What fun it has been to celebrate the 10th wedding anniversary of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall with a look back at the wonderful hats and headpieces worn at their wedding:
The Queen and The Duchess Of Cornwall’s Family
The Prince of Wales’ Siblings and their Families
The Extended British Royal Family
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While the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall ten years ago was primarily a family affair, it was also attended by Dutch, Norwegian and Greek royal guests.
The House of Orange was represented by Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien. While this period saw Laurentien in a number of experimental and very avant garde pieces of fashion and millinery, her hat and suit at this wedding was uncharacteristically classic. Her hat, a large white straw piece with rounded brim, was trimmed in a black ruched sash around the base of the crown, wide piping around the brim and a spray of black feathers. It’s a beautiful hat but to me, it has always seemed at odds with Laurentien’s characteristic quirky style and short, funky haircut.
The most interesting fascinator at this wedding was worn by Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. Her headpiece consisted of a giant curved black feather topped with a mass of wispy, floating navy feathers. At the time, I remember thinking that while the scale of the piece was ridiculously large, it magically seemed to work. Maybe it was because the wispy feathers added another layer of navy texture to Mette-Marit’s intricately patterned lace and silk suit. Maybe it was because the hat was less jarring than her stark silver shoes.
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Queen Anne-Marie of Greece wore an elegant ensemble, as usual, to this event. Her pale blue straw lampshade style hat was clearly dyed to perfectly match her suit; fabric from the suit was used for a band around the crown and piping around the brim. The proportion of lampshade style hats can be difficult to get right but this one was successful and left this Greek Queen firmly wearing it (instead of the lampshade wearing her). The monochromatic nature of the hat was a great counterpoint to her grey lace trimmed suit and she looked perfectly polished.
That concludes our fashion tour of this wedding! I am curious, dear readers- which hats do you think made the best style statement at the time? Which hats do you think translate best to today?
Photos from Getty as indicated
The wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles ten years ago was attended by numerous members of the British Royal Family. After looking at the hats worn by the couple’s immediate families and Charles’ siblings,let’s look back at the millinery worn by members of the extended British Royal Family.
Viscountess Linley followed the fascinator trend of the time with a statement headpiepiece of pink feathers. The piece curved around her head, down the side of her face, leaving her looking like her head was alight in pink flames. I adore the colour of this headpiece with her grey sill suit find the shape to be overly theatrical. Lady Sarah Chatto was characteristically streamlined in a large dove grey picture hat. Embellished only with a slim silk band around the base of the crown, the focus of the hat was found in the contrasting shapes of the flat crown and cartwheel brim. With Sarah’s coordinating dove grey dress and coat, the look was streamlined, clean and elegant (and the perfect backdrop for some of her late mother’s diamonds).
The Duchess of Gloucester (center, below) topped her tailored powder blue coat with a wide picture hat in the same shade. The hat was wrapped in multiple strips of organdie ribbon braided in a wide plait.
The Duchess of Kent wore a flirty mint green cocktail hat with silk base and cascade of side feathers. While I think more vibrant colours are much more flattering on Katharine, her hat was whimsical and unexpected and I liked it much more than her pale floral and mint green silk suit.
Princess Alexandra of Kent topped her lilac jacket with a felt hat in the same shade. The higher-than-usual domed crown was balanced by a wide brim that slightly upturned on one side and a triple pleated band that knotted at the front of the hat. I adore this shade of purple on Alexandra but wonder how many sandwiches were hidden under the tall crown (what other purpose could warrant the height of that crown other than smuggling snacks?)
Princess Michael of Kent chose an ensemble in classic navy and white. Her hat also featured a domed crown, anchored by an oval brim in cream straw. The hat’s only trim, a curving horizontally placed feather spine, was a little austere but emphasized the oval shape of the hat. The austerity of the hat balanced the fussiness of her suit and accessories (how many brooches does a royal really need?) and I think her hat translates more successfully today than the rest of her ensemble.
Stay tuned for the final post covering this wedding which will look back at the hats worn by royal guests.
Photos From Getty as indicated
At the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall ten years ago, guests predictably included members of the British Royal Family. As you might expect, the hats and headpieces worn by this group give us great insight into millinery fashion a decade ago.
