Yearly Archives: 2015

Day Five of Royal Ascot

Posted on by

Royal Hats I’m sure you will all agree that the fun of royal hat watching at the Ascot races this year has been immensely enhanced by our marvellous guest milliners Jill Courtemanche,  Christie Murray, and Fiona Mangan.  Here are their thoughts on the final royal hats we saw today on the last day of Royal Ascot

Queen Elizabeth in a repeated hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan

Jill: This is my favorite hat of the week on the queen! I love the color on her, it’s a warm shade and incredibly complimentary to her complexion. The profiled brim and angled crown are perfectly in balance and the subtle coloration in the feather trim is wonderful with her sheath. It’s a very modern hat without making too strong of a statement, perfect for the Queen of England!

Christie: You just can’t fault Rachel’s finishing. She really is incredible.  It’s quite a difficult colour to work with, I have to say that I rather Queen Elizabeth in brighter colours.  Unfortunately, with the light shining through the brim and reflecting off her (albeit gorgeous) tweed overcoat, her hair takes on some of the pastel coral colour and it’s not quite the best with her skin tone. Rachel’s feather trim really is gorgeous, wispy and feminine. She’s done a wonderful job of cutting through the heaviness of the tweed and picking up on the paisley detailing in her dress.

Royal Hats: You’re right- the feather trim does reference the Queen’s paisley dress. I hadn’t noticed that before and explains why the trim works so very well.

Fiona: I like this soft peach colour on the Queen and the Rachel Trevor Morgan hat suits her very well with a very slight sweep on the brim. Again sinamay is perfect for this time of year and the trimming on the hat is delicate and beautifully finished. Her coat, appears a little heavy for summer but not atypical of the Queen’s coats for this time of year!

Lady Helen Taylor in a new hat by Stephen Jones. It is the ‘Charisma’ design

Christie: Stephen Jones – my favourite fashion Master Milliner!  He always likes to have a bit of fun! I would love to know more about the inspiration behind this piece, I know that it would have a story that would of resonated with Lady Helen. I’d also love to know how it is meant to sit – I can’t say that I like it at this angle. I’m not the biggest fan of these colours together, and don’t think the pink sinamay is well colour matched to her jacket, which makes me think that Lady Helen has bought one a ready-to-wear design vs having a bespoke headpiece made for the occasion.

Royal Hats: While I have been crying for more colour this week, this isn’t quite what I had in mind.I admire Lady Helen’s millinery fearlessness – she often wears very quirky, creative pieces – but this hat and suit don’t jive (you can see a full length photo of Lady Helen’s ensemble here).

Jill: I adore Stephen Jones and the slight irreverence he brings to his work but this hat is not working for me. The colors in the straw work nicely with her suit but I am not sure what is happening with the ball trim on the edge or the dragonfly tucked in between the two disks and I really do not like seeing her hair between the two layers which makes me think she must be wearing it incorrectly. Even so I am not sure proper placement here would make me like it anymore, this is my least favorite hat of the week.

Fiona: What a fun and playful headpiece by Stephen Jones. The colours are quite muted but work very well with her outfit. Loving the dragonfly sandwiched between the two layers of the hat trimmed with green pearls. Think this is a brave move wearing this quirky hat so fair play to lady Helen!

I suppose it is most fitting that we end Royal Ascot 2015 with an unexpected and most unusual hat!  I can not begin to adequately express my thanks to our guest royal milliners Christie Murray, Jill Courtemanche, and Fiona Mangan.  They have made this fun week of hats an absolute delight and I thank them all for taking time from very busy weeks to contribute here.

Tomorrow, you will all have the opportunity to nominate your three favourite Ascot hats. I can’t wait to hear about what you all choose!

Photos from via Corbis; and Getty as indicated

Queen Máxima Opens Exhibit on Dutch Design

Posted on by

Queen Máxima visited the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam yesterday to open an an exhibition on Dutch design over the past 200 years.  For this opening, she repeated her large burgundy picture hat with a low, square crown and large mushroom-shaped brim. Despite its very simple grosgrain ribbon trim around the edge of the brim and base of the crown, the colour and scale of this hat give it loads of dramatic impact. With her striped gold and claret dress and orange accessories (an unusual choice that work surprisingly well), Máxima certainly stands out in a crowd.

