King Philippe and Queen Mathilde attended the opening ceremony for the Royal Military School’s new academic year (Princess Elisabeth is enrolled in this year’s course) on Thursday in Brussels.
For this event, Queen Mathilde wore a new bandeau headpiece covered in the same red crepe as her belted dress. The head-to-toe red look is somewhat tempered by the smaller scale headpiece, which also balances well with the dress’ pussy bow neckline and bell sleeves. A larger millinery design – particularly something with a brim – would have been too much, especially when the mohair jacket is added to the mix.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Designer: It is the “Tizani” by Fabienne Delvigne. Dress and mohair jacket by Natan.
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new
What do you think of Queen Mathilde’s new headpiece?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
It is sad to see this quality of work when we see so many exemplary examples here.
Patronage has many components: usefulness of product or service, a personal relationship with the provider, an awareness of the provider’s circumstances, possibly just habit. Perhaps some of these issues, to which we are not privy, come into play too. I think of my own personal challenges when debating whether to leave a long-time hair stylist. Change may be difficult….but needed.(And, yes, I finally did switch to another stylist.)
Taken as a whole, I think this look was successful, although not my favorite. I was a bit surprised Mathilde even wore this bandeau hat considering traditional rules of no hats after dark (although I’m all for breaking those rules to see/wear more hats haha!). I’m also glad to see the silhouette of this bandeau came with clean lines this time, unlike the grey one with a random pucker she wore a while back.
All that said, I certainly agree with Wies about being rather surprised at Delvigne posting details of such clearly bad finishing. I don’t claim to have very good sewing/finishing skills myself, but this clearly is not what I would expect if I was paying hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds/etc. from someone who’s been doing this work for 30 years. And as HatQueen said, I do not understand the long-held loyal royal patronage when the quality continues to be questionable at best.
Apologies, I didn’t mean to sound so critical as there are many Delvigne hats I like (many of them on Mathilde!), but in general I’ve not been thrilled by a majority of her designs, and the quality is a large reason why.
My other issue is it’s really hard to see all the beautiful and detailed work done by so many milliners (often featured in the weekend extras here, including Wies) get passed over for quality that feels subpar in comparison. While I understand the safety in going with what you know, I wish the continental royals would branch out more with milliners/designers like the British royals have been doing more in the past 5 or so years.
Oh, my, I think I did neater work even when racing to pull together my my daughter’s Halloween costumes. Aside from the finishing, though, while I understand the need for a small piece — there’s so much red! — this looks so generic. It could stand some pleats, as in this calot, or some other detail: Embed from Getty Images
Ditto, mittenmary!
Very well said mittenmary. I agree!
I like the outfit even the mask matches.
It is simple and effective, but I’m bewildered by the way it is made. I can’t image why Mrs. Delvigne would want to share these images on her Instagram account, but she did:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGHWLymKAAB/?igshid=1ik9j68sx6fq1
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGHWLymKAAB/?igshid=1ghrmng7ukmjd
I like to see a headband neatly finished with petersham ribbon on the inside, or a lining or … anything but this!
I.m referring to the third and fourth picture.
I wasn’t going to say anything…. but the pictures do not lie. They show, very clearly, that the quality of finishing is abysmal.
The fact that the milliner shared these images suggests that she truly does not know what couture millinery should look like. We’ve had this conversation before- she has minimal training and it often shows in her work. What I have not said before is this- I often feel that the quality of her work does not deserve the level of royal patronage she enjoys. I don’t want to be unnecessarily critical or unkind, however, we’ve seen numerous pieces come out of her studio with very poor finishing. Indeed- she has done some lovely pieces (Queen Mathilde’s inauguration hat tops that list) but many others have visible issues. It is what it is.
Wow. I think it’s fair to say something when something is so obviously poorly made. I don’t know much about all the techniques used in millinery but I’ve looked at enough other hats and headpieces thanks to your “Caught My Eye” lists every week that it was even clear to me that the inside of this one didn’t look right. The outside looks good although I don’t like these headbandy type designs.
Nice look overall. Good shad of red without looking Christmassy.