The Luxembourg royal family celebrated their country’s national holiday yesterday with attendance at a civil ceremony, a military parade and an inter-religious Te Deum at the Luxembourg Cathedral. While hats did not appear at the first two events (except for uniform caps), a quintet of lovely pieces were donned for the Te Deum.
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa used the occasion to début a new ‘slice’ brim picture hat with upfolded brim raised high over one side of the hat’s crown. The dramatically shaped hat was trimmed in bold, wide curling straw ribbons (the same ones we saw adorn numerous hats at Ascot last week) which adorned the underside of the raised brim. Maria Teresa has worn this style of hat in the past- while some argue it gives her some height, I think the shape overwhelms. It’s a beautiful hat and it pairs well with her tan and black embroidered suit but I think a different shape would have been better suited the Grand Duchess.
Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This is a new hat
The Hereditary Grand Duchess topped her beautiful yellow dress with a light picture hat. The hat, made of slim strips of crin sewn together to give a striped effect, featured a gently ruffled brim on one side into which a large yellow feather was tucked. I am firmly on the fence with this piece- the stripes give it a dime-store vibe that I just can not shake and the feather is simply awful. It does, however, have a lovely sense of light airiness that works well with Princess Stèphanie’s yellow dress and her beautiful hair and makeup provides the polish and elegance which the hat lacks. I adore that Princess Stèphanie is slowly starting to experiment with her hats and hope this trend continues.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This is a new hat
Princess Claire wore a large white picture hat with rolling brim, trimmed simply with a black band around the base of the crown. The hat is a simple but very chic piece that worked very well with her dotted red dress and amazing earrings.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
Princess Alexandra topped her pale green lace dress with a 1920s flapper-style headband. While I’m not sure the headband was a great match for her dress, there is something so lighthearted and unexpected about this piece that makes me smile.
Designer: Amelie D’Hooghvorst
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
Princess Tessy fast-forwarded two decades from her sister-in-law, bringing a 1940s fashion vibe into her look today. Her headpiece, a high curling base of gossamer grey straw trimmed with feathers, worked beautifully with her navy dress and waved hairstyle and perfect red lip (has ever a red lip set off a hat so well?). The modern headpiece is an unexpected choice to round out a vintage look but Tessy looked stunning in it.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
It is always lovely to see the entire family together at this event- which one of these hats stood out most to you?
Photo from Getty as indicated and Jean-Claude Ernst via Tageblatt
Here are a look back at all of the hats and headpieces worn by members of the royal houses of Liechtenstein and Luxembourg this year. Please click on each photo to link to larger views and detailed information on each hat.
Princess Tessy of Luxembourg (née Tessy Antony) celebrates her 28th birthday today. We don’t see much of her (she, her husband Prince Louis and their two young sons live in London where Tessy and Louis are students) except for the most major Luxembourg royal events. Despite her limited time in the spotlight, Tessy is memorable to us millinery fans for her fantastic hats. For National Day in 2011, she wore this turquoise party on her head. To celebrate her birthday, I couldn’t resist taking another peek.
Claire’s mother, Gabriele Lademacher (who arrived with Grand Duke Henri) chose a flat, pale grey-blue, brimless straw hat with a rounded crown and white veil to compliment her Dior suit in the same colour. While it looked like a little too close to veiled hubcap on her head, I still thought it was chic and quite elegant. This hat was made by Berlin-based millinery designer 
It has been a busy week of hats and in the whirlwind of parliament openings and tours, I forgot to share results from the first September poll. It was a landslide win for:
