Yearly Archives: 2013

Duchess Of Cornwall Celebrates National Volunteering

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The Duchess of Cornwall joined 1,800 volunteers and supporters at a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Voluntary Organization yesterday. For this occasion, Camilla wore a smart  navy and cream picture hat with diagonal bands around the crown, side bow, tall feather and slightly raised brim on one side. This hat, designed by Philip Treacy, is another one of Camilla’s hats with a lot going on but she seems to carry it well. Her Bruce Oldfield designed coat compliments the hat well to create another ensemble. Camilla is on fire with great hat fashion these days, isn’t she?

For those of you interested in such things, Camilla has worn this hat numerous times. We last saw it on the Duchess in May 2009 for the 100th anniversary of Royal Navy Aviation; before that she wore it June 2007; July 2006; July 2005; June 200 and May 2005. I hope she wears it again because it’s an excellent hat on Camilla.

Photos from Shutterstock

British Royals Host Palace Garden Party

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Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, hosted the first summer garden party of the 2013 season at Buckingham Palace today. The Queen wore a soft pink straw hat with a tall crown and small mushroom brim that she first wore on a visit to Hereford as part of her Jubilee tour last year . There was a large band of pink tweed, the same fabric as her coat, wrapped around the crown that, from a distance, made the crown look diagonally shaped. The hat brim and the coat were trimmed in wide pink silk piping. While the designer of this hat has not been confirmed, it is widely agreed to be the work of Angela Kelly.

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Prince Philip wore a very dashing dove grey top hat. With his grey waistcoat and royal blue tie, I thought he looked quite handsome.

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The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge also attended. Camilla wore a dove grey picture hat with massive feather plume designed by Philip Treacy. While this is the first time we’ve seen this hat here on the blog, Camilla first debuted it in June 2006 and (if I’m counting correctly), wore it for the tenth time today (here are the other eight: June 2012; September 2011;  May 2011; July 2009; July 2009; May 2009; July 2008; and July 2006). It’s a LOT of hat that looks messy with every little gust of wind but Camilla clearly likes it. She wore it with a new coat today- by far the best outfit she’s worn with this hat. In the the second photo (without the hat waving around like a live creature)  I think she looks beautiful. (Prince Charles even got in on the hat action by carrying a black silk top hat. Very dapper, indeed).

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Kate wore the same cream Jane Corbett hat  she wore for the Order of the Garter Service in June 2011 at St. George’s Chapel. This hat is a little too fussy for me and while I like the side profile, I don’t like this hat head-on (it’s too far down on Kate’s forehead).  Paired with Kate’s sunshine yellow Emilia Wickstead coat, I suppose the whole outfit came together. What do you think of this hat?

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Photos from Getty as indicated

Princess Beatrix Opens Museum Exhibition

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In her first public engagement since the inauguration and the enthronement of the new Dutch King and Queen, Princess Beatrix  visited the Villa Mondriaan in Winterswijk yesterday. She opened an exhibition of famed Dutch artist Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, Jr. entitled, Where it All Started. For this visit, she wore the same red straw brimless hat by Suzanne Moulijn she wore on a visit to Doha in March 2011.

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This particular hat has an interesting navy ring around the crown not visible in today’s photos. I’m not a great fan of these brimless hat “cakes” but it was so wonderful to see Beatrix looking her usual bright smiling self after her big transition this month that I’m not going to complain about this one.

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Photos from Getty as indicated

Queen Máxima Visits Children’s Hospital

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Queen Máxima of The Netherlands attended the 150th Anniversary Of Sophia Children’s Hospital today in Rotterdam. For this visit, Máxima repeated the red suit she wore to New York in 2009 but paired it with a tan ruched straw toque.

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While this hat is similar to other straw toque-turbans Máxima has worn (this one in 2005, this one in 2007 and this one in 2009) this one appears to be slightly different and I strongly suspect it is new. Like the others, this is a Fabienne Delvigne design. I find this hat interesting- without a large brim, it’s a great  hat for visiting children as there is no large brim to obstruct one-on-one interaction or eye contact. It has taken me years to warm up to any hat that looks remotely like a turban and while I’m still not a big fan of the toque style, I’m starting to see their function.

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What do you think of this new hat?

Photos from Getty as indicated

Hats, Hairnets and the Chelsea Flower Show

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The world famous Chelsea Flower Show has attracted thousands (millions?) of visitors over the 100 years it has been held. The British Royal Family are loyal supporters- Queen Elizabeth has attended the show nearly every year and I thought it would be fun to look back at some of her hats.

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At the show in 1947, 1959, 1960 and 1966

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1952 and 1962

There are two peculiar things about the Queen’s millinery at this event. The first is that she stopped wearing hats to it in 1970. Second, In the early 1970s, she began wearing a hair net covered in black bows, something we don’t see her wear for any other occasion. Some writers have speculated that she did this to protect her hair from unexpected gusts of wind on her outdoor walk through the exhibition gardens but this fall flat for me- Queen Elizabeth’s other engagements include outdoor components in far gustier places than Central London. If if there was such worry about her hair… why not wear a hat?!

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1972, 1974, 1996, 2011

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1975, 1977, 2012

Update: since 2012, the Queen has visited the flower show with neither a hat nor a hairnet. It remains one of the very few daytime public events she  attends bare headed.

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We’ll likely never know the reason(s) why the Queen replaced hats at the flower show with hairnets (and subsequently, no head covering at all!)  What do you think?

Photos from Getty as indicated