Monthly Archives: January 2016

Imperial Couple Visit Philippines

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Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko departed Tokyo this morning for the Philippines where they embarked on a four day visit. The Empress looked very smart in a dark slate blue rimmed saucer hat trimmed in a large crepe silk folded bow.

Empress Michiko, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: likely Akio Hirata
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

The couple were bid farewell by members of the Imperial Family. Crown Princess Masako wore a vibrant blue wool coat with matching hat which features a flat crown and upturned brim. The piece is trimmed with a wide ribbon around the crown that coordinates with the black accents on her coat. She stood out in a sea of neutral toned Imperial royal ensembles and I love her for it.

Princess Masako, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats Princess Masako, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Princess Kiko repeated a simple navy hat with short, upturned brim and a rounded, straight sided hat. The hat is trimmed with a thick navy band around the base of the crown, giving a slight stepped detail to the piece.

Princess Kiko and Princess Masako, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Masako and Princess Kiko, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Mako wore a navy felt cloche hat embellished with a double grosgrain ribbon bow at the side. A band, edged in folded ribbon on both sides, encircled the base of the crown’s hat, giving it some contrast and dimension.
Princess Mako, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats
Princess Tsuguko of Takamado wore a fedora in winter white wool trimmed with a spiky spider mum flower at the back.  It’s a wonderfully chic hat that worked so well with her black and white suit and black cape.
Princess Tsuguko, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats
Princess Yoko of Mikasa wore a cream hat with flat crown, vertical sides and a short, rolled brim. Her sister, Princess Akiko, topped her winter white coat with a matching cloche hat with an upturned cuff brim. Their mother, Princess Nobuko, wore a streamlined grey toque hat that provided interesting style and texture contrast with her fur coat.

Imperial Royal Family, January 26, 2016 | Royal Hats

Arriving in the Philippines, the Empress removed her coat and scarf to reveal a tailored jacket in large plaid to match her hat and skirt. At closer look, the hat also features a layer of the plaid fabric incorporated in the bow, tying the ensemble together. It’s a very predictable hat for the Empress, both in shape and in colour, but one she wears well.

I suspect we’ll see several more new hats from Empress Michiko before the week is done- stay tuned!

Inventory: Countess of Wessex’s Blue Hats

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The Countess of Wessex celebrated her 51st birthday last week. As we have done with others this month, were going to take an inventory of the blue hats in her millinery closet. Here they are, shown in the order they have been worn:

1.Embed from Getty Images  2.Embed from Getty Images  3.Embed from Getty Images
Designers: unknown; unknown; Philip Treacy
Introduced: May 27, 1999; December 24, 2000; June 2, 2003

4.Embed from Getty Images  5.Embed from Getty Images  6.Embed from Getty Images
Designers: all are Jane Taylor
Introduced: June 15, 2011; December 25, 2011; June 5, 2012 

7.Embed from Getty Images   8.  9. Embed from Getty Images
Designers: all are Jane Taylor
Introduced: June 18, 2013; December 29, 2013; June 17, 2014

10.  11.Embed from Getty Images
Designer: all are Jane Taylor
Introduced: May 5, 2014; June 10, 2016

UPDATE: Since this post was published, Sophie has added several additional blue designs:

12.Embed from Getty Images 13.Embed from Getty Images 14.
Designer: all are Jane Taylor
Introduced:  June 15, 2016; December 25, 2017; April 1, 2018

15.Embed from Getty Images 16.Embed from Getty Images 17.
Designer: all are Jane Taylor
Introduced: May 19, 2018; June 20, 2018; October 12, 2018

18.Embed from Getty Images 19.  20.Embed from Getty Images
Designer: unknown; Jane Taylor, Jane Taylor
Introduced: Oct 24, 2018; June 19, 2019; June 20, 2019

21.Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Jane Taylor,
Introduced: March 9, 2020

Sophie also wore three navy and white hats during the early days of her royal life:

   1999-06-12   2001-06-10   2001-06-16

Designers: unknown. I suspect the first is Philip Treacy
Introduced: June 12, 1999; June 10, 2001; June 16, 2001

Looking at this group of thirteen hats, there is considerable variation of colour and style. I suppose that’s to be expected for a hat career that now spans fifteen years, although you might notice a curious eight year span between 2003 and 2011 where no blue hats were introduced (and few were repeated). Nevertheless, this slice of Sophie’s millinery closet shows her experimentation with different shapes.

When it comes to current status, I suspect #1-3, #5 and the last three navy and white hats have all been retired, leaving seven percher designs (#4, #6, #7, #9-12) and a lone fedora still in service. Of the retired hats, I would love to see #3, with its sleek texture and beautiful raised brim, worn again. The proportion was lovely on Sophie and I think the shape is as relevant today as it was over a decade ago. I also have a soft spot for the cream hat with navy silk ribbon around the brim, trimmed with roses. It has such a classic Chanel-esque look to it that I adore.

What do you think of Sophie’s blue hats?

