On Monday, Princess Ayako of Takamado and Kei Moriya held a press conference at the Imperial Household Agency in Tokyo to officially announce their engagement.
Princess Ayoko wore a pink dress and coordinating hat for the event (matched adorably by her fiance’s striped tie!). The button based percher hat is covered in woven fabric (or very finely woven straw?) that contrasts slightly with her crepe embroidered dress, a great use of different textures not often employed with Imperial royal hats. The hat is trimmed with a folded crepe silk bow, edged with a stripe of the shiny side of the fabric and embroidered with tiny pink seed pearls. We don’t see many percher hats on Imperial royals and this one is a great choice for Ayako, particularly for this joy-filled announcement.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Royal Hats 
Congratulations! Happy for the couple and sad we won’t see Princess Ayako anymore. Excellent hat: color, trim, and position. Quite different for the Imperial family. I love this view of her hat: https://www.gettyimages.com/license/989548888 (too bad it’s not embeddable).
Fast courtship like her parents. Looking forward to Ayako’s last appearances before marriage. Hmm… Noriko and Ayako both wore pink to their engagement announcements. I wonder if Tsuguko will wear pink whenever she gets engaged.
Both are beautiful and elegant hats! The seed pearl decoration on Ayako’s is an exquisite touch.
I understand that upon her marriage, her official role and duties as an Imperial princess will end, but does it also mean that we will never see her again even at larger family gatherings?
Based on the frequency we see her older sister (Mrs. Noriko Senge) and the Emperor and Empress’ daughter (Mrs. Sayako Kuroda), we’re not likely to see Princess Ayako very much at all.
That is indeed a shame, as with for example the British royal family, it’s always fun to see the more distantly related royals who are not working royals and also quite remote from the line of succession at Ascot and major family and national events. You did, in your own blog of a year ago, suggest that this might change for the Imperials in the future – we can only hope!
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/imperial-royals-mark-passing-of-princes/
Both of these are such pretty hats! Love that coral/pink, a really great color.
looks wonderful on her, very good choice
Both of these get a thumbs up from me, if only because they are something different from the usual run of imperial hats. But even without that, I think Ayako’s hat is a really attractive one, and Hisako’s, while perhaps not my favourite, is interesting!
I’ve been waiting for this post! This is such a beautiful cocktail hat for Ayako. Beautiful color, the placement is done very well, and the bow detailing is just perfect! If this is to be one of her final public outings as princess, then this was the best hat to wear! Brava!
(It’s also difficult for me to determine the material of the base; in some photos it definitely looks like a woven straw of some sorts, and then in others more like a fabric)
Only someone like Hisako could pull off a hat like this! I wish we had more angles of it to see, but despite its shininess and front-and-center bow, I give it a thumbs up!
Brava indeed! And complemented by the perfect accessory: a happy smile.
Lovely materials for both hats. The pink hat seems to be made of a very fine quality straw (possibly para buntal) rather than fabric, but it is hard to tell even in close up. I like the details in the bow, the silk edging, the little pearls.
The couple look very happy indeed!
I’m relieved I’m not the only one unable to correctly read the material used for the base of this hat! It looks more like finely woven straw to me, which is interesting- we see few straw Imperial royal hats.
Really like the coral hat..little seed pearls discreetly worked into the trim. The gold hat is so sophisticated, nice colour and wonderful shine. Well done.