Category Archives: Ascot

Royal Ascot Day 3: Princess Anne & Vice Admiral Laurence

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I’m so happy to welcome Ellie Vallerini, creator of Sussex-based Ellie Vallerini Hats, here to chat about all of today’s royal hats at Ascot!  

Princess Anne paired a new silk teal dress and muted teal coat with a matching hat. The straw design, in the same muted teal as the coat, has a rounded crown and high, sidesweeping brim and is embellished with a curling, multi-looped straw bow interspersed with trimmed feathers.

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Royal Hats: Happy claps! A new hat for Princess Anne!

Ellie Vallerini: How great to see Princess Anne in a new hat! The shape of this hat is fantastic, it’s always a flattering angle and a perfect size for her. I like the colour on her, although feel she could have gone a few tones darker. Although the hat itself is a bit safe the outfit altogether looks very elegant and I like the look of her dress colour underneath.

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Royal Hats: I’m with you, Ellie- the shape and scale are wonderful and the curling straw bow and feathers are a lively but still refined decoration. A few shades darker would have been great,although I think this one works thanks to the darker teal silk from Anne’s dress repeated on the hatband and piping on the bow and jacket lapel edges. It’s so good to see her embracing some softer, less severe hat shapes than some of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s designs still lurking in her hat closet!

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Designer: Amy Morris-Adams
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Princess Anne arrived with her mother in the first royal carriage, along with her husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, and younger brother, the Duke of York, both who wore a black antique silk top hats.

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What do you think of Anne’s new hat today?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

 

Royal Ascot Day 3: Countess of Wessex

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I’m honored to have Ellie Vallerini, creator of Sussex-based Ellie Vallerini Hats, join us to weigh in on today’s royal hats at Ascot!  

The Countess of Wessex topped her navy crepe jumpsuit with a matching veiled pillbox hat covered in the same fabric.

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Ellie Vallerini: The Countess of Wessex always looks so beautiful, and this is an absolutely perfect colour for her. It’s a smart and sophisticated look with a feminine edge. Although colour matching isn’t essential these days I think it works really well with this chic look, letting the elegant lines and colour do the talking.

Royal Wats: While the designer calls this a ‘halo band’, it’s a full, pillbox! From the waist up, I love the look. The oversize scale of the hat works so well with the open neckline and the veil adds a little texture to break up the sameness of the navy crepe fabric on both pieces. But… when the wide legs of the jumpsuit get added to the mix, I think they throw things out of proportion, which is a bit disappointing. 

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Ellie Vallerini: The hat has been beautifully made, in some angles it does look a little heavy on her and the veil doesn’t go over her eyes which is always a flattering look, however I think she looks great and it’s lovely to see a bold and simple look executed well!

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Royal Hats: I so admire Sophie’s willingness to experiment with fashion. This courage has brought us some stellar Ascot looks over the years. I love that you described this as a ‘bold’ look- it certainly is! It doesn’t take lots of feathers or a bright colour to create a bold look.   

Designer: Jane Taylor. Bespoke version of the Halo Band With Veil. Jumpsuit by Emilia Wickstead
Previously Worn: this hat is new

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What do you think of Sophie’s hat today?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

 

Royal Ascot Day 3: Princess Eugenie

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It is my pleasure to be joined today by Ellie Vallerini, creator of Sussex-based Ellie Vallerini Hats, to chat about all the royal hats today at Ascot!  

Princess Eugenie choose dark teal for Ladies’ Day today at Royal Ascot, wearing what is described as its milliner as, “a 12” silk covered saucer covered in beautifully detailed and intricate Lady Amherst feathers and finished with a sculptural, ornate gold quill.”

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Royal Hats: Eugenie wears this deep colour so well and the pairing of this dress and hat is outstanding on her. I love how the layered feathers on the hat give textural and subtle colour contrast to the otherwise monochrome look- it’s not one-note at all. If I were to change one thing it would be to enlarge the hat a bit, giving it a bit more presence and drama.

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Ellie Vallerini: Princess Eugenie looks lovely in this deep teal colour. The hat is a nice style and matches well, it also creates a good sideways line across the face which is always flattering. However I do think the hat could have been a little bigger and maybe with more curled quills in matching tones to give some extra drama, I feel that one lonely quill looks a bit lost, although I realise it does break up the roundness of the disc shape which is always good.

Royal Hats: Good call on the quill. Why not give it two more companions for a grouping of three?!

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Designer: Bundle MacLaren. It is the Elspeth Hat. Dress by Cefinn
Previously Worn: This hat is new

What do you think of Eugenie’s hat today?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

 

Royal Ascot Day 3: Queen Elizabeth

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I’m thrilled to welcome Ellie Vallerini, creator of Sussex-based Ellie Vallerini Hats, as my guest to share her thoughts on all of the royal hats we see today for Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot! Thanks for joining us, Ellie!

Keeping the bookies on their toes, Queen Elizabeth surprised in silver grey today with her her third new hat of the week. The design features a flared crown covered in the same silk cloque fabric as her coat and a mushroom shaped straw brim overlaid in pleated crin. The hat is finished with a grey goose feather mount and vine of gold silk flowers that wrap around the front.

