Tag Archives: Lady Helen Taylor

York Royal Wedding: Gloucesters and Kents

Posted on by

We turn our attention now to hats worn by members of the Gloucester and Kent families. First up is a millinery disguise of sorts from the Duchess of Gloucester who repeated her much worn straw taupe blocked beret hat (with stem). The hat is a familiar one and its outing today, wrapped in a swath of red net veil (I assume, to coordinate with her suit?) is unexpected and, dare I say, a bit odd. I love millinery experiments but in this case, I think this  would have been best left in its original form.


Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Peter Jones
Previously Worn: Jul 10, 2018;  Mar 9, 2017; Jun 18, 2015; Jun 15, 2015; Nov 6, 2013; Jun 19, 2013; Jun 5, 2012
Lady Helen Taylor topped her intricately embroidered frock with a blue bandeau headpiece
Embed from Getty Images
Designer: unknown- likely Stephen Jones

Previously Worn: I believe this is new

Zenouska Mowatt topped her bright pink midi length dress with a dark purple felt hat trimmed with an organza ruffle in the same pink as her dress. The colour mix of this ensemble is unexpected but the more I see it, the more I really like it. It’s a brave combinations of colours and materials not usually put together and makes a bold and very brave look for Zenouska.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo1imX3HUwO/

Designer: Jane Taylor
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Princess Michael of Kent repeated her angular, pale grey pillbox with dramatic ostrich feather plume around the back.

Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

Designer: John Boyd
Previously Worn: June 13, 2015;  Oct 18, 2014 ; Jun 16, 2014

Lady Frederick, whose young daughter Maud was one of the wee bridesmaids, paired her elegant aqua dress and coat with a wide, white ‘slice’ saucer hat trimmed with aqua ostrich feathers and dotted white tulle wrapped around the central crown of the hat. 


Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Hat, dress and coat all by Catherine Walker
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Lady Gabriella Windsor was a vision in blue, topping her cereulean dress with a deep peacock(or cobalt?) felt hat with off-centered, peaked crown and gently sideswept brim. The shades of blue are not ones often paired together but, like Zenouska’s ensemble, work surprisingly really well. The turquoise earrings and pale blue clutch add other blue notes to the ensemble that contrast (rather than match), making for an interesting and unexpected ensemble that Gabriella wears, brilliantly. Hers is the next British royal wedding and I can’t wait to see her bridal style.



Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Philip Treacy. Dress by Claire Mischevani
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Some of my favourite royal millinery looks from today’s wedding are found within this group- do any of these hats stand out to you as well?
Photos from Getty as indicated

Trooping The Colour: Gloucester & Kent Families

Posted on by

We conclude our look at the hats seen Saturday for Trooping the Colour with those worn by members of the Gloucester and Kent families. It’s always wonderful to see the Duchess of Kent at this event and rather disappointing there is not a better view of her hat to share. It looks to be a lavender pillbox, likely in straw, trimmed with a large spray of face-framing feathers on the side.

June 9, 2018 | Royal Hats

UPDATE- thanks to avid royal watcher and photographer Paul Ratcliffe for sharing this photo of the Duchess, just for us! This view confirms her hat is a high lavender textured straw bandeau, with feather trim framing the right side of her face. The colour is lovely on Katharine and the bandeau style suits her bobbed haircut really well. It’s a fresh and modern headpiece that proves cutting edge style is possible at any age!


Designer: I believe it is Jane Taylor
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Lady Helen Taylor repeated the white homberg crowned ht with upswept brim and navy bow trim we saw her wear to this event last year, with an added red and fuchsia hued silk flower on the front of the hat. The addition of this flower transforms the hat (hiding the distinctive crown shape makes it appear to be a different style) and firmly ties the colour palate to Helen’s fuchsia printed dress. Seeing this transformation makes me wonder why we don’t see such minor millinery renovations on more royal hats! Helen’s sister-in-law, Lady Nicholas Windsor, wore a dusky pink straw button based percher hat trimmed with large silk roses and dotted net tulle veil.

