Passing of Infanta Pilar

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Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, Dowager Viscountess of la Torre, passed away in Madrid at the age of 83 today. The elder sister of King Juan Carlos of Spain, she was popularly known as ‘Doña Pi’ after renouncing her rights of succession to marry Don Luis Gómez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada, Viscount de la Torre, Grandee of Spain in May 1967; together, they raised four sons and a daughter. President of the International Equestrian Federation from 1994 to 2006 and member of the International Olympic Committee from 1996 to 2006, Infanta Pilar was closely involved with a number of charitable causes and organizations.

She wore two particularly memorable hats to the weddings of her nephew, King Felipe in 2004 and Infanta Cristina in 1997 that I share in tribute to her now.

Our thoughts are with the extended Spanish royal family as they grieve her loss.

Photos from Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images and Gianni Ferrari/Cover/Getty Images

Top Royal Hats: September and October 2019

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Results for favourite new design and favourite repeated hat worn in September and October are in with two clear winners:


Princess Hisako’s cream straw hat with black brim stripe and monochrome flowers worn Sep 24



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Autumn Phillips’ green felt beret percher with flying bow and leaves by Sally Ann Provan worn Sep 9

Jump over to the poll for favourite new hat here and favourite repeated hat here to see the results in greater detail. Stay tuned later this week for a final set of polls before we face off 2019 poll winners to crown your favourite new and repeated hats of last year!
Photos from Getty and social media as indicated

Hat Types: The Garbo

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One of my goals for 2020 is to complete our glossary of hat shapes. Today we’re looking at the Garbo hat.

History:  After a decade of immense popularity during the 1920s, the cloche hat naturally took on other variations, many which included a longer brim. These longer brims were sometimes swept up in front (see Greta Garbo here in a 1931 poster) but more commonly, were left to gently fall around the face. Swedish actress Greta Garbo, who built a film career during the 1920s playing exotic, sophisticated, women of the world, had become an international sensation during the 1930s (moving from silent to speaking films in 1930) and her reputation and immense popularity paired well with this hat style’s mysterious glamour, the two becoming forever linked. Replaced by smaller scale hats in the 1940s and 50s, Garbo hats surged back into the forefront of fashion in the 1970s. Today, they are seen as a chic, less formal take on a wide brimmed picture hat.

Characteristics: A Garbo hat has a rounded, closely fitted crown similar to a cloche, with a low set brim of medium-wide brim. Typically made of felt, the brim falls gently around the wearer’s face, giving it a relaxed, slightly floppy appearance. The waved shape of the brim is intensified when the crown is fitted more tightly on the head.

Royals Associated with this Hat Style:  none in particular. The phrase “effortlessly chic” comes to mind describing Garbo hats and their royal wearers.

 

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What do you think of the Garbo hat?

Photos from Mark Renders and Michel Porro via Getty; Didier Lebrun/Photo News S.A./Corbis; Gisela Schober, and Michel Porro, Alain Benainous, and  AFP, via Getty; Stella Pictures; Pascal Le Segretain via Getty; Stella Pictures

 

Tindalls Attend Australian Races

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Mike and Zara Tindall are in Gold Coast, Australia with their family for an annual trip to fulfill commitments as brand ambassador of Magic Millions racing events. Yesterday, they attended the Magic Millions Carnival and Raceday, Zara in a chic hat described by the designer as a “hand crafted black straw boater beautifully woven with traditional black grosgrain ribbon and a 9-10cm brim for great sun protection.”

I love the hat’s informal ease, emphasized by it’s brilliant pairing with Zara’s red animal print dress, beach waved hair and sandals. It might not be my top choice for a formal royal engagement but for a spokeswoman at a sporting event in the middle of summer, it hits just the right note of effortless glamour.

Designer: Sarah J Curtis’ Harmony Black Boater. Scanlan Theodore dress. 
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Zara donned a polo helmet later in the day to participate in a charity polo match that raised over $300,00 AUS to support those who have lost their homes and livelihoods in the devastating Australian bushfires. In the end, races and hats simply don’t matter when people, animals and the environment are suffering.

Photos from social media as indicated 

Trio of British Royals Attend Sunday Church

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Queen Elizabeth attended Sunday service yesterday morning at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk. For this outing, she repeated her deep purple felt hat with split crown and upturned kettle brim trimmed with a felt bow and trio of pompoms.

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Designer: Angela Kelly made by Stella McLaren
Previously Worn: Nov 6, 2019; April 12, 2018;  February 2, 2018

The Queen was joined by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, several of the Cambridge’s friends (Lucy Lanigan-O’Keeffe’s teal felt hat by Jane Taylor is a beauty) and the Duchess’ parents. Kate wore a new fedora in deep  blue felt trimmed with a hatband of pheasant feathers. Many of you will recognize it as the blue version of a hat worn frequently by the Countess of Wessex– a hat of excellent proportion, shape and trim that packs a great punch in this more saturated colour. Kate looks fantastic in blue and this hat pairs particularly well with her dark blue and orange wool coat.

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Designer: Hicks and Brown’s Suffolk Fedora in Navy. Coat by Roksanda
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Carole Middleton topped her tweed coat with what looks like Lecorine’s “Sumac” bumper hat in chocolate alpaca fur– a hat also owned by both of her daughters (see Kate’s version here and Pippa’s version here)

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were in Scotland and attended Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral, the Duchess in one of her faux fur brimmed tweed hats  (I think it was this one) from Lock and Co.

The standout hat for me in this trio is Kate’s new blue fedora- what are your thoughts?

Photos from Getty and social media as indicated