The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Brisbane today for the start of a week long visit to Australia and Vanuatu. For their arrival, the Duchess repeated her mint green straw hat.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
The hat features a sharply upswept brim, the outside of which is trimmed with wide jinsin ribbon twists. The hat is further finished with a jinsin ribbon hatband. The hat has always looked unbalanced to me- something I thought could be fixed by Camilla tilting it back slightly off her face. The bottom photo shows that such a tilt would be nearly impossible without the hat falling off. I think the problem is actually with the placement of the jinsin twists, which would have given a far more balanced look to the design had they been placed on the inside of the brim instead of the outside.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: June 7, 2016; August 15, 2015; June 16, 2015
Previously Worn: June 7, 2016; August 15, 2015; June 16, 2015
I’m afraid this hat has never really sung for me- something about the proportion, angles and balance is trying very hard but still not quite right. Did today’s outing in Australia give you any new insights about this piece?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
I still love this hat, but I think the crown is too high, and it looks better from certain angles. Surprised to see Camilla wore a hat, especially this one, but I’m not complaining either!
Wandering into the shoe debate: I wear brown shoes with blue/navy and grey suits quite often, although never with a black suit. Just make certain that shoes and belt coordinate colorwise (no brown belt with black shoes, etc.) But I’m not so afraid of mixing colors/patterns/etc. (granted, I’m also 30, so my age may have something to do with my perceptions haha). Therefore, I like Charles’ outfit, but I agree that those white socks Philip is wearing in that photo make me cringe.
Well I love Philip Treacy’s work; and I’ve always loved this hat of his for Camilla, so I’m very pleased to see it again. The swirling twists that, frozen in flight, appear to be speared underneath the hat — or else, trying to escape and in the process throwing back the brim :)– do challenge the overall balance from certain angles, yet the unexpectedness of the placement and proportions is for me, a great part of this hat’s charm.
Charles’ light grey suit looks nice, but what’s with the brown, suede shoes? Egad. Dutch mayors (from photos of Max) pair their brown shoes with dark blue suits.
Sandra, I’m on board with you about the light grey suit with brown suede shoes, which I think are more suited for winter wear. Black, charcoal, or cordovan shoes are my choices. Brown shoes are for any brown/tan/olive suits. Any shade of blue suit requires black or navy shoes. I can read your mind – “what a boring, traditional person – get out of the box.” On a positive note, both yesterday and today, Charles’ tie blended well with his wife’s ensemble. I like that.
PS: As for socks, (and Philip is guilty of this when he is dressed more casual) socks are never lighter than the trousers and shoes. Your eye is drawn directly to them, like wearing white athletic socks with non-athletic shoes.
Ha Jimbo! I’m 100% with you on the light-colored socks thing. DofE what were you thinking?!?! But I have to respectfully disagree with you on brown shoes with navy suit. Clearly, the most formal choice is black shoes with a navy suit, but I think there are times when a blue suit and brown shoes can look quite smart. I wouldn’t wear that combination for a wedding or funeral (my father always called his dark blue/navy suit his wedding and funeral suit!) but at an evening cocktail party, for example, it would be fun to wear brown shoes with a blue suit and also a more fun shirt and tie. Come on Jimbo, live it up! 🙂
Oh, not boring at all. There’s a world of difference between ‘right’ and throwing something on. The mention of Dutch mayors comes from photos of Max last year – the men all seemed to be surprisingly young (that could be me!), lanky and almost in a uniform of a darker blue suit with ‘bright’ brown shoes. Clearly a Dutch ‘thing’. They all carried it off well even if it did seem a bit jarring to my eye initially.
I am very curious to see these pictures of young, lanky Dutch mayors! I’m racking my brains, but no young mayors come to mind, only elderly, not especially lanky ones. My guess is that they were not mayors, but perhaps I’m mistaken.
Is there anyone who could perhaps dig up these photos please?
Wies Mauduit, I too recall such a photo, but I wasn’t sure if the gents were mayors, so I Googled “Queen Maxima street walking” (there’s your Friday funny!) and the best I found was this shot of her with only 2 lanky security men in brown shoes. Sorry, that’s all I have.
