thirty-five years ago today to the Queen Mother, attending the Sandringham Flower show in one of her signature capulet hats, this one in in green and white with feathers, silk flowers and a net veil.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Photos from Getty as indicated
The Queen Mother was one who had found a style and stuck with it. She was so beloved I doubt we would really have liked her changing the image we grew to know and love.
The Queen Mum knew what suited her and stuck to it!
The hat shape is nice but the trimmings are a bit of a mess and excessive.
The shape of the hat is very attractive. How nice for Katievale to have a connection!
This would’ve been made by my tutor Rose. And she still has the same blocks in her studio; I’ve made a hat from this exact brim block too. 🙂
Wonderful, Katievale! how thrilling for you to have learnt from someone who made hats for royalty, and to work with the very same tools!
Re the hat:
White flowers on a green ground must have been quite a fabric print trend. The QM wore it 2 years prior to this pic for her 80th birthday photoshoot in 1980:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/her-majesty-queen-mother-elizabeth-with-a-welsh-corgi-on-a-news-photo/584340364#her-majesty-queen-mother-elizabeth-with-a-welsh-corgi-on-a-porch-at-picture-id584340364
And I fear I will never forget this hat from 1977 🙂 :
http://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/queen-elizabeth-ii-during-her-visit-to-new-zealand-1977-news-photo/139653755#queen-elizabeth-ii-during-her-visit-to-new-zealand-1977-picture-id139653755
These particular shades of green cast sallow contouring onto both royal complexions (mother and daughter have the same skin tone), so I can’t like this hat; nor do I like the way the veil hangs in this instance. It appears functional, rather than pretty — too much like a sheet of cyclone fencing.
But that said, I have always adored The QM’s style in hats, and i really miss seeing them. The feathers, the veiling.. and those shapes which suited her perfectly. Those lovely proportions are beautifully displayed in this hat
I would love to see veils make a comeback – they add something to a hat that’s quite lovely.