It’s Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot! The Countess of Wessex continued her streak of repeating hats at this year’s event, bringing back the hat she wore to the Cambridge’s wedding in April 2011.With a rose-beige straw beret percher base, the hat is trimmed with silk roses, feathers and raw edge gold veil.
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The hat is a lovely scale on Sophie with perfectly balanced trim. Neutral hued hats seem to sink or swim… but this one soars thanks to its pairing today with this deep teal shirtwaist dress. The dress’ beige collar piping and gold embroidered palm trees on the skirt link beautifully with the hat, the two pieces elevating the other to create a stellar look for Sophie.
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Designer: Jane Taylor. Dress by Suzannah.
Previously Worn: April 29, 2011
What a great start to today’s racing! What do you think of Sophie’s Ladies’ Day look?
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Royal Hats 
The hat is very pretty; the dress is too, but – I don’t think the dress flatters her at all. And it’s too dark for summer, IMO.
Perchers are never going to be my favorite hat shape but Sophie looks nice. I do have a problem with the style of her dress. Growing up in a small town in the early 1960s, this style dress, minus the petty coats, was the kind of dress mothers and grandmothers wore around the house and for things like grocery shopping or walking the kids to school. So, even with the embroidered skirt, it just doesn’t say Ladies Day at Ascot to me. For a regular engagement I would probably be okay with it.
I can kind of understand what you’re saying. It’s like if today someone wore yoga pants and a tshirt to Ascot! I wouldn’t think that was dressy enough! But the 1960s was 60+ years ago and it’s not realistic or fair to use fashion from then to evaluate fashion today. I think this style of dress is so classic and a bit retro. It’s perfectly dressy by today’s standards and perfect for Ascot!
Funny, when I see shirtwaists, I always think of my mom, who dismissed the style as looking like “a house dress,” too. Have you seen the Dancing in the Dark scene in the Bandwagon, with Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire? That convinced me of how elegant this style can be! And, as Janae says, we can’t judge current fashion by the standards of the past.
I would have given an edge to a larger hat to balance out the skirt. The tropical print makes me think of this old favorite, with a switch to teal feathers. Embed from Getty Images
But this is a quibble when the ensemble is this good. Agreed that this is her best of the week!
Sophie’s ensembles just get better every day! This palm leaved dress and matching belt buckle is such an improvement from the 2011 wedding monotone look. Coming late to the party, I’ll mention here that yesterday’s feather sensation with the purple floral skirt is also better than its original outing in 2018, which was also rather monotone in nature. In agreement with so many others, her Day one dress could have been quite a bit shorter, but she still looked “peachy.”
This Ascot is nothing if not surprising! Sophie’s on a greatest hits tour, and Anne’s gone shopping. Who’s have thought it!
This is a great pairing as you say. When I first saw it I found the shirt waister a bit casual, but the palm leaves absolutely elevate it. It’s a great look on Sophie as you say. The hat (and she!) look just as good 10 years on!
You nailed it- Ascot 2021 can so far be summarized as: “Sophie’s on a greatest hits tour and Anne’s gone shopping.” BRILLIANT!!
So well stated, JamesB!
Apologies everyone- Getty embedding is continuing to work sporadically today (and not embedding galleries at all). If photos don’t load from refreshing the page, click on the grey text “Embed from Getty Images” just above the failed photo box to jump over to that photo. I’m afraid that’s the best I can do for now.
I’m a little sad I didn’t win my own bet haha, but wow, what a difference an outfit change makes for this hat! The Cambridge wedding outfit was suitable, but a lot of (shiny) beige; today the beige hat and accessories pull out that of the palm tree motif on her dress, and Sophie ultimately shines here! Brava! More of this please! (how many more exclamation points can I use?)
Definitely her best showing this year so far! Lovely hat and now a lovely dress too.