Photos from Samir Hussein, Max Mumby/Indigo, Mark Cuthbert, Danny Martindale, Samir Hussein,Tim Graham, Tim Graham, andTim Graham, all via Getty; Rex Features

 

 

Princess Beatrix Attends Film Première

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On Saturday, Princess Beatrix took in a film premièring at the EYE Film Museum in Amsterdam on the subject of Dutch Masters in the 21st century. For this event, she was artistically dressed in modern print coat and matching hat. With a mushroom grey felt crown and silver straw brim and wide sash around the crown, her hat was all about contrasting texture. It’s an attractive piece that sets off Beatrix’s coat very well, don’t you agree?

Princess Beatrix, January 23, 2016 | Royal Hats Princess Beatrix, January 23, 2016 | Royal Hats Princess Beatrix, January 23, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Photos from Rpe/Albert Nieboer/dpa/Corbis, Rpe/Albert Nieboer/dpa/Corbis and Rpe/Albert Nieboer/dpa/Corbis

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Back on January 15, the Imperial Crown Prince and Princess celebrated anniversaries of the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center and National Institution for Youth Education. Princess Masako looked smart in a repeated a pale beige hat with rolled crown and simple ribbon trim around the base of the crown (Sankei)

Crown Princess Masako, January 15, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Anne in a cozy fur cap on her visit to the Falkland Islands (British Monarchy)

Princess Madeleine shared some wonderful snaps of her family’s vacation in the Maldives (Princess Madeleine Facebook)

A textile curator from Het Loo Palace shared these wonderful photos of several vintage hats worn by Queen Juliana

 

Royal Hats

Lovely new photographs of Princess Ingrid released for her 12th birthday (Royal House of Norway)

And finally, an Interview with Peter Phillips about festivities around his granny’s upcoming 90th birthday party (ITV)

Photo from Sankei

Christening of Prince Christian: Royal Guests

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Royal Hats When Prince Christian of Denmark was christened ten years ago, the event was attended by numerous royal relatives and close friends. After looking at the hats worn by his mother, grandparents and godparents, we now turn our attention to those worn by royal guests.

Queen Margrethe’s sisters, Queen Anne-Marie and Princess Benedikte, both wore vibrant hats. In bright red felt, Queen Anne-Marie’s hat featured an unusually tall crown, a short, upturned brim; the piece was boldly embellished with a large knotted bow and curling black feather spines. Princess Benedikte topped her grey fur coat with a large beret-style design in raspberry felt. We have seen Princess Benedikte in numerous hats in this hue and the colour is fantastic on her.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

Princess Marie-Chantal wore a Philip Treacy designed fascinator of straw twists and several different varieties of gold feathers. While some might argue that the spiky design gave some textural contrast to her tweed coat and dress, I have always found the combination of classic clothing and modern headpiece to be jarring and disharmonious.

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Alexia of Greece topped her grey fur jacket with a burgundy felt hat. With an indented crown and fluted, upturned brim, this hat is all about shape. I adore the grey and burgundy colour scheme of her ensemble but I’m afraid the stylised brim and crown shapes on her hat look rather dated today. Tatiana Blatnik (who would become Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark in 2010) wore a simple fascinator of navy feathers. The lightness of the piece, which feels better suited to a summer wedding or garden party, feels off balance against her winter coat

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

Princess Theodora wore an interesting loden green beret variation with high peaked side trimmed with a felt rose in the same colour. Princess Benedikte’s daughter, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg topped her gold bouclé coat with a purple fascinator. The headpiece, consisting of a purple silk rose and feathers that swept around the top of her head, provided a spot of colour and textural contrast to her ensemble.

Princess Theodora, January 21, 2006 | Royal Hats   Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, January 21, 2006 | Royal Hats

The Countess of Frederiksborg, who arrived with her young sons Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, wore in an ecru felt hat with asymmetrical upfolded brim. The hat was trimmed in a pleated sash of the same fabric as her coat, drawing the two pieces together in a unified winter white ensemble. Some of you might recognize the hat as the same one worn for Prince Felix’s christening (the last christening to have taken place in the Danish royal family at the time) in 2002- an interesting choice but a hat that Alexandra wore very well.

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Mathilde (as was her title in 2006) topped her beautiful red coat dress and cape with a large matching hat. With a squared crown and upfolded brim, the hat was simply trimmed with a wide ribbon around the base of the crown. It’s a strong look for Mathilde but she carried it well. It’s a classic piece that I would love to see trotted out again.

Embed from Getty Images

Dutch Princess Laurentien also wore an exaggerated hat- made of the same brown plaid as her tailored jacket, the piece featured a tall, indented crown and oval shaped brim. Unfortunately, the stylised fedora overwhelmed Laurentien and looked to be swallowing her up.

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Märtha Louise of Norway wore a 1940s inspired hat by Anja Irgens. With a close fitting crown and diamond brooch detail, the star of this hat was its upfolded brim that swept around the hat in fluted waves. Märtha Louise has long been known for her quirky style and while this hat fits that style brief, the colour and shape are exquisite. Ten years later, it is still one of my favourite hats in her wardrobe.

Embed from Getty Images   

It is only once in a generation that a royal house christens a future king or queen and the scale of this event reflects its importance. Looking back, I’m surprised at how many hats withstand the test of time and could successfully (and stylishly) be repeated today. Which hats stand out most here to you?
Photo from Getty as indicated; CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS/Reuters/Corbis; CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS/Reuters/Corbis; Birger Storm / Billed Bladet;