June 9, 2018 | Royal Hats

Designer of Helen’s hat: Stephen Jones
Previously Worn:  June 17, 2017
Designer of Paola’s hat: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this is new

Lady Helen’s younger daughter, Estella Taylor, seen below on the far right, wore a button based cocktail hat in natural straw, trimmed with cream, ecru and grey fabric rosettes and a grey net tulle veil.

Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this is new

While Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Gloucester were in attendance, they did not appear in any photographs.

UPDATE- Again, avid royal watcher and photographer Paul Ratcliffe comes to our rescue! My deepest thanks to Paul for posting these photos just for our benefit! Princess Alexandra repeated her dove grey straw with tall, flat crown and cartwheel brim trimmed with a large straw knotted bow and a swath of dotted net tulle overlaying the hat’s brim. The Duchess of Gloucester repeated her black pillbox with new addition of a black tulle veil.


Designer of Alexandra’s hat: Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: June 6, 2009 and likely others
Designer of Brigitte’s hat: unknown. My guess is Lock and Co.
Previously Worn: March 19, 2013; June 20, 2011; Oct 9, 2009; June 03, 2006

Lady Rose Gilham was also in attendance on the Buckingham Palace balcony this year in a slate blue-grey vertical saucer hat trimmed with a bow and feathers.

June 9, 2018 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this is new

Julia Ogilvy, who recently graduated from the Harvard Divinity School, paired her dotted grey dress with a tall grey straw stovepipe hat with cartwheel brim trimmed with an exquisite spray of straw roses and leaves. Flora Ogilvy repeated the wide brimmed cream straw picture hat with square crown and large, layered side bow that she seems to have permanently appropriated from her mother’s millinery closet! And no wonder, as it’s a wonderful, classic and clearly versatile hat.

June 9, 2018 | Royal Hats

Designer of Julia’s hat: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this is new
Designer of Flora’s hat: unknown
Previously Worn: June 17, 2017; June 11, 2016; originally worn by Julia June 15, 2006

Zenouska Mowatt topped her vibrant pink, lilac, orange and white patterned dress with a textured white straw beret percher hat trimmed with curling white feathers and a pink and orange straw knotted flying bow. There’s a lot of texture going on in this piece and while I really like its idiosyncratic creativity, I’m not convinced it complements or relates enough with the dress to work well together.

Previously Worn: This hat is new

Princess Michael of Kent used the occasion to début a new hat. In almond straw, the design features a flat crown and wide, cartwheel brim and is simply trimmed with a wide straw hatband. Marie-Christine favours dramatic millinery statements and this one feels surprisingly sedate and traditional for her. It’s another versatile piece I think we’ll see again many times in years to come. 

Embed from Getty Images

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn:This hat is new

Lady Frederick Windsor topped her beautifully cut suit with an ecru straw vertical saucer hat trimmed with a cream feather lotus flower and slim, curling straw tails. The steep diagonal lines of the hat work so well with the similar line on the hem of Sophie’s jacket. This is not a hat I’d be drawn to on its own but with this suit, forms a really lovely ensemble.

Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Siggi Hats. It is S18-459 from SS 2018. Suit from Catherine Walker
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Lady Gabriella Windsor wore a cream straw hat with angular crown and gently sideswept brim, trimmed with straw twists and a handful of white silk sweet peas. It’s a style, scale and colour of hat we’ve seen often on Gabriella but one that she carries so well. The open neck of her blue coat dress is a particularly effective compliment to the lines of the hat and the two pieces join to create a beautifully balanced look.

Designer: Philip Treacy. It is OC 475 from SS 2018. Coat by Claire Mischevani
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Trooping the Colour is always a highlight in our royal hat watching calendar and this year was no different! I’m curious, dear readers, which hats stood out most to you?
Embed from Getty Images
Photos from Getty as indicated; James Devaney and James Devaney via Getty; Mark Stewart and Paul Ratcliffe via Twitter

Windsor Wedding, Thirty Years On

Posted on by

 Thirty years ago yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Kent’s eldest son, George Windsor, Earl of St. Andrews, was married to Canadian professor Sylvana Tomaselli. At the time of the nuptials, the bride was Catholic and divorced, issues which prevented a church wedding and caused the Earl to give up his rights of succession (thankfully, times have changed).  As such, a civil wedding was required and the young couple married in Scotland.