The Countess of Wessex’s hat fashion at the time included numerous stovepipe cloche hats with unexpected curves and slopes and the hat she chose for this event followed this trend. Made of in straw printed with a grey faux snakeskin pattern, it was trimmed with a handful of vertically placed Lady Amhurst feathers at the side. While the Philip Treacy design felt daring, bold, and at the cutting edge of millinery fashion at the time, its relevance has passed and it does not translate well today.
The young York princesses were mere teenagers a decade ago and as such, were fairly inexperienced hat wearers. Inexperience aside, they wore hats at this wedding that I adore. Princess Beatrice’s fascinator of chocolate and taupe straw lilies and taupe feathers brought out the warm tones in her complexion and hair and perfectly framed her face. During a time when fascinator fashion often included feathers flying madly off in all directions, the relative simplicity of this piece have always struck me as particularly lovely. While the lines of Princess Eugenie’s cream straw cloche were as exaggerated as those on the Countess of Wessex’s hat, the proportion was more flattering. The navy band and bow added a youthful touch and paired with her navy coat, created a charming ensemble for this young princess.
Princess Anne recycled a turquoise silk pill box hat that was more than 20 years old at the time. While the pill box shape does transcend time and the vibrant colour was wonderful on her, the voluminous veil brought a bee keeping vibe into the ensemble that did not do it any favours. Two years ago, Princess Anne repeated this turquoise coat at a Buckingham Palace Garden party, paired with an updated (and slightly more successful) hat.
Not surprisingly, the trendiest fashion at this wedding was worn by Zara Phillips. Zara sported a simple black fedora over her Pucci-inspired dress. The choice of a fedora for such a high profile event is a gutsy one and I adore Zara for it. The choice of the dress, however, remains a head scratching mystery.
Royals are often criticized for not keeping up with current fashion and I think this group of hats shows this is not the case. Strangely, it seems that the most fashionable hats are the ones least likely to transcend time.
Next up? The hats worn by the extended members of the British Royal Family. Stay tuned for these Linley, Chatto, Gloucester and Kent hats later today.
Photos from Getty as indicated
Today marks the tenth wedding anniversary of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. After looking at the bride’s spectacular millinery, we now turn our attention to the hats and fascinators worn by members of the couple’s immediate families.
Queen Elizabeth, the mother of the groom, matched her cream textured wool crepe coat to her hat by using the same fabric to cover the crown. The brim of the hat and a triple pleated band around the base of the crown were made in a pale yellow and cream floral print and the hat was trimmed with wispy ostrich feathers. The angular lines of the squared crown were balanced by the light feathers, a large silk bow and a slight upturn of the brim on one side of the hat. This hat was all about texture, something that is lost from a longer distance view. It is a very pretty hat on Her Majesty and she was clearly fond of it, as she wore it numerous times following the wedding.
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Camilla’s sister, Anabel Elliot, topped her slate blue silk suit with a statement hat designed by Philip Treacy. The blue silk base of the hat was wrapped in embroidered tulle net and the hat’s trim, a large bouquet of slate blue trimmed feathers, coordinated with the firework embroidery on Anabel’s jacket. This is certainly not a hat for the faint of heart and Anabel proved that millinery bravery runs in the family.
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Camilla’s daughter, Laura Parker Bowles, contrasted her mint green military coat dress with a fantastical Philip Treacy fascinator. The center of the headpiece, a multi-looped gold straw bow, was wrapped in a whirl of arrow-trimmed feathers. At the time of the wedding, I could not figure out the connection between the fascinator and the coat but ten years on, I appreciate the style contrast between these two pieces. I particularly love the match between the headpiece and Laura’s gold pumps.
Sara Buys, who married Camilla’s son Tom five months later, wore a black brimless hat trimmed with small white flowers and a swath of black net. The hat, a calot shape that Sara wore on the side of her head instead of on the back of her crown, coordinated with her black and white suit. While Sara, a fashion editor at Harpers & Queen, was well known in the fashion industry (her Alexander McQueen wedding dress is now credited as the Duchess of Cambridge’s introduction to the label), I don’t think this hat is memorable.
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On the spectrum of timeless to trendy, where do you think these decade-old hats rate today?
Later today, we’ll look at the hats worn by the remaining members of the British Royal Family.
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 