Yesterday, King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima’s tour of Australia took them to Queensland. For their day in Brisbane, Queen Máxima repeated a ruched black silk calot hat. While photos yesterday don’t offer great detail of this hat (see it at its inaugural outing here), it’s a small piece that is far less boring than you might imagine, thanks to interesting textural movement from the beautifully draped fabric. With Máxima’s striking black and white Claes Iversen wrap dress, the hat makes for a well balanced ensemble.
Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: July 23, 2014; March 22, 2014
The royal couple is off for the weekend and we’ll pick up their tour in New Zealand on Monday. Until then, what do you think of this hat? And, which hat has been part of your favourite ensemble this week iin Australia?
Royal Hats 
In defense of our ever-interesting Queen Max.
She is traveling. Even for a queen it is difficult to travel with More than One Hatbox. Max knows well that she is watched but does not impress as the ostentatious type. All the hats she wore this week can fit in one good sized travel hat box. I think a look back to previous trips will bear me out.
I love black-and-white in summer; it’s an underused formula that I feel more royals should embrace; for sheer impact it punches well above its weight. Although this dress has design flaws, overall the look is very sharp.
The little black hat fulfils its role of raising the chic level perfectly; and when compared with the similar faded pink style from the previous day, demonstrates why blondes look better in small hats when they are a contrasting colour.
My fave hat-wearing of the visit is Day 2 – the straw slice with beaded dress.
I’m pretty indifferent to the hat by itself, but this is another one that succeeds well as part of the whole look.
This is definitely my favorite look so far! Very polished and coordinated, also plenty of interest without competing elements (I am looking at you, coral outfit!)
Hi there. I have a question: Maxima often wears a hat for her engagements, much more so than other royal ladies. Is that just a Dutch Royal Family tradition or her preference do you think? Just curious!
I think you have to compare her hat-wearing with other queens, as I think there was a noticeable increase in how often Maxima wears hats when she became queen compared with previously. I assume therefore that she sees it as part of her role of dressing as a queen (and that’s corroborated by the fact, at least I think it’s a fact, that she doesn’t wear hats when she appears at events in the role of the UN representative on micro-finance). Other queens also wear hats more than most princesses. Queen Elizabeth never attends an official day time function without a hat (or so rarely that it hardly counts). Queen Mathilde wears hats pretty often too for formal events. Queen Margrethe and Queen Silvia wear them quite frequently, and Queen Sonja perhaps less so. And of course Queen Letizia so infrequently that I’m not even sure there’s any occasion at all when she’s worn a hat within Spain! (HatQueen?) These would be my perceptions, anyway. So Maxima would be at the upper end of the hat-wearing scale, but well within the range of normal for Queens!
When they are at home, Queen Maxima and Queen Mathilde wear hats to daytime events that involve opening something- an exhibition, a conference, an anniversary celebration, a building, a new social program etc. This covers a significant percentage of their daytime engagements (but not all!) so we see them in hats more often. Queen Silvia follows this rule to a slightly lesser degree followed by Queen Sonja and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, who seem to wear hats for high profile engagements (special events, significant anniversaries, National Day celebrations). This all changes on state visits- the first day will usually see all of these queens in hats. Maxima and Mathilde usually take a more formal approach to state visits and wear hats on following days as well.
And indeed- we have yet to see Queen Letizia wear a hat on Spanish soil OR for a state visit (even, awkwardly, when the host Queen is wearing a hat). It seems only major royal weddings can prompt the Spanish Queen to put on a hat.
As Bristol mentioned, Queen Elizabeth wears a hat for almost every daytime engagement that sees her leave her home (for investitures at Buckingham Palace during the day, she does not wear a hat). Queen Margrethe seems to follow the same.
Thank you, very interesting!
For a calot, this works quite well, but mostly for the contrast against her hair in my opinion. The dress is awesome, and I love her silver and black shoes! I personally would’ve preferred a different hat, either her oversized lampshade hat in black and white, or the black circlet she wore in Washington, D.C. in June 2015.
As for favorite outfit from the Australian visit, the slice hat and dress wins with no competition. For overall ensemble, this black and white is second, but a close third is the orange outfit, with the dress dragging that one down.
We are loving having the Dutch King and Queen here in Australia. Maxima is such a fashionista, her gorgeous clothes and hats have been a big hit.
This outfit is a HIT! but then I do love a black and white combo. I like the hat it goes excellently with the dress and with her hair up, this outfit is a WIN! I do have one question….are her shoes black and silver? In one photo of her from the back the shoes look black and then from the front they look silver.
Thought Maxima looked very chic on day 2 and that hat gets my vote. Also liked the orange hat with orange lace dress but not both at the same time! A very glamorous lady.
My favorite hat of this tour was the orange one. My favorite ensemble was day 2. Thanks for your great coverage, HQ. I look forward to reading your posts every day.
Not my favorite kind of hat, but it pairs well with the dress.
The slice hat paired with the embellished blue dress is still my favorite from this trip.
nice hat
Personally, I think this ensemble is the best for the Australian visit. Not sure what I think of the calot, but together with the wrap dress and the complementary hairstyle, it all comes together well.
Looks great with this dress and her hair up. Bravo Max!
Very nice (though I am not a fan of horizontal stripes for ladies not in their first youth, especially on a triangle silhouette). Simple, elegant. The hat itself looks particularly flattering, perfectly shaped and positioned for the queen’s hair style.