We don’t see many British royal weddings where the bride is not in a gown and veil but the unique circumstances at the time of this one made the bride opt for a suit and hat. Sylvana topped her royal blue dotted velvet suit and muff with a matching hat in matching silk. The tall, upfolded bumper brim gave the design a relaxed Cossack shape and the hat was simply trimmed with a large button in the same dotted velvet as Sylvana’s suit. The pieces combined to give a glamorous winter ensemble with luxurious texture and beautiful sheen.

Embed from Getty Images
The Duchess of Kent went with a more traditionally shaped Cossack style hat in crimson, trimmed with wide black velvet ribbon piping and a giant bow at the back (perhaps anchored to her hair, below the hat?). Lady Helen Windsor, as was her title at the time, was also in red and black- her red cloche variation was trimmed with black brim piping and a wide velvet hatband and bow. 

Embed from Getty Images  Embed from Getty Images

Barely visible at the far left of the photo below, Princess Alexandra looked to be wearing a brown fur papakha style hat. On the far right, Princess Michael of Kent wore an oversize, angular black brimless hat (perhaps also a modified Cossack shape?) with bow. 

In combination, these hats always seemed like a technicolor Russian winter fantasy to me. We don’t often see tall Cossack shapes on royal heads, making this group all the more memorable. Thirty years on, what do you think of these hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated

Trooping the Colour: Gloucester & Kent Families

Posted on by

Trooping the Colour was attended today, as in years past, by the Queen’s cousins and their families. The Duchess of Gloucester, who rode in a carriage with her husband and the Duke of Kent, repeated her grey straw cuffed bumper hat with net veil trim. The men wore in morning dress with top hats.

Embed from Getty Images
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: June 1, 2017; July 1, 2016; June 12, 2016; June 10, 2016
The Countess of Ulster wore a natural straw percher hat with button base and large straw twist. Lady Rose Gilman wore a red percher with straw beret base trimmed with red feathers.

 Countess of Ulster, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats  Lady Rose Gilman, , June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designers: Claire’s hat is Gina Foster. Rose’s hat is unknown
Previously Worn: uncertain  

The Duchess of Kent made a rare public appearance today in a denim blue percher hat trimmed with what looks to be lace on the hat and a spray o feather at the back. Princess Alexandra stood nearby in her large cream hat with high, domed crown, wide moulded hatband, net tulle covered brim and front feather pouf. .

Princess Alexandra & Duchess of Kent, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats    Duchess of Kent, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designer:both are unknown
Princess Alexandra’s hat was Previously Worn: May 15, 2015; July 16, 2012; here; here; here

The Countess of St. Andrews wore an interesting hat in what looks to be lattice printed straw (or hemp? or burlap?) with a cartwheel brim fanning out from a narrow, diagonal crown. There does not seem to be any further embellishment on the hat besides a slim navy ribbon hatband and fringed brim edge. Sylvanna’s daughter, Lady Amelia Windsor, repeated the distinctive navy ruched turban with lattice printed crin accent we saw Sylvanna wear last year to the Service of Thanksgiving for Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday.

Countess of St. Andrews, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats   Lady Amelia Windsor, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designer: both are unknown. I suspect the navy turban is Philip Treacy

Lady Helen Windsor wore a stylised white Homberg hat with indented crown, short brim raised around one side and a navy bow at the front. This piece is from Stephen Jones’ Miss Jones SS 2017 collection. Helen’s sister-in-law, Lady Nicholas Windsor (Paola, who is peeking out from behind the Duke of Glouster, below right) wore what looks to be some sort of large cream saucer percher.

