Author Archives: Royal Hats

Belgian Monarchs Wrap Up State Visit To Japan

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On Thursday, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde continued their state visit to Japan with a day of engagements that took the pair to Tokugawa Museum, a Nagoya exhibition of Belgian products, Matsuzakaya Department Store and an elementary school. Queen Mathilde used these events to debut a new cocktail hat, described by the designer as “made out of abaca and red silk, adorned with an accompanying feather.”

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The silk covered straw takes on a wonderful iridescent sheen in natural light. While the wrapped design of the hat makes it slightly unkempt for my taste, the combination of hat with red gloves, clutch and shoes, embroidered rose detail on Mathilde’s grey dress, a fantastic hairstyle and classic jewels makes for a truly lovely ensemble.

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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne. Dress by by Esmeralda Ammoun
Previously Worn: This hat is new

The couple’s final day yesterday took them to Osaka where they visited Kobe University, lunched with leaders from the local chemical industry and viewed traditional Japanese theatre. Queen Mathilde repeated a beige velvet felt fedora variation with relaxed brim, high crown and multi-looped bow. It is a more informal piece but one I think was a chic  match with her orange dress.

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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: October 11, 2013
While these state visits are about far more than fashion, I think Queen Mathilde’s wardrobe this week was a great success. What do you think about these final two hats in Japan?

Princess Eugenie Supports End of Slavery

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On Wednesday, Princess Eugenie joined Prime Minister Theresa May at a Westminster Abbey service to commemorate the work of William Wilberforce and mark the United Kingdom’s commitment to combat modern slavery. For this event, she wore a new pillbox with braided sides in vibrant blue velour felt. It is a great colour on the young princess- one that gave a great pop of colour to her black and white ensemble- and I adore the use of the braided detail on the sides of the hat to give it some visual interest. Hats for such solemn events can be tricky but this one hits just the right balance of current style and respectful decorum.

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Designer: Juliette Botterill. It is the “Pleated Pillbox” design from AW 2016
Previously Worn: This hat is new
What do you think of this punchy new pillbox?
Photos from Getty as indicated

Queen Elizabeth Celebrates Royal Engineers

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Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to the the Corps of Royal Engineers at Brompton Barracks in Chatham yesterday on the occasion of their 300th anniversary. For this celebration, she repeated her pale aqua hat and matching coat with black trim.

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While this hat is one we have seen numerous times before, yesterday’s photos captured more detail than we have seen before. I particularly admire the subtle chevron weave of the aqua wool that provides textural interest to the piece, saving it from the flat, one dimensional look that ensnares many other fabric covered hats. The black feather dahlias show spectacular detail close up and the velvet trim gives such a punchy and sharp contrast. An aqua and black colour scheme could easily fall out of balance on a hat of this scale but as usual, Rachel Trevor Morgan keeps it perfectly balanced.

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Designer: Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: January 12, 2014; May 11, 2013; January 20, 2013; November 28, 2012; April 9, 2009
The last few times we have seen this hat has been at lower key events (Sunday church and the Royal Windsor Horse Show) and I am glad to see it worn to something higher profile again. Your thoughts on this piece?
Photos from Getty as indicated

Belgian Royals on State Visit To Japan

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King Philippe and Queen Mathilde embarked on a state visit to Japan earlier this week. They were officially welcomed at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday where, as expected, the occasion saw a number of new hats.

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Queen Mathilde stood out in a new brown wool casque style headpiece covered in red-orange and brown maple leaves. There’s no doubt this is a unique and daring design that requires considerable millinery bravery to carry off but I wonder if it’s a little TOO far out there to be considered attractive. I’m just not sure a leaf covered helmet, no matter how creative or beautifully executed, can be flattering.
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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Empress Michiko topped a charcoal suit with a small matching saucer hat. While this follows the same shape and scale of many of Michiko’s other hats, it is set apart with a double underbrim in silver lattice straw and a simple ribbon twist trim in a lighter shade of grey.

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Designer: Likely Akio Hirata
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Crown Princess Masako topped her pale pink suit with a matching hat. While the shape of this design- with a domed, straight sided crown and primly upturned brim- is neither memorable nor flattering on Masako (from the front view, the hat looks too big for her), I think it may be partially redeemed with that lovely, pleated hat band.

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
These three hats cover completely different ends of the royal millinery style spectrum and while it doesn’t seem fair to compare them, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on each design. Let’s chat!
Photos from Getty as indicated 

Norwegian Royals Host State Visit

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Members of the Norwegian royal family gathered at the royal palace in Oslo on Monday to greet President Tony Tan of Singapore and Mrs. Mary Tan.

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Queen Sonja repeated a navy pillbox hat we saw her first debut two years ago for another Asian state visit. This week’s outing gives us a much better view of the hat and matching coat which book look to be out of navy dyed Karakul fur. I recognise that fur is a controversial material for royal fashion (particularly for something relatively new) and while this hat and coat look like faux fur to me, it is impossible to tell from photos. Controversy aside, the simple hat is a lovely colour on Sonja. I’m just not wowed by it.

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: October 13, 2014

Princess Mette-Marit repeated her purple wool calot hat. We have seen this piece numerous times before and I’m afraid, this outing ranks among my least favourite. Reaching into one’s royal closet, selecting all the purple items then wearing them together is not likely to create harmonious ensemble….. and as we see here, it did not.

 

Princess Astrid topped her vibrant blue and green suit with a coordinating hat. In what looks like jade straw, the brimless design follows a modified Fez shape trimmed with blue straw flowers and leaves on the side. The colour is magnificent on Astrid and while I’m not partial to the suit, the hat certainly coordinates well. Hopefully, we’ll see her wear it again soon so we can have a closer peek.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
What do you think of this trio of autumnal Norwegian royal hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated; Jamie Koh/The Straights Times and NTB Scanpix