Toronto, May 29, 2015
Chuck, here’s a bonus article that may be of interest today.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-pick-the-right-shoes-for-any-color-suit-2013-7
HQ, have a nice weekend. Spring is just around the corner here!
Here are a few, but probably not enough to convince even myself that it’s a trend! My memory had played a trick, convincing me that these were all noticed in a relatively short time-frame – amazing to go back through 4 years’ worth of Maxima engagements in The Netherlands. What a busy schedule, even without overseas visitors coming in and the royal couple going on tour.
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/dutch-queen-opens-bio-fair/ (possibly her security)
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/queen-maxima%e2%80%8b-presents-new-rose/
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/queen-maxima-opens-nursing-center/ (It’s the same man as above in the same outfit 2 years apart!)
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2017/01/24/dutch-queen-opens-education-exhibition/ (security man in background – dark suit and light grey shoes)
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/dutch-monarchs-visit-almelo-and-northeast-twente/ (go down to video to see mayor in blue suit and brown shoes)
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/dutch-royals-attend-four-freedom-awards/ (short man in background of pic 1)
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/dutch-queen-celebrates-orchestra/ (short man in background of pic 1 wearing light grey suit and brown shoes)
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/queen-maxima-opens-exhibit-on-dutch-design/
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/dutch-monarchs-remember-mining-past/
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/queen-maxima-visits-air-base/ (in the background, possibly her security – grey suit and brown shoes)
Sandra, I see what you mean.
Dresscode in the Netherlands is the same as in most parts of Europe: blue or grey suits should be worn with black or dark suits. Indeed, most men in the photos do, as King Willem Alexander himself and the mayor of The Hague (pic 4). The combination of blue suits/brown shoes would be associated (by my parents generation for instance) with students (youthfull rebellion), selfmade business man (lack of education) or indeed, bodyguards. But men have little possibility of varying the colours of their clothes (except for ties) or expressing anything personal. It is logical that some of them try do something different now and then. There even was a freshly appointed minister who appeared on the steps of the Palace next to the King, for the official picture of the new gouvernment in 2017, pairing a dark suit with couloured shoes, patterned with little flowers!
It was much commented upon and doesn’t seem to be the beginning of a new trend!
Looking at the pictures you selected, two things strike me.
First that Queen Maxima must have legs and feet of steel: she has a very busy schedule indeed, yet seems to breeze through it on stiletto heels, despite cobble stones or forest walks.
Second, and this brings us back to hats, the uneven quality of the workroom at Fabienne Delvignes’. Some of the finishings on those hats are quite below standard and I just can’t understand why she would let that happen.
Weis- your comments about the inconsistent finishing of Fabienne Delvigne’s hats is affirming for me to read. For a long time, I’ve felt this way (and gently said so here on Royal Hats) and it’s good to to hear a milliner say the same. I understand that Fabienne Delvigne’s close collaboration with the House of Natan is convenient for Queen Maxima and Queen Mathilde but I really wish they would look to other milliners more often. Even from afar, I can see there is beautiful and high quality millinery work happening in The Netherlands and I really, really REALLY wish Queen Maxima would start wearing more of it.
Bless you! And, I’d like to add that there are also good and interesting milliners in Belgium as well for Queen Mathilde to choose from.
We (the regular commenters on this blog) have often veered off into discussions of jewelry or the tailoring of the Queen’s coats, but I think if I’m not mistaken that this is the first time we have ever had an in-depth discussion of men’s shoes and socks! One of the wonderful benefits of living in a “senior” community is that we no longer care what other people think of our clothing choices (especially the men) and thus create our own “new” fashions, including but not limited to what color shoes and socks go with each other or the clothing above, resulting, I suspect, in modes of dress that might look quite outrageous to outsiders, especially those who still toil in the corporate world! What were we thinking? That we’ve paid our dues to society and now get to dress exactly how we like, so from my perspective, if the D of E wants to wear white socks with his darker trousers and shoes, hats off to him!
