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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
After taking a few days off here to enjoy the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, it’s back to business as usual today here at Royal Hats. Hold on- we have lots to cover today. First up are some Imperial royal hats that may surprise you.
Back on October 1st, Princess Hisako of Takamado opened the 28th “Starry Sky Town, Blue Sky Town” National Conference on environmental awareness in Kochi. For this honour, she wore a white hat with straight sided crown and slightly raised brim on one side. While the hat is fairly simple in design, its embellishment, a hat band made of layered ruffles in the same pink print of her suit, is a major departure for an Imperial hat. I’m not sure the ruffled hat band works but I love the use of such a vivid pattern on a Japanese royal ensemble.
On October 2, Princess Hisako wrapped up her visit to Kochi with a stop at the Center for Advanced Marine Core Research at Kochi University. For this event, she topped a printed beige jacket with a coordinating fedora hat. This hat looks to be trimmed with a beige bow at the back and a hat band made of black net tulle that ties in with the print on her jacket. The colour is rather bland and I’m not sure about back bows on fedoras but the tulle hat band has me intrigued as it adds some interesting texture to the piece.
Back on September 28, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako attended a ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre. For this event, Princess Masako repeated a white hat with trilby style brim, straight-sided square crown and wide monochrome hat band.
From September 28 to October 2, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Iwate Prefecture to take in the 71th Japanese National Sports Festival. For their arrival on September 28, Empress Michiko repeated a denim blue suit and matching saucer hat trimmed with knotted bows backed in gold. The vivid contrast on this hat makes it one of my favourites for Michiko and it was lovely to see her in it again.
For a visit to Kamaishi on September 30, the Empress repeated a dark slate blue-grey saucer hat trimmed with a white silk origami-style bow with slim blue and black stripes that look to be hand painted.
On October 1st, the royal couple officially opened the National Sports Festival held at Kitakami. For this honour, Empress Michiko wore a pale grey hat with domed center and flat double brim trimmed with a large monochrome silk bow on the front brim. If you look closely in the second photo, you’ll notice that the lower brim appears to be made of fine straw in a lattice pattern which lends some subtle textural contrast to the piece. It’s a larger size hat than the Empress wears and the scale is most attractive on her.
Designer: unknown Previously Worn: I can’t find a previously worn hat with the same lattice underbrim- perhaps this is new?
On the final day of their visit, the Emperor and Empress took in in the gymnastics competition of the National Sports Festival in Morioka City. Empress Michiko repeated a suit and hat in the most wonderful shade of cereulean blue that we have not seen in several years. In the style we have come to associate with the Empress, the saucer hat features a raised rim around the back and a flat bow that wraps around the front. While not an exciting shape, what makes this hat stand out is its bright colour- such a wonderful departure for Michiko and and one she wears so beautifully.
Designer: unknown. Likley Akio Hirata Previously Worn: November 1, 2013
Do any of these seven Imperial royal hats stand out to you in particular?
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko’s visit to Yamagata Prefecture over the weekend saw the Empress wore two hats in addition to the one we looked at in this previous post. For their arrival on September 10, Empress Michiko repeated a white mini-pillbox hat trimmed with a white and slate blue folded fabric bow which coordinated with the lapel on her jacket.
Designer: Akio Hirata Previously Worn:July 22, 2014; July 14, 2009
The Imperial couple spent Monday, September 12 visiting the Nezugaseki Port of Tsuruoka and Tsuruoka Matsugaoka reclamation field. The Empress debut a new white saucer hat for these events. While this piece follows the predictable shape and scale of Michiko’s other hats, it dramatically departs in terms of trimming with a blue and orange plaid multi looped bow in the same fabric as the peplum and pocket square on her suit. We rarely see such unexpected hits of colour on Empress Michiko’s ensembles and while I’m not sure this one is entirely successful, I’m going to embrace it because it’s such a welcome change from her usual head-to-hem greys.
Designer: unknown. Likely Akio Hirata Previously Worn: this hat is new
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this new hat’s slight design twist!
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Yamagata Prefecture over the weekend to take in the 36th National Meeting for the Healthy Ocean. For this event, Empress Michiko repeated her large white saucer hat with curling ribbon detail in the same blue silk as her suit. We don’t often see such a clear side view of Michiko’s hats and this one shows not only how the hat is secured to her head, but how flat (and light weight) the saucer shape is.
Last week, Princess Hanako of Hitachi also made her first appearance following a hip replacement earlier this summer. The Princess was in Hokkaido Prefecture to attend the opening of the sixth annual Ikebana Art Exhibition. For this occasion, she wore a new hat. With a squared crown in the same pale peachy-pink silk as her suit, this hat’s focal point is an unusual but beautiful brim made of transparent straw covered in lace.
We don’t often see such use of lace on royal hats and the use of lace here creates such a lovely contrast of texture on this piece, significantly lightening its overall feel. I appreciate the gentle curve of the brim and while the repeated use of the lace as applique on Hanako’s suit might be a step too far into matchy-matchy territory, the ensemble is wonderful on her.
Designer: unknown Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
While Empress Michiko’s hat is unchanged from her usual style, I’m curious about your responses to Princess Hanko’s more unusual design. What do you think of this lace brimmed hat?
Princess Hisako and Princess Ayako of Takamado were in Hiroshima last week to attend the National Junior Highschool Archery Championships. Last Wednesday they paid a visit to the Peace Memorial Park, both dressed in memorial white ensembles. Princess Ayako wore a simple white hat with short, upfolded brim while her mother, Princess Hisako, wore a larger scale design with flat brim and domed crown in the style of a Pork Pie hat. This is an unusual millinery shape for Hisako that I thought the sleek design was great on her.
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