this one is not a home run.
I think that’s why I don’t like this hat so much- we’ve seen Fabienne Delvigne do such incredible torn brim hats and it’s difficult not to compare this one. I like this one better on second impression than I did at first impression…. but as you say, it’s not a home run.
She is sucha pretty gal it’s nice to see her face not be hiddin away. The fringe around the hat is not so bad altho it is a real country girl type hat.
This hat would be great if her name was Elly-Mae, she was wearing daisy duke cut off denims, and there were banjos playing in the background. Otherwise, not so much. One understands the concept, but it just IS NOT working here. However, she’s been mostly on style target the past few months, so we will just discretely look away from this one.
The visual picture you paint of Daisy Dukes and banjos has absolutely made my day! BRILLIANT!
I love it! But I am a bit disturbed by the earrings, they catch the eye to much, imho.