For those of you craving colour, the Duchess of Gloucester delivered! Brigitte looked amazing today in an emerald green textured straw boater hat, trimmed simply with a wide green ribbon hatband.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
On its own, this hat is such a great colour, scale and style for the Duchess, who hasn’t worn a boater shape in a very long time. As much as I like the hat in isolation, it’s pairing today with with her coppery orange silk shirtwaist dress, emerald drop earrings and emerald and pearl necklace is SOOOO good. Colour blocked outfits can be difficult to balance but this one is fantastic!
Embed from Getty ImagesUPDATE: It appears that in fashion, fashion keeps coming around! Thanks to reader George A who remember this hat from the early 1990s. What do you think of this green boater on Brigitte today?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
She looks fabulous. The color combo is one of my favorites and that hat makes makes the Glouster emeralds shine!
OMG when Birgitte gets it right, SHE GETS IT RIGHT! Rarely have I used all caps so much, and for two days in a row she’s made me do it! Green and orange are two of my all-time favorite colors, but this combo is divine! I love everything about it, and the fact the hat is almost as old as I am is amazing.
This is such an exciting, unstuffy, modern look. So reminiscent of Georgia O’Keefe, with her signature hat
and dress https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.collageplatform.com.prod/image_cache/1010x580_fit/5898930787aa2c5438364120/61db6ef96d335ee62d4d384e461b49ce.jpeg (pic by Tom Webb). The duchess has continued the boldness with coloured jewellery, which adds an interesting, exotic tribal vibe, and the bijou handbag is right on trend. Love that she carries her gloves! and doesn’t this hat look like it was created yesterday….this boater is proof that a classic hat will never date, looks good at every age,and is always worth hanging on to.
While I’m impressed at how well the Duchess re-styled a ’90s hat, I think I prefer this dress with the bright blue pillbox from the recent garden party outing: https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/queen-hosts-palace-garden-party-3/
LOVE IT! So bright, so unexpected, so brave. Clever pairing. Wonderful
I never would have put those two colors together, but they look really good together. Probably because they both suit the Duchess’ complexion. Shirtdresses seem to be making a comeback too. Well done for wearing a 30 year old hat and making it look fresh (Princess Anne, are you paying attention?) The hat is a lovely shape, I much prefer this type of boater than those with the shallow crowns. The jewels just cap it off beautifully. The Gloucesters are lucky to have a fabulous jewel collection and Birgitte knows exactly how to show them to advantage.
This is stunning from top to bottom. I love the copper/bronze with the emerald hat. What a great look. The dress is also a lovely flattering cut. And even though the hat is a boater, the fact that the crown isn’t totally squashed short means I like it much more than usual for a boater. And it’s such a rich wonderful color and brim scale on the duchess. Just a wonderful look overall.
Stunning hat and dress combo, with the extra bonus of the necklace and earrings. I do have to say though that I don’t care much for that squared off purse — it gives the impression that she might have a paperback book or a snack stashed inside.
She looks glorious in a boater!
I am sorry to rain on this parade but while I love the hat I just don’t like it with the color of the dress. The copper color says fall to me. They do make a wonderful couple. And yes I too was glad to see the picture of Diana’s hat. It was a beauty!
Ah I love these two .. they just keep on doing what they do 😉 her colour combinations are very exciting at times every now and again Maxima reminds me of the Duchess !I Prince Richard is looking good too – nice grey topper there Sir !
She’s been on a shopping spree and I like it! For someone who wears a lot of neutrals, she’s embraced colour blocking in a big way this week, and it works. The hat is simple but striking, and the link to those emeralds… fabulous!
I just updated the post, JamesB- no shopping spree here. This hat dates back to the early 90s! Amazing to see it come back looking so fresh and current. Brigitte could give Princess Anne a few lessons in how to bring back 30 year old pieces without them looking stuck in the past.
I saw this after I posted. Even better – the hat is timeless and works nearly 30 years on!
Wearing the older hat with an updated outfit is the key, I think. Princess Anne too often just pulls the whole ensemble out of the closet without so much as adjusting the hem length to current fashions.
Absolutely fantastic outift! I love the emeralds, her jewelry is amazing! This outfit will not be lost in the crowd!
I have a feeling that this is an old hat, from Ascot in the early 1990s. I can only find a grainy photo in an old Hello magazine, but I’ll try to upload it!
I think you’re right- here is the Duchess, attending Ascot in 1991. It looks like the same hat to me….
That’s the one! I’m sure it’s the same. Another picture of the same event here:
https://goo.gl/images/Q5RLYC
Thanks so much for spotting it! It looks amazingly fresh for a 30+ year old hat. It certainly helps that boaters are back in style, which makes the hat look current!
Good eye!
I must comment on Princess Diana’s gorgeous 1991 hat. I remember it well and loved it so much!
The Duchess of Gloucester is my style icon. I simply love her fearless use of colour, classic shapes, and fabulous jewels. Those emeralds and pearls inherited from her late mother in law are beautiful, and combining them with burnt orange is genuis. The hat is a perfect foil for the rest of her ensemble.
Well said! She looks glorious!
I like it but I love the earrings even more. An inch on the heels would have improved the look no end.