Inventory: Princess Charlene’s Ecru, Ivory and White Hats

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To mark Princess Charlene’s birthday today, we’re taking a look at the ecru, ivory and white hats she has worn over the years:

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Designer: unknown; Rachel Trevor Morgan; Gallia e Peter
Introduced: November 17, 2012; November 19, 2016; November 19, 2019

What a great trio, especially from someone who wears a hat just a few times each year. While the quintessentially French rose-trimmed pyramid is one of my all time favourites in Charlene’s hat closet (and was our top royal hat pick in 2016), the lovely lines of both the ecru beret and the white fedora warrant our admiration.

Images from the Royal Palace of Monaco; Thierry Oban and Pascal Le Segretain via Getty Images

Multiples: Queen Mathilde

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To mark Queen Mathilde’s birthday last Friday, we’re taking a look at a Philip Treacy designed hugger percher covered in silver patterned silk trimmed with a large silver twist she has worn, so far with three different ensembles:

Look #1: With a streamlined Armani coat in the same fabric on a February 19, 2014 visit to Italy and an April 28, 2016 ship launch

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

Look #2: With a grey silk Ann Demeulemeester dress and jacket with white pleated placket trim and three-quarter length sleves worn June 24, 2015 while on a visit to China

Look #3: With a slate blue caped collar silk dress worn July 9, 2019 on a visit to Germany

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Which ensemble do you prefer most with this hat?

Images from Corbis; Getty as indicated 

This Week’s Extras

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Several readers have communicated their frustration about not being able to view links to posts on Instagram without opening personal accounts there. While milliners and others in the visual arts widely use this platform to share their creations, I agree it is unfair to require a personal account for one to simply browse. As such, I’m going to experiment with a format change here, sharing two or three Instagram embedded photos of hats that have caught my eye in the post as usual but posting the others in comments, instead of links, so that everyone can see them. We’ll try this for a few weeks- please share your feedback. 

Tuesday saw a lovely array of blue and green hats on the Imperial princesses for the annual New Year Ceremony of the Utakai Hajime (poetry reading).

Brilliant observation from Prisma that the pale blue hat Princess Tsuguko wore January 14 for the New Year’s lectures has undergone renovation since its last outing.

The new millinery designs which caught my eye this week are shared below (and in the comments):

Inventory: Countess of Wessex’s Deep Pink & Burgundy Hats

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To mark the Countess of Wessex’s birthday today, we’re peeking into her millinery closet for a look at all of her dark pink and burgundy designs:

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Designer: Jess Collett; unknown; Philip Treacy
Introduced: April 23,  2000; April 11 , 2004; March 15, 2006

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Designer: both are Jane Taylor
Introduced:  June 21, 2017; December 25, 2019

There is a marked change of shape and style between the first three and final two hats, not surprising as more than a decade separates the two groups! While the early bold shapes are lovely to revisit (and a good reminder of how brave Sophie’s early hats were!), that spectacular bergère from Ascot in 2017 steals the show for me.

Images from Tim Graham Photo Library and Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty; Getty as indicated

In the Design: A Master At Work

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In 2020, Craft (an Australian association that supports, presents and produces craft and design-focused creative practices) began a collaboration with videographer Mark Newbound on a series of short films about different makers. Last week, he released one featuring Australian milliner Louise Macdonald upcycling a straw hat.

I had the pleasure of working with Louise last fall while producing a month-long education series for the British Millinery Association. And I truly do mean pleasure- she is a lovely person, a gifted instructor and a millinery master.