Queen Mathilde was in Waterloo yesterday to present awards to this year’s winners of the Queen Elisabeth (international music) Competition. For this event, she repeated a hat described by the designer as “a small bell hat made of red Panama and trimmed with ribbon and a matching bow.”

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The cloche remains a charming one for Mathilde with a scale and colour that suit her well. On past outings, I liked the pairing of red hat with this dress… I’m not sure if it’s lighting but on this outing, I think the hat slightly overwhelms the delicately patterned lace frock (scroll through the gallery below). The Belgian queen has some streamlined, lovely pale grey hats in her wardrobe (here, here and here) that might make a gentler pairing.

Designer: Fabienne Delvigne.  It is the ‘Audrey’ design.
Previously Worn: Oct 23, 2018;  April 25, 2018

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde wrapped up their state visit to South Korea yesterday with stops at a medical center, the opening of the Belgian Life Festival, and meetings on investment, mental health and well-being. For this final day of events, Queen Mathilde repeated her chocolate brown felt formed calot hat trimmed with a large spray of curling leaves on the side.

While I’m not so keen on the hat’s shape or tentacle-like leaves, its styling today with pear green dress and caped coat in a brown Prince of Wales check is unexpected but so smart. Queen Mathilde paired this hat with an all brown ensemble on its first outing that falls rather flat in comparison to this.

The Belgian state visit to Korea continued today with a busy program that saw Queen Mathilde attend a seminars on sustainable development and climate change and visit the smart city Songdo while King Philippe participated in a business forum, a health care symposium, entrepreneurship networking and a taekwondo demonstration. For these engagements, Queen Mathilde repeated her red fabric-covered button percher hat, trimmed with a double looped bow and black quills.

While the first day of the Belgian state visit to South Korea yesterday did not see any hats, the second day today, which included visits to the Korean War Memorial in Seoul and an official welcome by the Prime Minister at his official office and residence Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House), saw Queen Mathilde in a new headpiece.

The hat and jacket are both made of burgundy silk printed with a grey ikat floral pattern, the reverse of which is used on the ensemble’s coordinating dress. While the hat looks like a ruched toque or calot design from front view, it is more fluid design that wraps around the head as a sort of extended, pleated bandeau