Amen, brother! It won’t be long now, and I too won’t give 2 hoots what others say or think about my sartorial choices! This is coming from someone who still has shoes from 1974, ties and hats from the 1980s. The only thing I’ll be packing as I make my way down to Florida is a tooth brush and credit card!
Jimbo, no! It’s necessary that you bring all of your favorite old things with you when you migrate to Florida. Half the fun of being a fashionable old geezer is to create new fashion statements out of those antique garments and accessories in your closet that are “still good”! (Well, probably not the ties, but everything else.)
Indeed, the Duke of Winsor was famous for doing just that. He was a well dressed man, combining tweed jackets, ties and scarves of different patterns in an interesting manner but said himself that “he never bought anything new”.
Jimbo, I looked at the Business Insider article you posted and basically agree with it. I have a couple of pair of oxblood shoes that I like to wear with navy suit for a less formal than black shoes look, but not as “racy” as brown shoes with navy suit. I don’t and would never own a black suit! That is for Roman Catholic priests and undertakers as far as I’m concerned. LOL! Black should be reserved for formal wear if you ask me.
HA HA HA!!! Years ago, I worked part-time at a neighborhood funeral home, and was given a very quiet, subtle tie to wear, apparently because the ones I chose from my own closet put too much “fun” in the funeral service! My black suit is worn at funerals only, as you mentioned. Today’s “hip” priests go all out and wear grey sport coats with their black slacks. Last week, you suggested that I live it up, so I LOOSENED my tie when I was cutting the grass for the first time! Remember “Green Acres?” Pretty crazy, eh?
Ha! When I was in Divinity School in North Carolina the bishop of the Episcopal Church at the time was a man who grew up in Kentucky. He taught a class that I took and I remember very well the day he came into class in a blue seersucker suit with his purple bishop’s shirt and clerical collar. Love, love, love it!
I had an elderly friend who ‘died’ during a church service but was revived by the minister. After she told me this story, I said, “he must have looked like an angel as he ran down from the altar to you”. To which her tart reply was, “We’re Presbyterian dear, he wears a suit”.
I agree the hat is unbalanced…it looks all out front. I do like the color, light and springy.
The colour is lovely on her, but I have never liked this hat. I cannot help thinking of maize husks when I see it!
I have to admit that the first time I saw a photo of this event, I thought the ribbon trim was a section of Camilla’s hair that had gotten loose and was flying in the wind! However, aside from that odd trim, I do like the rest of the hat, as well as the mint color of the hat and dress, which is very flattering on her.
The Duchess can wear large hats so well, but I understand the reservations about the trim. The mint green looks most attractive, especially the dress.
It looks like a couple of unicorn horns sticking out from under her hat brim. Unicorns, like this hat, are best left in Fantasyland!
I would have limited the twists to one and put it on the upper part of the brim and not the lower. As it is now it looks like it might poke the eye out of the person shaking her hand.
I like the hat and I love the colour, but it looks like the kind of hat that looks better on a model than on a “real” person: looks good from one particular angle only.
One gets the impression that the crown is a tiny bit to high, in other words that it sits to high on the head. May be due to the hairstyle of the Duchess. Or maybe crown and brim are all in one piece, wich does not permit to make an adjustment, but whatever the reason, it accounts perhaps for the slightly unbalanced look.
When I looked at the hat, my first thought was some palms from Palm Sunday had attached themselves to her hat when she wasn’t looking. It’s an awkward placement for me. Pretty colour on Camilla, though…….
I do like the hat, probably primarily because I like the color and the fact that the hat is well off the face so, while it is a large hat it nonetheless doesn’t swallow the face. I do see your issues, HQ. In some ways it looks almost as if there is a creature of some sort coming out from under the hat. I feel for designers of hats (and clothing) who are always trying to come up with something different. It seems this is one of those situations – use ribbon trim but do it differently. Again, I like the hat on the whole but agree that similar trim has been used more effectively on other designs.