Queen Máxima, June 19, 2015 in Fabienne Delvigne | Royal Hats   Queen Máxima, June 19, 2015 in Fabienne Delvigne | Royal Hats

Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: June 24, 2014; May 24, 2014

Photos from Patrick van Katwijk and Patrick van Katwijk via Corbis; and Getty as indicated

Day Four of Royal Ascot, Part 2

Posted on by

Royal HatsI am still pinching myself to welcome Irish milliner Fiona Mangan, American milliner Jill Courtemanche and Australian milliner Christie Murray here for the entire week of Royal Ascot! Thank you all for sharing your incredible millinery expertise with us this week! Now for the second group of royal hats we saw at the Ascot Racecourse today:

Princess Beatrice in a new hat by Juliette Botterill

Jill: While I very much like the texture and height of this hat with Princess Beatrice’s outfit (which is one of my favorite of the week) I am not a huge fan of the exaggerated angle on her face, it feels a little hard to me. That said he finish on the hat is flawless and her overall outfit is fabulous.

Christie: I really quite like Princess Beatrice’s dress sense, she’s tends to be more adventurous with her looks than any of the other Royal’s that I’ve seen so far.  In saying that, I think her headpiece lets her down this time. For such a modern look, it nearly looks like her headpiece was an afterthought. It’s just a bit too heavy for me, I would have loved her to bring some of that colour out of her skirt, to work with the youthful playfulness of her outfit.

Fiona: I love how Beatrice plays with so many different hat shapes and again this is a winner for me. The hat colour could have looked too dark but she played it up with a neutral Ivory top. I do think however, she could have gone with a plainer top to work with the beautifully patterned  skirt but overall I am loving this whole outfit.

Royal Hats: I wasn’t a fan of this outfit but now you’re all making me take a second look and I think it might be growing on me…

Princess Eugenie in a repeated hat by Nerida Fraiman

Christie: What a gorgeous statement Nerida. Bravo! It just looks like something lovely has been swept up from her dress on to her head in the wind.  Beautifully colour balanced and just works so well with the feminine patterns in her dress. This is the epitome of less is more, she’s shown a lot of maturity and restraint in not trimming this piece ~ just gorgeous!

Royal Hats: I’m realizing this week that Nerida Fraiman is a master with crin-  the crin edging around this hat is effortlessly beautiful. Princess Eugenie wore this hat for Ascot two years ago and I love it as much now as I did then. While I love the hat, I don’t love it with this dress (which I did love previously worn with a Sarah Cant hat).

Fiona: I am also not really a fan of the dress, I like the shape and cut but I think the pattern is a little bit frumpy for her. I do like the design of this Nerida Fraiman hat but I am not too sure the colour combo works too well.

Jill: Simple, sweet and age appropriate, this is a lovely fascinator for Princess Eugenie. The look is soft enough for her feminine dress and timeless. I think she could have a gone a little heavier with the trim but it’s a very classic look an her overall look is lovely.

Sarah, Duchess of York in a new hat by Philip Treacy

Jill: How lovely, to see Sarah Ferguson included in the festivities! She has chosen a lovely dress and hat ensemble, a classic look for Royal Ascot. This Philip Treacy hat is flawless and this soft rolled trim we have been seeing all week works particularly well in the fascinator incarnation. The only thing I am not a fan of here is her jewellery, it feels a little casual to me.

Fiona: Very nice. Black and electric blue are wonderful colours together. And Philip Treacy hats are always perfect! Sarah’s dress looks really good on her and I love her patent shoes. Well done Sarah!

Christie: The hat itself is incredibly masterful, not that I would expect any less of the Millinery King. I actually don’t particularly like this outfit on the Duchess of York though. I think the black is a bit too heavy on her? I’m not quite sure that this particular shade of royal blue works with her hair colouring either? Something’s just not quite right for me with this look.

Royal Hats: Interesting- I thought the exact opposite!  I think the black hat worked with the primarily blue dress and the inclusion of both colours in both pieces made provided balance. This colour combination is particularly striking on the hat. It’s a bold millinery choice for Sarah and I admire her bravery! It’s lovely to see her again.

Day four at Ascot today was a wonderful day for royal hats! Not to be forgotten, both the Duke of York and Mike Tindall looked very dapper in antique silk top hats. I sign off tonight with a wave from the most handsome of top hat wearers, the Duke of Edinburgh. Thanks to guests Fiona Mangan, Jill Courtemanche and Christie Murray for joining me today- we will all be back tomorrow to chat about the hats worn on the final day of Royal Ascot 2015.

