fifteen years to July 21, 2004 when Princess Claire attended National Day celebrations in a noteworthy toile suit with matching exaggerated fedora hat. Not surprisingly, this ensemble has only been worn once.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Princess Claire did wear the jacket separately with jeans in 2007, and it looks very nice (though it needs some tailoring at the hips and the jeans need to be more highwaisted).
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/prince-laurent-of-belgium-and-princess-claire-of-belgium-attend-the-picture-id160875815?s=2048×2048
If it wasn’t for the hat, this outfit would appear to be pyjamas. The hat itself might be a fun item if worn as the focal point of a (quieter) outfit, but I dunno…
Eeek! This whole outfit is way too “Look at me! Look at me!” for my comfort level.
it reminds me of a Britney Spears denim outfit with matching hat
I love toile de Jouy. I once had toile de Jouy dining room curtains, a blue and white pattern combined with blue wallpaper.
But I can’t help wondering: why? Why would anyone want to have a head to toe patterend outfit reminding of dining room curtains?
Despite its origin in wallpaper and curtains, Toile de Juoy can be lovely in clothing, as seen in one of my favorite looks for the Countess of Wessex: https://royalhats.net/2012/10/20/luxembourg-wedding-the-british-royals/ You’ll notice that she is NOT wearing a matching hat and shoes!
The Getty caption for the second photo indicates that this ensemble was included in a showcase fro Belgium, so I guess it was created as an homage to Belgian decorative arts?
Thank you for finding that post from 2012, mittenmary. That is such an interesting hat that the Countess of Wessex is wearing with that dress, I wonder if she ever wore it again. (I tried to search on “Lady A”, but as you can imagine, the word Lady returns a great number of unrelated posts!) And yes, thank goodness that it was not covered in the dress fabric!
I’m surprised there were no comments on the post. Was that when the blog was new?
Matthew, I didn’t discover this blog until long after that, so I don’t know about the comments. I only found this because I enjoy the Royal Weddings posting, a very pleasant way to lose a few hours! It is indeed a stunning hat, so I hope she repeated it. Maybe our dear HQ can help.
Sophie repeated this dress with another hat https://royalhats.net/2014/05/22/countess-of-wessex-in-chic-black-and-white/#comments I believe there was at least one other wearing, but I can’t find it.
It’s a pretty snarky article, but here it is:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3115097/The-Countess-Couture-1-925-frocks-400-heels-bags-just-inside-Sophie-s-expensive-wardrobe.html
and scroll down about 2/3 of the way. (Or search on the name Samantha to move through the photos more quickly.)
A garden party on “June 2” — no indication of location of the party or year.
This kind of tone and consistent lack of accuracy is why Daily Mail articles have not been included here for several years.
If you want to share something, please do but make sure it’s worthwhile.
My apologies, HatQueen. My only motivation in mentioning that article was to show a photo of the third wearing of the toile dress that mittenmary had mentioned, and I knew that we weren’t supposed to hot-link directly to photos. Sandra later suggested that the photo was from a June 2, 2015 garden party, but I was unable to find a post here for that event. Please remove my inappropriate comment if you see fit.
It’s all good. I just want everyone to understand why I won’t link to anything from the Daily Mail.
Thanks, Matthew. Yes, that certainly is snarky.
The 4th wearing by Sophie of the toile dress was at the garden party in honour of the centenary of the Women’s Institute at Buckingham Palace in London on June 2, 2015. (Sandra mentioned the date, but not the occasion.) If this “embed” works, here are some legal photos of the event from Getty. The Countess wore the same black jacket and hat as the previous appearance in Scotland, but you can tell the photos apart because she wore a brooch on the jacket at the garden party, and different earrings and purse.
Embed from Getty Images
Matthew, if you are still following this thread, I just found (or maybe re-discovered) HatQueen’s post on the Lady A hat and its equally dazzling sisters: https://royalhats.net/2014/08/01/seeing-triple-the-countess-of-wessex/
Replying to your 2nd post containing the DM link. The year of the June 2 garden party was 2015.
