With news of Princess Eugenie’s engagement this week, I thought we’d continue our red hat inventory series with a peek into the millinery closet of this young York Princess. We have seen Princess Eugenie in four red designs so far:
1.
2.
Designer: Philip Treacy; Sarah Cant
First Worn: June 12, 2010; June 21, 2014
3.
4.
Designer: both are Sarah Cant
First Worn: May 24, 2016; Dec 25, 2016
This quartet of red hats shows the recent popularity of smaller cocktail perchers, with three of the four falling into this category. Even with this similarity of style, there is considerable difference in shape, shade, material and trimmings from statement bows to abstract wire flowers to curling felt leaves. The one design that stands out here as unique is #2, both for its shape and for the red and white stripes appliqued on the grey brim. None of these hats are boring and all require a certain degree of confidence to pull off.
Interestingly, each of these designs has been worn just once, bringing in questions of ownership (are they borrowed? purchased?) and hopes that we’ll see them repeated. I’ve always thought that #2 would make a smashing Christmas hat.
What do you think of Eugenie’s red hats?
Photos from Samir Hussein, Mark Cuthbert, WPA Pool and Chris Radburn/PA Images via Getty
Royal Hats 
She wears red so well! I like #4 for its motion and trim the best. These photos provide a condensed history of her growing sophistication in hat wearing. #1 seems to be wearing her a little, but #4 looks polished and intentional.
What a great observation- I wonder how she’d look in #1 today? The York princesses have received more than their share of fashion criticism over the years and I feel for them- it can’t have been easy finding their fashion footings in their early 20s in front of international cameras. When I think of some of the things I wore during that period in life… well, I’m thankful there’s no photo record.
Love these inventories, HQ — they are always thought-provoking.
I like all the hats, with #2 being my favourite, because it is the most unusual.
#4 has top appeal because of its successful styling, which only needed a professional (rather than homestyled) updo to make the side and back views the equal of the front.
Hairstyling also lowered the impact of the other 3 hats, as Glitter Girl points out.
#2 would have looked better with a simple grey dress, while #3 was too “event-formal” to connect with the fun and whimsical element of its skirt and top — a boater would have looked much sharper and snappier with that outfit. Or, beginning with the hat first, I would be looking for a dress to connect with the visually delicate white wire trim, i.e. one in an allover strong modern print in coral, white and other colours – or else a laser-cut one in white.
I like the chance to see the same hat styled differently, so it’s too bad that we probably won’t see any of these hats again.
I happen to like #2. I think the hair and makeup enhance the princess’s features. The brim draws attention to her face. I dislike the coat which does not fit her well.
My favorite is #4. Size, color, style all perfect. I think it could have been positioned a tad higher. This picture was taken on a windy day. The other pictures her hair does not look as messy.
Do the York Princesses own all of their hats? They seem to have less need for them than other members of the Royal Family but also seem to not wear them more than once more often than not. Same with Autumn Phillips.
Good question, for which I don’t have an answer. I suspect some are borrowed through a stylist but we can safely assume any that are worn more than once are personally owned.
Zara Tindall also wears a lot of hats that only make one appearance- I suspect many of these are borrowed as well.
It could possibly be a combination of both owned and borrowed. For example, Princess Beatrice donated the hat she wore to the William/Kate wedding to be auctioned off to benefit a charity. The hat was designed by Phillip Treacy, but the articles I’ve just looked at on the subject say that she donated it rather than he, so presumably she owned it. (That was one so unique in appearance that probably she couldn’t have gotten away with ever wearing it again!)
That hat was certainly purchased privately as a bespoke item. We know that piece, as well as any pieces the York princesses have worn more than once, are privately owned. The rest… well, we can only speculate!
Number 4 is my favorite. I like the deep red color, the glam roses, the swirly design, the perfect placement of the hat, and the combination with an updo and red lipstick to match. Perfect styling.
I like the variety here, but they’re not all a total
Success. Number two is my least favourite, but mainly because it was styled with the awful, unflattering coat. I really like number one, but LOVE number four. Red is a great colour for Eugenie, I hope we see more of it on her.
She looks great in deeper shades of red- the cherry reds with a blue undertone- doesn’t she?!
One of the things that really affects the way a hat looks is the accompanying hairstyle. In the last photo, Eugenie wears a tidy chignon which allows her hat to take centre stage. I expect, with time, she will learn (her Aunt Sophie would be a good teacher) how to wear her hair with a hat. Perhaps it is a coincidence, but this is my favourite of the four red hats.