Lady Helen Taylor, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats   Lady Nicholas Taylor, June 17, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designer: Helen’s hat is Stephen Jones. Paola’s hat is unknown
Previously Worn: I think both may be new. 

Julia Ogilvy repeated her cream picture hat with square crown, cartwheel brim and flying bow on the side. In today’s sea of cream hats, I liked the styling of this one, with Julia’s sand and teal printed dress and her pearl necklace, best.

Julia Ogilvy, June 17, 2017 in Philip Treacy | Royal Hats Julia Ogilvy, June 17, 2017 in Philip Treacy | Royal Hats

Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: June 10, 2016; June 11, 2011; April 30, 2011

Flora Ogilvy repeated her large cream straw picture hat with multi-looped side bow. Her cousin, Zenouska Mowatt, topped her olive dress with a cream straw teardrop shaped sidesweep lavishly trimmed with feathers. The trim on Zenouska’s hat makes it come to life and I love how her blue shoes at a hit of contrast and make her ensemble look very polished from head to toe.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVczBc2hEk9/

Designer of Flora’s hat: unknown
Previously Worn: June 11, 2016
Designer of Zenouska’s hat: Jane Taylor
Previously Worn: I believe this is new

Princess Michael of Kent repeated her white straw wide brimmed hat with ostrich feather boa wrap/overlay.

Embed from Getty Images
Designer: John Boyd
Previously Worn: June 10, 2016; June 17, 2015;  June 6, 2015; June 7, 2014

Lady Frederick Windsor (Sophie) wore what is described by the designer as a “window sinamay coolie with a dip dyed silk rose”.  There also appears to be light feathers trimming the underbrim of the raised side of this gently sloping pyramid shaped piece. It’s a pretty piece that I think might be showed to greater effect with a non-monochrome outfit.

Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Jane Taylor. It is the ‘Clusia Rosea‘ from SS 2017
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Lady Gabriella Windsor wore another cream hat, this one with an upswept brim and trimmed with a large multi-looped bow of lattice printed crin. This view shows the slightly oval shape of the brim- a view we don’t often get to see on hats with upswept brims.

Embed from Getty Images

Lady Gabriella Windsor, June 17, 2017 in Philip Treacy | Royal Hats

Designer: Philip Treacy. It looks like a bespoke version of OC 264 from SS 2017
Previously Worn: this hat is new  
That covers all of the 21 royal hats that appeared today at Trooping the Colour. This group has less diversity than in previous years- without Lady Rose’s red hat, the Duchess of Kent’s blue hat and that mod navy turban on Lady Amelia, this branch of the family would be an entire sea of cream. Thankfully, this trio joined Autumn Philips and the Duchess of Cambridge in bringing some colour to liven up the balcony scene today. 
 What hats stood out to you today, most? Are there any pieces from this final group that you would like to add to your own millinery closet?
Embed from Getty Images
To see hats worn by other members of the British royal Family, jump over to these posts:
 
Photos from Getty and social media as indicated; Samir Hussein, DMC, James Devaney, James Devaney, James Devaney and James Devaney via Getty; Mark Stewart via Twitter

Ogilvy Wedding, Twenty-Eight Years On

Posted on by

Anniversary  Over the weekend, James and Julia Ogilvy (James is the son of Princess Alexandra and the late Angus Ogilvy)  celebrated their twenty-eighth wedding anniversary. We don’t often look back at millinery fashion from the late 1980s so I thought we’d grab the opportunity of this milestone to do so.

