to this day, ninety-five years ago, and the wedding of Princess Mary to Viscount Lascelles which saw a pair of magnificent, feather trimmed toque hats hats worn by the bride’s mother, Queen Mary, and grandmother, Queen Alexandra.
Photo from Universal History Archive via Getty
Royal Hats 
I can’t get past the “fancy dress” vibe of these hats – they look as if the wearers borrowed them directly from the chorus of Diaghilev’s 1910 Ballet Russe production of “Scheherazade”, 15 years earlier.
By the standards of the day these high-perching hats were already outdated; By 1922, oriental-inspired hats were all worn well down on the forehead. Among the guests at the wedding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAcqsxtQEbY I could see only one woman not wearing the latest low, dropped styles.
Thanks for sharing the video footage. It’s amazing.
Wonderful photo, HatQueen! Princess Mary looks so serious in the photos I’ve seen, so it’s great to see her smiling.
I also enjoy the hat flashbacks, thank you so much for putting so much effort into making this blog so interesting. I just love it when I see I have a post from Royal Hats.
While the hats are dated and probably not easily translated for today, those two old Queens are still in fashion…..note the ‘ermine’ coat that just came down the runway at Oscar de la Renta last week, for Fall/Winter 2017!
http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2017-ready-to-wear/oscar-de-la-renta/slideshow/collection#31
The first thing I noticed was, of course, the strong family resemblance in the House of Windsor. The second thing I noticed was that the hat designers used “everything but the kitchen sink” on these wonderful ebullient hats! Now these were HATS!
Isn’t that the truth! The strong family resemblance down generations. I can see the Queen in the face of her Aunt Mary.
The toques are fabulous for their time.
I see more than a touch of Princess Anne in Queen Alexandra here – the turn of the head and her keen, interested gaze.
I love the flashbacks too, and like Bristol, I think some could easily be worn today. I would not include these two in that category, however. Queen Mary’s in particular just doesn’t look like one that would translate well, and part of it is the fit., and part of it is the style. Anyway, great picture. The bride certainly looks happy.
I don’t often comment on them, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoy the hat flashbacks, it’s so interesting to see historical hats. Also, it’s fascinating to see that some could be worn today without a huge amount of, or even any, tweaking, whereas others are definitely of their time – which is of course partly to do with what is fashionable now, as well as the actual styles of those hats worn in the past!