WEDDING FLOWERS: New Year Court
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Showing posts with label New Year Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year Court. Show all posts

Royal Outfits of the Day: January 9

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Programming note: Our next weekly Tidbits post will be up on Monday instead of Sunday.

The Danish royal family held their last two days of New Year's courts earlier this week. Unlike the gala evening from last week, these are held during the day (no tiaras, it's very sad). And also unlike the gala evening, the only royals participating here are the Queen and Prince Consort and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess.
The first day brought another new dress for Mary, quite a treat after a run of repeats and remakes. It's a fairly plain dress, navy with a wide waistband, leaving the metallic embellished neckline to be the star of the show. At first I was a little dubious about that - why fake the look of jewelry with your clothes when you've got the real deal sitting at home, eh? - but then I saw it in action (video link below) and was predictably swayed by the sparkle.

The second day was a return to repeats, but oh, it was one of my favorite court outfits to repeat.
Click here for a video from Billed-Bladet and here for a gallery. 
All the jumpy claps for the return of this chocolate jacket and baby pink skirt, a perfect blend of colors and textures. This is the kind of over the top princess-ing I prefer on Mary. She first wore it in 2010 and repeated it in 2013, as seen below. This time she's added a belt, which I could take or leave, honestly. It's a gem of an outfit either way.
As for the rest of the family members present, they're all in their respective uniforms, military for the gentlemen and a self-imposed uniform of a blue dress with fur for Queen Margrethe. She's worn the same outfit for both days for several years now. She's the Queen and she'll do as she pleases, thankyouverymuch.

Photos: Billed-Bladet video and as indicated
Royal Outfit of the Day: January 6

Royal Outfit of the Day: January 6

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Many of you were just as enchanted as I was with Crown Princess Mary's evening cloak from the other night (and many of you were not, fair enough, more cloaks for me), which brought up some of the cloak's previous wearings. The concert for Queen Margrethe's jubilee in 2012 is one example; another is the same New Year's Court event from 2008:
Which reminds me, we should talk about this purple dress. It's an interesting one, that's for sure. Not necessarily in keeping with Mary's current style, but that's because it dates from the days before her style was fully defined.
The gown was first worn in 2004 during a state visit from Romania, shortly before Mary and Frederik were married (hence her lack of orders above), and was made by Henrik Hviid from fabric purchased by Mary at a market in her hometown in Tasmania. You can actually see her buy the fabric in a documentary filmed after the couple's engagement (video link).
Based on the dress alone, you might guess it came from the closet of then-Princess Alexandra, now Countess of Frederiksborg, Prince Joachim's first wife. And with good reason: Hviid was one of her favorite designers. But despite my love for Alexandra's over the top early princess style, and despite my love for a purple gown, this one has never been a favorite. I think it mainly leaves me glad Mary went on to develop a style of her own, if you know what I mean. What's your verdict?

(By the way, there was also quite a bit of discussion about what color that evening cloak is, exactly. It's dark velvet, so that's naturally going to take on a few different shades. Given that Mary paired it with a purple purse this year, purple earrings in 2012, and a purple dress in 2008, I'm going to guess it's more purple in person.)

(And also by the way, the daytime New Year's Courts are happening in Denmark, and we'll check back in later this week to discuss.)

Photos: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images

Royal Fashion Awards: New Year's Receptions, 2015

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Happy New Year! We get to kick it off in style with tiaras ablaze - which is the best way to start a new calendar, if you ask me. The first day of January brings us sparkling events in Denmark and Japan and plenty of royal fashion awards to go around.

Best in Quantity
The Japanese Imperial Ladies
We start in Japan, where the Emperor and Empress, accompanied by the imperial family, received New Year's greetings from dignitaries. I always find it a little tricky to comment on the gowns here, since they are all conforming to the strictest protocols and there's not really room for personal expression. But you can't beat them when it comes to sheer numbers of tiaras on display. Each woman of age that is able to attend does, and they all have at least one parure to wear. The Empress has not worn a tiara for a while now, and that continues this year, but the rest are all sparkled up and ready to go. In the mix for the first time this year is Princess Kako, daughter of the Prince and Princess Akishino and granddaughter of the Emperor and Empress. She just turned 20 and got her brand new tiara, and we'll be chatting about that in depth soon.



Next we go to Denmark, where the royal family holds a gala banquet for members of government and other VIPs. It is always one of the most formal events, if not the most formal event, of the year, and aound their shoulders they wear the collar of the Order of the Elephant, Denmark's highest order of chivalry. Click here for a gallery.

