The Danish Royal Family attended a concert last night celebrating Prince Henrik’s upcoming 80th birthday. With all the guests in cocktail attire, it’s probably not surprising that the only hat or headpiece in sight was this gold headband worn by Crown Princess Mary.
We don’t see that many royal headbands and this one looked great with Mary’s hairstyle and earrings. But who am I kidding…. I just wanted an excuse to post a photo of Princess Isabella, adorable in her sparkly shoes, party dress and curled hair.
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are on a three day visit to Niigata Prefecture to attend the 65th National Tree-Planting Festival. Yesterday, the Imperial couple visited the Jomon Pottery museum in Nagaoka City. Empress Michiko wore a very pretty Wedgewood blue large saucer hat with coordinating bow trim. It looks like this hat also had a stripe of white to coordinate with the white sleeve on Michiko’s suit- an ingenious and unique touch.
Today, their Imperial Highnesses took in the 65th National Tree-Planting Festival. The Empress debuted another new hat, a large white saucer with bows in black gingham and lime green to coordinate with her suit jacket. The black gingham and lime green colour combination is a departure for Empress Michiko and I thought it looked fresh and very summery.
A number of you have asked how Empress Michiko keeps her saucer hats from falling off. The photo below reveals this logistic secret.
Designer: I suspect Akio Hirata Previously Worn: I believe this is a new hat
Last week, Queen Elizabeth wore one of my favourite royal hats to present new standards to the Household Cavalry. A number of you commented about the success of this particular hat shape, one we have seen a number of different times in the Queen’s millinery. Before we begin what will be a very busy month of royal hats in June, I thought I would take this opportunity to look at one of Angela Kelly’s most successful (and frequently used) hat shapes with a flared, domed top crown
This hat shape works well for several reasons: it is usually a great size and proportion for petite Queen Elizabeth (excepting the yellow hat where the brim is too small). The upturned brims keep the Queen’s face and bright smile unobstructed from public view and make it difficult to adorn this hat shape with too much of the feathery/flowery/bowed bric-a-brac that top many Kelly designs – this hat shape seems to yield hats with more subtle details on the brim or around the crown, avoiding the Kelly tendency to become overdone. Most of the time.
I am curious, dear readers, what do you think of this signature Kelly design? Which one is your favourite?
The young bride’s ivory silk duchesse gown was made by Belgian designer Pierre Yves. You will note in the photo below that the bodice of the dress was actually a Bolero-length jacket with wide collar, pleated cuffs and front buttons. The main dress, with a box pleated full skirt and pleated cummerbund at the waist, featured a halter-style sleeveless bodice that was covered in Brussels lace. It’s an interesting design for a royal bride but certainly one that lends itself to both the formality of a royal wedding and the ‘lets-get-this-party-started’ vibe a private reception.
Marilène topped her dress off with a full length silk veil edged in ivory silk ribbon. The veil was anchored by a reduced version of the “Ears of Wheat” tiara from the Dutch Royal collection. Unfortunately, the tiara was worn so far back on Marilène’s head that it is nearly invisible.
Princess Margriet wore a pink Breton-style hat trimmed with white and dark pink contrasting bands on the brim and around the crown. It is such a flattering hat shape on her and the colour, shades darker than her pale pink suit, created the perfect amount of contrast for her ensemble. Marilène’s mother, José van den Broek-van Schendel, wore an unusual but very pretty pale grey-blue hat with upturned, fluted brim.
Queen Beatrix wore a giant tangerine straw pillbox hat swathed in open-weave gold net. The unique hat however, coordinated very well with Beatrix’s Indian sari-inspired dress and created a rather bold and striking ensemble
Princess Juliana, in what was to be her final public appearance, wore a black dotted hairnet with black large black bow.
Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria wore a taupey-pink straw picture hat with slightly upturned brim and pink flower and ribbon trim (below, top left). Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Parma wore a rusty straw hat with monochrome bloom on the side (below, center right).
Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein wore a cream hat with squared crown and wide, upturned brim (top left, just above the bride). Princess Christina of the Netherlands wore a navy straw hat in a similar shape with a wide, upturned brim. This hat was trimmed with a lime green sash around the crown to match her suit – this colour combination was the most lovely of contrasts (front right, beside her sister Princess Margriet).
While the past sixteen years has brought many changes to millinery fashion, there are a number of hats at this wedding with classic shapes that have stood the test of time. Which one of these royal hats is your favourite?
Prince Maurits and Princess Marilène of Orange-Nassau celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary today. Their wedding celebrations were rather low key as Prince Maurits is the nephew of a monarch and, at the time of his marriage, was fifth in line to the throne. He is, however, the son of a much loved Dutch princess and was the first of his generation to marry so the event was certainly not to be missed. In honor of Prince Maurits and Princess Marilène’s anniversary, today, let’s look back at the hats from their civil and religious weddings.
Prince Maurits met Marie-Hélène van den Broek (she is known as Marilène), daughter of the former Dutch foreign minister Hans van den Broek, when they were both students at the University of Groningen. For their civil wedding on May 29, 1998 in Apeldoorn, Marilène wore a scarlet and orange silk suit topped with a classic, pale beige straw hat. The hat featured a sash around the crown in the same hues as her vibrant suit and the brim was covered in an overlay of translucent chocolate brown net. The cartwheel brim of the hat was an excellent proportion for this tall bride and allowed Marilène’s radiant smile to take center stage. I thought it was particularly adorable that Marilène choose orange as the accent colour for her ensemble to marry her Prince of Orange (also, in a coordinating orange tie).
Princess Margriet wore a royal blue bumper style hat with wide, rolled brim which featured a woven ‘v’ pattern.
Marilène’s mother, José van den Broek-van Schendel, wore a dark blue hat with rounded crown and upturned brim. The hat was without embellishment and she wore it tilted fairly far back, off her face.
Last week, Queen Elizabeth wore one of my f
Princess Margriet wore a royal blue bumper style hat with wide, rolled brim which featured a woven ‘v’ pattern.
Royal Hats 