Catching Up… The Imperial Royals

For an August 25 home show exhibition opening in Chiba City, Princess Hisako repeated her pale blue brimmed hat with muti-coloured feather trim on the side.

On August 28, Princess Hisako attended a calligraphy exhibition in Tokyo in an ecru hat with upturned brim and bow at the back.

On September 2, Princess Hisako wore a blush straw bucket hat with lattice woven brim to open a nutrition convention.

For the  150th anniversary of Japan’s modern school system on September 5th, Empress Masako wore an ivory short brimmed hat with wide hatband in the same butter-gold as her silk suit.

On September 12, the Emperor and Empress attended the 75th founding anniversary of the Japan War-Bereaved Family Association. For this event, Empress Masako wore a dove grey suit and matching hat with straight-sided crown and short brim trimmed with a pale, pleated hatband.

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On Saturday, September 17, Crown Princess Kiko wore a black bumper hat to see off the Emperor and Empress on their flight to London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Princess Hisako wore a hat with white brim and purple crown on September 24 for a national sports event.

On September 27, most of the Imperial family attended the state funeral of former Prime Minister  Shinzo Abe

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

On September 29, Princess Akiko wore an ivory hat with short brim and blue hatband for a milestone in the Shinto religion.

Saturday, October 1: Empress Masako wore a white short brimmed hat with indigo hatband for a sports festival opening.

Princess Hisako attended the National Sports Festival from October 3-5 in two chic hats.

On Wednesday, October 5, Princess Yoko wore a white hat with layered mushroom brim to attend events at the national Sports Festival.

On Thursday, October 6, three Imperial women wore hats for various events.  Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako marked the 150th anniversary of Japan’s railway system. Empress Masako wore an ecru hat with upturned brim trimmed with a latte stacked hatband and bow at the back.

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The same day, Princess Hisako topped a lovely blue and white printed dress with a shallow white hat while Princess Akiko attended the National Sports Festival in an ivory brimmed hat with layered hatbands in soft pink.

On Saturday, October 8, three Imperial hats were worn! Princess Hisako attended the National Performing Arts National Convention in a brimless lilac silk covered hat trimmed with sparkling beads studded on one side. The next day, she repeated a green pork pie hat with curved brim. Princess Akiko donned a grey hat with short brim and side bow to attend a wheelchair race while her mother wore a jaunty magenta mini percher pillbox trimmed with an crin ruffle and silk flowers for a conference in Oita.

On October 9 and 10, Princess Tsuguko and Princess Nobuko attended the National Sports Festival. Princess Tsuguko wore a prim ecru boater with wide toffee hatband while Princess Nobuko wore an angular take on a tam hat, in navy, with a bow around the back.

On Tuesday, October 11, Princess Kako attended National Sports Festival. She wore an ivory brimmed hat with fuchsia hatband overlaid in lace with and a spray of fuchsia flowers on one side.

 

The trim makes this hat! It’s a wonderfully vibrant look for Kako. Interestingly, the hat appears to have been upcycled from her elder sister’s wardrobe. I suppose that answers the question of what happened to Mako’s hats…

On Wednesday, October 12, Princess Hisako attended a tree planting ceremony. She wore a white hat with short brim upfolded on one side and trimmed with orange flowers and a slim orange hatband.

On Thursday, October 13, Princess Akiko repeated an ecru cloche with upfolded brim for a national self-defence awards ceremony. The same day, Empress Masako repeated an ivory brimmed hat with blush hatband and scroll braid trim to the an event in Tokyo.

On October 14, Princess Hisako visited an elementary school in Sopporo in an ecru hat with interesting crown made of overlapping sections in different textured fabrics.

On Saturday, October 15 in Kanai City, Princess Nobuko, opened a garden wearing a dark blue pork pie hat with extended brim trimmed simply with a lighter hued hatband. The same day in Sopporo, Princess Hisako attended a house festival in a black felt hat with upturned brim trimmed with a teal hatband and a teal bow with black beaded embroidery just as on her collar.

On Sunday, October 17, Princess Hisako wore a chocolate homburg hat with twisted chocolate and pumpkin hatband to present a football championship. This hat pairs so well with her suit and pumpkin turtleneck.

Images from Getty and social media as indicated  

6 thoughts on “Catching Up… The Imperial Royals

  1. The Imperial Household really gets their money’s worth out of Princess Hisako! She is constantly on the go and always has fun hats, even if I’m not a fan of every single one.

    Overall this is quite an impressive roundup! If I counted correctly, this is 35 hats, which comes to roughly 1 hat every other day in the past 2 months. And while many of these hats aren’t necessarily exciting, they do look to be well-made and are meant to be working hats, so they can’t be too extravagant.

    Thanks HatQueen for not forgetting the Japanese and giving us so many hats to admire!

  2. I would agree with the other commenters that the Princess Takamoto (Hisako) has the most interesting hats. Lots of variety in shape, colour, trimmings, and texture. And always worn with a delightful verve.

    Many of the other hats are very elegant but of a type. All appear to be beautifully made.

    The current Empress and the new Queen Consort seem to be two hat wearers that find successful styles but are then hesitant to expand their repertoires. They would be smart to look to some of their more adventurous family members.

  3. Quite a beautiful assortment of hats. The only one I don’t really care for is Princess Akiko’s ecru cloche, and it’s ok also. More vibrant, saturated colors are more to my liking on all these lovely Royals. Their clothes are magnificent – elegant and classic in detail.

  4. I am so thankful for Hisako and Nobuko! If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have as much variety in this post. It seems to be the older Royal ladies that are willing to be more adventurous with their hats instead of the younger ones. I would like to see an a more detailed picture of Nobuko’s percher pillbox hat. It looked a little small on her head. I liked Hisako’s colorful hat band at the beginning of this post and her homburg with pumpkin/chocolate twisted hatband. I also adore the fuchsia hatband on Kako’s hat and her fuchsia suit! Yoko’s blue hat looked beautiful, too. Most of the hats are just a question of which neutral color it is, the color of the hatband and whether the brim is upturned or flat!

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