King Philippe and Queen Mathilde celebrated a centenary of diplomatic relations between Belgium and Lithuania with a state visit to the Baltic nation this week. For their arrival in Vilnius on Monday, Queen Mathilde wore a new turquoise felt saucer hat.
The vibrant colour is fun and clearly intended to link with the blue in the brocade coat but I think this shade misses the mark and ends up standing out awkwardly in the context of the entire ensemble. The vertical placement is also slightly off and would work better tilted a little more over Mathilde’s head rather than hovering over the side.
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Designer: Reportedly Armani, who also made the ensemble.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
On Tuesday, the Belgian queen repeated a bandeau headpiece covered in the same red crepe as her belted dress.
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These smaller headpieces work well for head-to-toe monochrome looks such as this. Photos here show this piece at closer view than we’ve seen it before, revealing lines that are far less smooth than they look at further distance. I appreciate beautiful draping but this is… well, lumpy and bumpy.
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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne. Dress and jacket by Natan.
Previously Worn: Oct 8, 2020
For the final day of the visit yesterday, Queen Mathilde repeated an ochre orange silk pleated toque hat trimmed at the back with applique cutout flowers and leaves from the same fabric as her grey printed dress.
We don’t see many hats embellished with applique and this shows how it can work well. This hat’s details- pleating and trim- and it’s colour give it presence despite its small footprint, allowing it to hold its own in the overall look. Colour contrasts can be hard to balance (as evidenced above!) but this ensemble gets it right.
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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne. Dress by Dries Van Noten.
Previously Worn: Oct 16, 2019
What do you think of this trio of millinery looks for Queen Mathilde this week?
Images from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
hat 1: agree, hat 2: agree hat 3: agree with HQ, that was easy 🙂
HA!
The blue hat is a puzzler – you can see close up that it picks out the blue in the coat, but that’s lost from a distance picking out the pink could have worked.
The other two are classic Mathilde looks, and work well for me.
Too bad about the blue hat not being quite right for this ensemble — it’s such a great color. The coat might have been better with just the blue and grey sections as the pink looks disjointed. Another “too bad” there since the fabric looks so luxurious and the open collar is very flattering.
I don’t even like orange, but the appliqued toque is charming.
I love the red ensemble but am anti bandeau hats. They just look like puffy headbands to me. The ochre orange silk pleated toque hat looks great.
Sorry!
These were not QM’s best looks.
The blue hat was, as HQ commented, was not placed properly on the head and did not compliment the coat
I could overlook the flaws in the red headpiece, but the outfit was frumpy and not flattering., although the color is wonderful and suits her.
The final outfit, a bit better. The applice on the hat, was very nice, but I do not think the colors are flattering.. Washed her out, and the dress needed another fitting.
I like the color and idea of hat #1, but the angle and placement on Mathilde’s head is far too severe. I like the different colors in the coat, but I don’t care for the matching patterned handbag; it should’ve been a solid color like the hat and shoes.
The red is nice (Mathilde is probably the royal who wears it the most), but it looks like the bandeau is deflating since it’s last outing (where the imperfections either didn’t exist or weren’t as obvious); I would take this as poor design, poor storage, or a combination of both. It’s unfortunate because I really like this ensemble overall for Mathilde.
Of course, I’m so happy to see this tangerine colored hat back out again after hiding away for too long. I’m glad we get better views of the appliqué trim, and I love this is color coordinated, but not matching in terms of fabric. Brava! I hope we see this again before another 3 years goes by, but I do hope she tries another hairstyle with it (more like that worn with the red bandeau) for a different look.
Agreeing with Matthew, the far-too-vertically-leaning blue saucer is much nicer when viewed closer to the coat. I think a grey version would have worked better, which would have also matched her purse. That said, I don’t care much for the coat – 3 different materials in one. Did Armani run out of one material, so he patched things together with 2 more?
The 2 different textures of red don’t bother me in the least – I just don’t like bandeaus (even if they are well made) on a Queen, especially if she was mine.
The 3rd hat is my favorite. The charcoal grey and orange combination is very autumnal and beautiful. However, I see a ruffled, pleated pillbox instead of a toque. I went to the Glossary of Hats Toque entry (above) and enjoyed the very interesting conversation which took place in 2013, long before I started reading Royal Hats.
Now to the King! If I was his valet, I would have laid out the ties differently: all were one day off from the Queen’s ensembles. Monday’s tie on Tuesday, Tuesday’s tie on Wednesday, and Wednesday’s tie on Monday.
It may be a matter of lighting, but I agree that the blue saucer doesn’t quite go with the dress. Yes, it does exactly match the blue bits in the multi-color design when viewed close-up, but when seen from afar, that blue fades into the pattern and looks far more greyish. Actually, I think this coat would have looked lovely with the exact same hat in grey.
I like the monochromatic red look with the dress alone, but the jacket seems a tad “off” from the particular shade of red. Again, possibly a matter of lighting, but if an exact match couldn’t be found between the two different types of fabrics, perhaps a contrasting jacket might have been better, since it wasn’t worn all the time. Also, as HatQueen commented, it’s a shame about the poor draping of the bandeau fabric, as that might have easily been fixed if noted in advance.
The final outfit gets the prize for me. I love the idea of using the fabric flowers as an applique. The grey/orange contrast is wonderful and looks great on Mathilde.
The blue saucer hat is sitting too far to the side. Like the red from the front and overall it is better than others I have seen. She looks lovely in red.
The other outfits are fine.