Prince Philip, June 19, 2015 | Royal Hats

Photos from via Mirrorpix / Splash News via Corbis; and Getty as indicated

Day Four of Royal Ascot, Part 1

Posted on by

Royal HatsI’m so thrilled to have milliners Christie Murray, Fiona Mangan and Jill Courtemanche joining us this week to dish about this year’s royal hats worn at Ascot. The fourth day of the races today saw five royal hats- here is a peek of the first two.

Queen Elizabeth in a new hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan

Queen Elizabeth, June 19, 2015 in Rachel Trevor Morgan

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

Jill: I quite like this hat, the texture is beautiful with her suit and the simple flower trim is elegant. I particularly like that the flowers have a realistic, fresh picked from the garden look to them. This pale yellow has been the color of the week and this is a very smart look for the Queen.

Royal Hats: Rachel Trevor Morgan’s silk flowers always look amazing. This ha shape is a standard one for Her Majesty and while beautifully done, I’m on the fence regarding the colour.

Fiona: I find this colour of yellow  a little harsh against her colouring though the flatter brim seems to be less severe than the hat she wore yesterday. I love the detail in the trimming and the layering over the parasissal on this hat is quite interesting.

Christie: What a lovely hat! Again, a beautifully colour balanced look for the Queen. I love how Rachel’s made her hat more textural by adding the weave to the beautiful straw base. Those silk flowers are light and just gorgeous. It just oozes femininity. The broach is so delicate and it plays with the softness of the trim. Paired with the necklace and earrings, it’s all just right.  She is such an incredible milliner.

Zara Phillips Tindall in a new hat by Rosie Olivia

Christie: I’m loving the outfits today so far! I love how Zara Phillips has dressed up a bit today, she looks just gorgeous in those heels and in French Navy! Rosie’s headpiece is just gorgeous. Beautifully finished and crisp sisal base, and you really get a sense of the flow of the trim from the side shot of the piece. The feather trim works well texturally with her tweed jacket, whilst the clean lines keep it modern and elegant. This is my favourite look of Zara’s for the carnival so far.

Fiona: Zara: Absolutely love this whole look on Zara. I have worked with similar type swirls so immediately am a fan of her hat. Love the delicate two-tone going on in the swirls, it’s quite a feat to get the positioning of them to look perfect, which they do. The beret style is such a good look on Zara. Love the outfit – the floating waistline of the jacket sitting above the waistline really suits her. And the ankle cuffs on her shoes just fit in with the whole look perfectly.

Royal Hats:  I’m a sucker for navy and white and this hat is a beautiful modern take on this classic scheme. The beautiful white crin trim takes the hat from great to astounding! It’s one of my favourite hats this week.

Jill: This hat is tailored with just the right amount of frill for her suit. I agree- Zara looks great in this shape, it suits the angle of her profile perfectly and the soft, dark flowers are a lovely compliment to the full skirt of her dress and adds a little height that takes her up out of the high collar. The small pop of white in the crin trim is a nice accent and bring the whole outfit together.

It seems that the royal hats worn today for the fourth day of Ascot races are off to a great start! We’ll weigh in on the remaining hats later tonight.

Photos from Mirrorpix / Splash News via Corbis; and Getty as indicated

British Royals Commemorate Battle of Waterloo Centenary

Posted on by

Members of the British royal family attended a national service of commemoration at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London yesterday, marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.

The Duchess of Cornwall repeated an ivory straw hat with wide brim that is slightly raised on one side. This hat is all about the  trim- a giant ostrich feather wrapped around the side of the hat’s crown. It’s a dramatic hat that she wears well, especially when contrasted against a streamlined coat as she chose yesterday. Incidentally, Camilla has a pair of hats in this style.

Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: June 28, 2012; September 10, 2011; July 28, 2009; July 16, 2009; May 12, 2009; July 1, 2006; June 19, 2006

Princess Antonia, Duchess of Wellington, Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo, wore a simple black straw hat with wide mushroom shaped brim. The hat is trimmed with band around the base of the crown and beautiful stitching around the edge of the brim. With her cerise suit, the look was exceptionally elegant.

The Duchess of Gloucester repeated her slate grey straw beret and matching coat dress. Again.

Battle of Waterloo service attended by Boris Johnson and Alan Yarrow

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester greeting the Lord Mayor of London, Alan Yarrow

The 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo culminates tomorrow in Belgium with a re-enactment of Napoleon’s defeat.
Photos from Ik Aldama/Demotix via Corbis; and Getty as indicated