Most Anticipated Repeat
Queen Margrethe
Margrethe is big on repeating gowns and she usually picks between two tiaras for this event (the Pearl Poire or the emeralds from the crown jewels; one notable exception was the year she wore her brand new tiara). So to see those emeralds and a green lace gown we've seen several times was entirely expected. She's also quite prone to wearing this particular giant fur wrap, so everybody say hello once again to the infamous Yeti Pelt.

Most Surprising Repeat
Princess Marie
Princess Marie has had a run of new gowns for this banquet in years past, so I suppose she was due for a repeat. Still, I wouldn't have guessed she'd pick this particular one, worn to Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill's wedding in 2013. I quite liked it as a light choice for a summer wedding, but I'm not sure it can stand up to a heavy gold collar. She wasn't all surprise, though, as she stuck to her standard diamond floral tiara.
 
Best in New
Crown Princess Mary
Flipping things around, Mary - who has worn a repeated gown for the last few years - opted for something new. And I guess my love affair with white will continue strong in 2015, because I can rarely find fault with a simple belted white gown. I love it with her evening cloak, which always makes me want to buy an evening cloak just so I could say evening cloak more often in my daily life, and I love it with the elements of the Danish ruby parure. She always wears the rubies for the New Year's banquet, and this time she's gone for the tiara, the stud earrings with pearl drops, the simplified version of the necklace, the bracelet, and the ring. Lovely, and (no surprise here at all) my favorite for the night.

Updated to add: A video of the royal arrivals for you, below, and you can click here for a video on the terribly grand table setting for the banquet.

Who was your best dressed from this year's opening round of sparkle?

We return to our regularly scheduled programming on Sunday!

Photos: ANN News video, FNN video, Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images

Royal Outfit of the Day: February 7

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Crown Princess Mary's four appearances in her burgundy velvet Birgit Hallstein gown. By planning ahead with extra fabric, they were able to drastically alter it from a maternity gown to its current state, according to the designer.
Mary had a birthday this week! She turned 42, and that requires a celebration. I prefer to celebrate with tiaras and gowns, how about you? (She's been out and about this past week, but nothing birthday worthy, I say.) I compiled a list of my favorite Mary outfits when she turned 40 and would certainly have more to add by now, but this is a classic favorite. There's a sort of medieval feel to the original maternity gown (worn twice while pregnant with Princess Isabella) that I just find delectable, and the gown's debut featuring the full necklace and earrings from the ruby parure with the tiara as Queen Ingrid wore it will always be one of my favorite royal gala appearances. I'm not as much a fan of the current version, but I love that it shows the evolution of her style - planning ahead since maternity wear has limited use, and reflecting the new flexibility of the ruby set that she's so clearly enjoying. Either way, regal as can be, and totally birthday worthy.

Photos: PPE/BT/Scanpix

Royal Outfit of the Day: January 9

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Crown Princess Mary attended the third day of the New Year's receptions. Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik, and Crown Prince Frederik were also in attendance.
Aha! A new-and-yet-still-old repeat! Now we've got old pieces combined to make a new court outfit: the striped skirt was worn previously for evening use, and the basic black peplum top from Hugo Boss has been used for day outfits (Mary owns it in white too). She's also dressed it up with a prim updo and a string of pearls around the neck. See, I like this approach. These outfits are tricky to repeat, but combining a little of this and a little of that really works. Clever Mary.

Updated to add: Lots of questions about why she only has one glove on. It's an etiquette thing - it's considered polite to remove the glove to shake hands. The other hand remains gloved and carries the second glove. Not everyone does this, but keep an eye out and you'll see it done this way more often than you think.

Note: This is a new feature! Click here if you missed the announcement.

Photo: Scanpix

Royal Outfit of the Day: January 7

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Psst...: Yes, this is a new feature! See today's other post for details.


Queen Margrethe, accompanied by Prince Henrik and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, attended the second day of the New Year's Court festivities, a reception for the Diplomatic Corps. The video above shows the event from 2012.
Yes, the video is showing you this event from a couple years ago - but guess what? It doesn't even matter, because the ladies wore the same stuff this year! Repeats ahoy, and that's why our outfit of the day is really from Margrethe. Some of you gave Mary a hard time for repeating her gown for the gala event, but here's her example: Margrethe wears this fur-trimmed blue outfit (from longtime couturier Jørgen Bender, if I'm not mistaken) for two days in a row for these daytime courts and has done so with the same dress for quite a few years. It's how she rolls, and it makes me appreciate any amount of variety from Mary all the more, no matter how small.
Margrethe, Mary, and Mary's brooch (as shown in the documentary De Kongelige Juveler)
Mary's gown is another altered repeat, but she wore the lovely sapphire brooch Queen Margrethe gave her when Christian was born. It's a family heirloom from Queen Ingrid's mother, and it's always a treat to see in use!

Photos: Polfoto/Scanpix/De Kongelige Juveler

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