We recently looked at hats the Duchess of Cambridge has paired with her green Catherine Walker coat with velvet trim. Kate has a twin to this coat in deep cranberry red- and has paired two different millinery designs with it as well:
Look #1: With a burgundy felt bandeau headpiece with chocolate felt bows around the back by Jane Taylor, worn December 25, 2018
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Look #2: With a scarlet felt saucer with silk flowers and an oxblood felt bow by Sally Ann Provan worn for the Commonwealth Day service on Mar 10, 2020
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Which hat do you prefer most with this coat? Between the red and green ensembles, which do you prefer?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
they are both lovely, but #2 just sings for me! I think it’s the oxblood paired with the cranberry, not a color combination I would have picked on my own but it’s really lovely. Luckily Kate looks good in both red and green so I don’t have to pick 😀
You know, I like the bandeau. Am not a big fan this style of hat, but I liked the tie in the back. I just don’t think it had enough heft to work with the beautiful coat. The second hat, on the other hand, had enough panache and workmanship to enhance the wonderful rich color of the coat. I also think it is more flattering to DOC’sface shape.
I agree, Beth. The saucer is a better match to the coat and its wearer for all the reasons you stated. I’ll throw in the combination of reds as another reason this ensemble sings.
As for the red vs. green, Kate wears both colors well, but the red wins for me.
The saucer is definitely my favorite of the two; the hat’s size seems more in balance with the long, heavier coat. That said, I find the saucer a bit “unsettling” in some of the photos – actually HQ’s 1st photo is a good example (and sorry for the pun). To me, it seems to be placed too vertically. Remember Princess Beatrice’s lime green Royal Ascot hat? I thought the same thing there, and more!
June 18, 2009: Royal Ascot Ladies Day
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Not being a fan of the bandeau, would they perhaps balance better with a dress or suit instead of a heavy winter coat? Just a thought.
I noticed that most royals wear the bandeau with their hair down making it less formal while still dressed appropriate
the second hat is one of my favorites on Kate.
However I do wish for a different color to break the monotone vibe.
I love the bandeau, but the second hat is just too lovely. She looks stunning in both the crimson and the dark green. Perfect coloring for winter.
The second one by far; it is one of my favorite hats for Kate, and its craftsmanship and design by Sally Ann Provan is just stunning.
I would like the first one better (although it still wouldn’t be the winner haha) if it was simply a bandeau headband, but as this halo circlet with the weird bow trim in the back, it’s just awkward; it feels like it’s trying to be two things (circlet hat and bandeau), but doesn’t succeed at being either.
Apologies, my description of the first hat was a bit off. After reviewing more photos of Kate’s hat and other similar ones on Jane Taylor’s website, this is a bandeau headband set at a shallower angle that comes together with the bow details in the back, making it a mock circlet and not a full circlet/donut hat like I first thought (meaning I thought the back was just thinner and hidden behind the bow trim). Still, I think a regular bandeau with a more upright profile would be better (like that black one with the green coat); at this angle, I would prefer a full pillbox hat.
I also would rather any proper hat than a hatband. I also think saucers do better as summer hats in straw or lighter fabrics, whereas felt winter hats look better in more traditional shapes like a fedora; but of these two I prefer the saucer.
Gentle reminder that a hatband is a ribbon or sash that wraps around the base of a hat’s crown, where it meets the brim. Kate is wearing a bandeau in the first look above (some might call it a headband but its size and padded shape make it a halo bandeau). The bandeau shape is very much in fashion around the globe and couture ones, like this one here, take considerable millinery skill to create. It is every bit a ‘proper’ piece of millinery as a hat.
It’s fine not to like certain shapes (I certainly do) but let’s award milliners and their creations the same respect we give royals.
Oh definitely the second one. I don’t mind a bandeau but these supersized ones on Kate I just find a bit old fashioned on her. The second hat isn’t my favourite of hers, but it’s better.
Don’t like the hat band thing at all on anyone! It’s neither one thing or the other!