The Earl and Countess of Wessex completed a five day visit to Sri Lanka yesterday. On Saturday, they officially represented Queen Elizabeth II at celebrations marking the Asian nation’s 70th Independence Day. For this event, Sophie repeated a statement saucer hat with cream straw button base and striped crin brim (with raised pleats at the top of the design) trimmed with grey and cream crin curls and black feathers.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
This hat has always been one I’ve described as sophisticated and while I wouldn’t use the same description for Sophie’s daisy printed dress, the two pair fairly well together. I prefer this hat paired with the sleek cream and navy striped silk coat Sophie paired with it in the past but understand the tropical climate required a lighter weight frock. What do you think of this hat’s third outing on Saturday?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Agreed with all that the grey trimming with the navy isn’t perfect, but I still love this hat. I like the contrast with the navy dress as I thought there was too much white with the suit. Also, how interesting to see that it’s now a working hat instead of an Ascot hat. I appreciate the versatility. it would also work well with pink, a cooler blue, or dove grey. Hope she keeps this one in the rotation.
Just noticed that Princess Sophie’s hat is the same as Duchess of Cambridge’s dusty pink crin saucer hat with rose and straw twists by Jane Taylor worn May 20.
Yes, different material and trim, but it looks like the same shape.
Indeed- different types of crin on the brim, different trims but very similar shape (no surprise, since they are from the same designer).
Crin/Trim/Brim!! I love it!
HQ, on this special day for HM, may i please post the most beautiful photo of her to date?
Yes to Edward’s perfectly tailored suit and posture!!!!! I don’t necessarily dislike Sophie’s ensemble. Allow me to say that as a enormous fan of old movies I’ve noticed that the hats didn’t necessarily always perfectly match the ladies dress in those old movies. I can live with her choice. I’m sure she has the perfect matching hat to the daisy dress in her closet but it didn’t make it onto to plane to Sri Lanka.
While it is nice to see this hat paired with another outfit, I agree that it wasn’t the best choice. It makes sense as there is black and white in the dress, but navy is the dominant color, and if that was the accent in the hat instead of black, it would look much more coherent. It’s still a great hat regardless.
Edward’s DB suit is also nice, and he definitely is looking more like his father (I know, perhaps that’s not what he “wants” to hear, but it’s true, and it’s meant as a compliment).
The airiness of the hat fabric seemed to flow with the summery frock and it wasn’t too bad a combination. I think the problem with the dress was partly the wearer! She needed to pull her shoulders back and tilt her head up! I love the chignon – very soft! Maybe a scarf or larger necklace would have dressed it up to meet the hat a little.
I’ll join Jimbo and enthuse over the Earl’s beautifully tailored suit!
With the white of the daisies and the black lines of the daisy stems in the dress I see why she paired this dress with this hat, but it doesn’t give me a “wow.”
Exactly! The pairing does make sense but it’s not a “WOW!”
Off the topic: my eyes passed over the hat and daisy dress, and they went immediately to the Earl’s beautiful suit. Perfect in every way, the 2nd picture shows exactly how a double breasted suit should hang, and I love the glen plaid. “One” must have the perfect body build to make a DB suit (when buttoned with the top button) look correct, unless it’s made-to-measure of course, and unfortunately, I am no longer “one” of them.
Love the hat, love the dress just not together. The hat paired much better with her Ascot dress as Hat Queen mentioned.
I wonder if Sophie is a yellow hat or a hat with yellow trimmings? It might match better with her dress?
She does not have any yellow hats that we have seen before, although she does have several in natural straw.
I like both the hat and dress, but I don’t find they play very well together. I know there are black and white accents in the dress, but something about the style/color/materials of the hat record scratches in my head. I think a solid navy/yellow/or white hat would have been better, something less translucent and airy.
I like this hat and it’s great to see Sophie using her millinery back catalogue (her hat closet must be huge). I quite like this dress. But I don’t understand them together – the dress is navy with a yellow accent. This hat is black and white. The styles are at odds as well; traditional and feminine versus a much more angular and modern hat. Hmm.