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Royal Hats: Another colour surprise from Her Majesty! I don’t think very many predicted grey.

Ellie Vallerini: It’s really lovely to see the Queen in some different style hats this year! This one is quite unusual with a mix of textures and fabrics and I like the proportions of this hat, the crown is less heavy than previous years. The Audrey Hepburn style brim really suits the Queen and although I love her in bright colours it’s nice to see her in something soft. The brim is made from sinamay and has a layer of pleated crin around it which is very interesting and I haven’t seen it used in this way before.

Royal Hats: Agreed. The mix of sinamay, pleated crin and silk cloque fabric works really well here.

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Royal Hats: Stella McLaren tends to set these brims an inch or two up the side of the crown so that you can see the crown’s base on the underside of the brim. Ellie, is this a standard technique for constructing this style of hat?

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Ellie Vallerini: It is a very popular technique for brims like this ‘Audrey’ style because it allows for that lovely downward shape without covering the face. If the brim was attached at the bottom of the crown it would fall too far over the face, obstructing your view and face in photos. If the brim is much shallower then is isn’t always necessary or if the crown is smaller and the hat simply perches on top of the head with a wire or elastic fitting that can also give the desired effect.

Royal Hats: Thanks, Ellie! That’s really insightful.

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Royal Hats: I’m annoyed by the visible, plastic stem on the flowers trimming the hat. In yesterday’s discussion about the Queen’s hat, our guest milliner Wies shared great insight into the art of millinery flower making. The yellow flowers are a good call here (they tie well with the applique cutouts from the patterned silk on dress that are placed around the coat’s neckline) but these are disappointing.

Ellie Vallerini: I love the sweep of feathers and splash of yellow however I do think the yellow flowers could have been bound by hand onto cotton covered wires instead of left with the plastic. Creating your own branch of flowers by hand gives it that real couture finish. Overall I thought she looked lovely, as usual!

Designer: Angela Kelly. Made by Stella McLaren
Previously Worn: This hat is new

 

What do you think of the Queen’s hat today?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

 

Royal Ascot Day 2: Wrap Up

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Today at Royal Ascot was light on royal attendance, with just the Aga Khan (photographed below with racing journalist Liz Price in a navy feather covered hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan) and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (and his entourage) in addition to the royals we’ve already covered today. I’ve missed seeing Princess Haya this year- hopefully she’ll make an appearance tomorrow. And- jump over to last night’s wrap up to see a photo of Princess Alexandra, who attended yesterday but eluded most photographers.

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The day of the races also saw a few hats atop noble and notable heads in today’s carriage procession:

Countess Mountbatten of Burma repeated the stunning silver sidesweep picture hat by Dillon Wallwork that she first wore to her daughter’s wedding in 2016


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Viscount Brookeborough, the Queen’s Lord in Waiting in the first photo; Lord de Mauley, Master of the Horse and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Richards, Deputy Master of the Royal Household in the second

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Viscountess Brookeborough in a  white straw brimmed hat with bright blue piping and Lady deMauley in a beautiful grey straw percher pillbox by Dillon Wallwork

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And finally, here are all the non-royal hats that caught the attention of our guest milliner, Wies Mauduit, and myself:

Glasgow milliner William Chambers and his partner Niall Walker in traditional Scottish attire (this made us both smile!)
Hat shop owner Elizabeth Hughes in a peacock teal blue Juliette Botterill flower trimmed saucer. LOVE the colour!
Milliner Rachel Ellis Oates (Hatonista) vibrant blue and yellow butterfly headpiece of her own design (closeup here)
Charlotte Hawkins in a pale pink saucer with soaring pink and grey feathers from Vivien Sheriff
Milliner Lisa Tan’s straw boater with layered rainbow brim
Unnamed racegoer in this oversize pink waved disc with twist and floral trim from Guibert millinery
Chi Ling Lin in a mushroom brimmed hat in classic black and white
Alexandra Dudley in a wonderful red hugger percher with oversize poppy by retired milliner Gina Foster
Francesca Cumani in a pale pink button percher with cherry blossom trim from Fi Graham Millinery
Milliner Louise Walton in a wide brimmed navy straw hat with turquoise binding and feathers
Chez Liebenberg in a bright pink elevated saucer with flowers from Lizzie’s Hats
Striking burnt feather and sinamay bow headpiece on equine photographer Mathea Kelley
Author and instagram influencer Alicia Healey in William Chambers’ exquisite black veiled percher with roses
Isabelle Kristensen’s soaring headpiece by Ana Bella Millinery
Valerie Stark’s equally futuristic hat by Awon Golding. The colour and movement of the brim is rather captivating.
Editor Emily Nash’s charming cream teardrop percher with blue butterflies, also by Ana Bella Millinery
Tess Ward’s classic, wide brimmed, natural straw picture hat from Lock & Co.
Natalia Kapchuk in a cheekily political and patriotic Union Jack hat 

Ah Wies, it has been such a gift to have you join me today. You are truly a millinery master. Thank you for taking time from a very busy week to generously share your vast millinery expertise and experience with us!

Photos from Getty as indicated; Tim Rooke via Shutterstock