The blog started in late 2012 so yes, at this point it was VERY new.
Your question is partially answered over at this post. The large black straw “Lady A” hat that Sophie first wore with this Emilia Wickstead dress has not, so far, been repeated. Shame really because it’s a fantastic pairing.
When these questions pop up, check the “This or That” page (tabs are at the top of the blog) for hats that have been worn with different outfits (and outfits with different hats!)
I should know to go directly to This or That! I didn’t realize you had done so many of them, HatQueen!
What a beautiful outfit for the Countess of Wessex! And very well accessorised, with a great hat.
The fabric of the dress seems to be a British interpretation of the classic French toile de Jouy patterns, very interesting.
The second picture of Princess Claire’s ensemble certainly suggests that it was showcased as an exemple of Belgium crafts, but the colour combination (blue, white and bright orange) would seem more logical for a Dutch event like King’s Day celebrations (though I don’t think Queen Máxima would ever wear a “total look” like this!)
There is a lovely Toile de Jouy Museum in Jouy-en-Josas, in the French country side near Paris. Anyone on holiday in France, who is also interested in fabrics, should certainly pay it a visit.
I didn’t realize toile was named for a place. I’ll keep that museum on my lifetime list, Wies.
I forgot to mention: someone who would look totally stunning in this outfit is Infanta Elena’s daughter Dona Victoria.
The outfit, fedora and all, is of course right up Elena’s alley — but the fabric would need to be a darker base colour to suit her warmer skin colouring – say beige or ecru.
I enjoy toile so much, clothing , room. Decor and wish it was more popular. In this case I could go without the coral trim.
Love the entire outfit. Would wear it myself for sure.
I have a soft spot for toile, but not as an entire ensemble! The shape of the hat is pretty wacky, too. You’re demonstrating the third part of your tag line, HQ: “The Bold, Beautiful and Bizarre World of Royal Millinery.”
This isn’t a bad hat as a stand alone, but the matchiness of the whole ensemble, with the coral piping down the seams to match the hatband and gloves; and even the shoes are toile de jouy! Just too much. It smacks of fancy dress. Any of the separate pieces worn with a plain blue, white or even coral piece would probably look fine.
Yes I agree, the piping down the side seams of the trousers was a detail too far. To me, it made the outfit look home made. I don’t have a quibble with the hat at all, it suits her!
This is one case where I feel that we could have done without the matchiness. I like the shape of the hat and its positioning, but would have preferred if it were the solid blue or off-white of the pantsuit rather than the exact print. (In addition, a solid color would have made the hat more usable with other outfits.)
Princess Claire is beautiful but her hats no!
Well for someone who doesn’t wear hats very often, Princess Claire has a surprisingly interesting track record. See the same event 4 years later, 2008
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I actually like the “blue china” ensemble and I think it would be a hit at today’s Ascot.( I’m just not persuaded that it is shown to best effect when worn as in this instance alongside military uniforms). The hat is a super interesting shape with its asymmetrical crown — see below
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I’ve got two quibbles: the orange of the gloves and the orange of the hatband seem like a mismatch; also I feel that the colour scheme overall is too bright to suit Claire’s soft colouring and “natural” makeup style.
I think this hat could be a fascinating choice for 2019, worn with a white dress, and maybe swapping the orange headband for one in white or aqua blue.
I agree, Ascot would be the one place one could pull this off. That said, I personally don’t like the matching shoes and hat as it’s toile overload (well, overload for me no matter what pattern!); if they were plain white or sky blue, then it would work. The other option could be tomato orange shoes, which would help pull in the gloves more; I think the tomato orange hatband was a good choice.
The exaggerated hat shape is definitely demonstrative of the 2000s and while it’s not a favorite design, I think Claire wears it well, all things considered.