James Ogilvy and Julia Rawlinson met during their first year at St. Andrews University and married on July 30, 1988 at St. Mary The Virgin Church in Saffron Walden, a small market town in the bride’s home county of Essex just south of Cambridge. Julia wore a gown in white dupioni silk with a v-neck, fitted bodice, and full, ballgown skirt that swept into a short train. The dress is firmly dated in the late 1980s by the voluminous leg ‘o mutton sleeves trimmed with bows (a popular design detail that in all likelihood was also on the back of the dress!). Devoid of lace or beaded trimming, the stars of this dress are its silhouette and the silk of which it is made. Not surprising for a country wedding of a more distant member of the royal family, Julia forwent a tiara and anchored her silk tulle veil with a crescent of fresh flowers to match her bouquet.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images James Ogilvy and Julia Rawlinson, July 30, 1988 | Royal HatsEmbed from Getty Images

The bridesmaids, which included Lady Gabriella Windsor (front left, below), wore dresses in the same white dupioni silk with pale pink sashes and similar floral headpieces to the bride. The bridal party had a quintessentially English country look that might seem familiar thanks to the popular movie “Four Weddings And A Funeral” which screened just six years later.

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Alexandra topped her cerulean blue suit with a matching straw hat. While not as tall as the designs we see her favour today, the hat had many design elements that seem “oh-so Alexandra”- a pork pie shaped crown, wide brim and lavish silk flower trim. It’s a wonderful hat and the saturated colour was particularly beautiful on her. Alexandra’s daughter Marina, shown on the right in the photo below, wore a classically shaped hat in black textured straw with a wide brim.

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Alexandra, July 30, 1988 | Royal Hats

Queen Elizabeth wore a two toned straw hat with rounded black crown and flat, yellow brim. A wide yellow hatband and spray of black cherries completed the hat. The cherries were an unusual and fun trim and while the graphic hat did an excellent job of grounding the eye-assaulting paint splattered suit, I think the entire ensemble was so firmly rooted in the late 1980s that it’s best left there.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

Diana, Princess of Wales, topped her Catherine Walker dress and grey coat with white straw picture hat by Philip Somerville. The hat, with a short upturn on the brim, was simply trimmed with a ruched white hatband and marks a time when the princess was transitioning from the smaller, fussier hats she wore in the early years of her marriage to the more streamlined style she adopted over the next decade.

Embed from Getty Images

The complete antithesis of Diana’s streamlined hat, Princess Margaret’s hat was textbook 1980s excess! In vibrant royal blue, her halo brimmed design was entirely covered in silk blooms on the underside of the brim that framed her face like a peephole in a rose garden. Attractive? I’m not sure. Memorable? Absolutely!

Embed from Getty Images

1988-07-30 Ogilvy wedding 1

While just twenty-two years old at the time of this wedding, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (now Lady Sarah Chatto) was already showing signs of her uncluttered millinery style and preference for classic hat shpaes with a simple straw wide-brimmed hat with contrasting hat band.1988-07-30 Ogilvy wedding 3

The Duchess of Gloucester topped her red suit with a large boater style hat in straw trimmed with side sprays of flowers both above and below the brim and a monochrome hatband. The Duchess of Kent went for fashionable 1980s polka dots with her ensemble, matching her pale pink dotted suit to the bumper brim of her hat. It looks like the hat was finished with a bow at the back and a pale pink straw domed crown.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

The Duchess of Kent’s daughter, Lady Helen Windsor (now Lady Helen Taylor) was typically fashion-forward in a crownless straw hat with upturned brim trimmed with a large scarf of blue organza at the back that trailed down her back (see it at the 6:00 mark in the video below)

1988-07-30 Ogilvy wedding 6

Finally, Princess Michael of Kent wore a pale pink straw hat edged in black piping, placed at a rakish diagonal angle on the side of her head. We’re so used to grand design elements (soaring brims, huge feathers etc.) on Marie Christine’s current hats that the smaller scale and gentle shape of this piece makes for a great surprise.

Embed from Getty Images

1988-07-30 Ogilvy wedding 7 1988-07-30 Ogilvy wedding 8

1980s fashion is often not regarded with kindness and while several design elements in the hats seen here seem rather dated, I think they are wonderfully elegant examples of the millinery fashions of the day. What hats stand out to you most at this wedding?

1988-06-30 group

Photos from Getty as indicated; Rex/Shutterstock; and Princess Diana Archive/Stringer via Getty