WEDDING FLOWERS: Review 2014
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Showing posts with label Review 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Review 2014. Show all posts

Year in Review: 2014's Honorable Mentions

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We've reached the end of our year in review series! We've covered the events, the tiaras, and the best outfits from each of our most frequently featured royal women. But our regular players aren't the only ones churning out great appearances, of course, and so today belongs to the other outfits worn this year that you just can't forget. A few of my favorite 2014 things...

Charlotte Casiraghi
Charlotte Casiraghi's partnership with Gucci is paying off in the sartorial stakes. This Gucci dress was sleek in all the right ways, with just a hint of metallic to set things off.

I'm a sucker for a good windowpane print and this Dior hits the spot. Add in a full skirt, and I'm well and truly done for - yes, the couture queen (couture sheikha) struck again this year.

Princess Beatrice
This one has all my favorites: bringing another designer into the royal mix (Nicholas Oakwell), a little full skirt, white, and colorful accessories (purple shoes, hello!). A winner all around for Beatrice.

Princess Haya
Someone has to bring the Eliza Doolittle flavor to Ascot each year. I'm pretty sure it's written right in the rules. And Haya did so in major fashion this year, instantly winning a spot on my best of the year list.

Hey, I did warn you about my love affair with the color white. I could go on, but we'll cap it there and turn it over to you:

What other sartorial moments will you remember from 2014?

Photos:  Richard Bord/Wire Image, Stuart C. Wilson, and Chris Jackson via Getty Images; Qatar News Agency/Style.com
Year in Review: Máxima and Victoria's 2014 Bests

Year in Review: Máxima and Victoria's 2014 Bests

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I hear some people like to see things they find relatable when it comes to their royal fashion watching. Something applicable to their own daily lives. Not me, man. Give me the stuff I can only dream about, any day. And it just so happens that both of the bests we have today are the stuff of princess dreams.

Queen Máxima
Once again forcing me - forcing me - to break my current policy to try and stick with official events, Máxima's amazing Jan Taminiau ensemble for her brother's wedding just can't be ignored. It's so dreamy!
The bigger the gown, the better her sartorial work. (My runner up for her best of the year: the slight redo of her butterscotch Jan Taminiau gown worn when Sweden came calling). We can still count on that one fact, despite a multitude of contenders for her worst of the year (my vote would have to go to that ill-advised jumpsuit).

Crown Princess Victoria
It's funny, I think, that both of these over the top bests belong to women that fall into that same sartorial category of extreme highs coupled with extreme lows (when they were good, they were very very good...but when they were bad, they were horrid). I had a few candidates for Victoria's worst of the year (never forget the Duct Tape Disco Incident) and not nearly enough candidates for her best (runner up: that colorful Preen dress). She gave us more repeats of one dress than I think we've ever seen before in a year, wearing the same H&M dress in two different colors for multiple occasions. But just when we'd lost all hope for variety, she pulls out a Nobel dress of epic proportions.
I mean...
Come on! My inner 6 year old wouldn't have it any other way.

Your turn:

What are you naming the Best of 2014 for Victoria and Máxima?

Photos: Getty Images; Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

Year in Review: Mathilde, Letizia, and Mary's 2014 Bests

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Our first batch of year end bests was hard to choose, but our second batch was eeeaassyyyyyy.

Queen Mathilde
Mathilde's luscious velvet number, worn to a dinner for the visiting Governor-General of Canada, is easily one of the most agreed upon dresses we've featured here and an easy pick for my favorite Mathilde outfit all year long. So much a favorite, actually, I'm having trouble even remembering anything else.

Queen Letizia
Her sublime white proclamation ensemble was instantly memorable and historical and all that jazz, but in the end, this Carolina Herrera gown with a perfect tiara pairing worn to the first state banquet of Felipe's reign easily surpassed it in my book (and maybe only in my book; opinions were pretty well split on this initial outing). If my patience ran low with the multitude of other lace ensembles we've seen in the past weeks, it's because my heart already belonged to this one. This was the year that Letizia got to know Carolina Herrera's designs, and I'm hoping for more of that (and less drawstring casual pants - easily my vote for her worst of the year) in 2015.

Crown Princess Mary
Another one so great I don't even have a runner up. (I do have a worst though, because I'm still puzzled by her strangely enormous shirt dress for the family summer photocall.) This sparkly navy Jesper Høvring gown worn to the BAMBI Awards was a moment of splendor to be sure. Perfection.

Your turn: Favorites for these three this year?


Photos:  @GGDavidJohnston, Pool and Matthias Mareyek via Getty Images, Carolina Herrera

Year in Review: 2014's Tiara Moments

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I'm in it for the tiaras, I think my stance on that is pretty clear. So it wouldn't be a Year in Review without a look at the tiara appearances we covered here and at the Jewel Vault in 2014 (and minus the ones that I forgot, because you know that's inevitable). You can click the links below or scroll through the posts on this blog by clicking here.

It won't surprise you to learn that I am officially crowning Máxima the Tiara Queen of 2014, with not only a large number of tiara events but also a large variety of tiaras worn for those events. Elsewhere, we saw a couple new pieces debuted, and a couple debuts of old pieces on new people. But perhaps the most important thing we saw in 2014 was the return of full state banquets (and thus tiaras) in Spain and Belgium, both countries having taken a few years off in the midst of economy and government problems. Grand returns ended up being the theme of my favorite tiara moments for the year.

January
The year started as it always does with glittering New Year's Court events in Denmark and Japan, giving us our yearly appearance of Mary's rubies, always a highlight in my book.

February
Tatiana Santo Domingo wore a fringe tiara for her religious wedding, although we didn't get a great look.

March
The Swedish royal court put out a new official photo of Crown Princess Victoria and the King, in which she sported her recent favorite, the Cut Steel Tiara. Princess Marie wore her new tiara for the first time for an official dinner, a piece we've been waiting to see in use since 2011. Tiaras came out again in Denmark for a state visit from Turkey, and tiara intrigue came to Sweden when Princess Christina wore the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik Tiara to an official dinner, bringing up questions about its ownership. Elsewhere, a state visit from China to the Netherlands brought out the pearls.

April
Tiaras returned to Belgium and Queen Mathilde again wore the bandeau of the Nine Provinces Tiara when the Chinese moved their state visit game over a country. King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, and Máxima pulled together a pretty fab look with her favorite Dutch Diamond Bandeau.
Another of my favorite tiara moments came in April too, when the U.K. hosted an historic state visit from Ireland and the Queen used the occasion to bring the Cambridge emeralds back after a long absence.
And we must not forget, April also brought us what seemed like a genuine Tiara Miracle: Charlene finally wore her Ocean Tiara. For a magazine shoot, but we'll take what we can get.

May
May brought several tiara appearances: a look at the Diplomatic Corps reception in the Netherlands, new formal pictures marking Frederik and Mary's 10th wedding anniversary (again with the rubies), a state visit from Israel to Norway, and a state visit from Luxembourg to Poland.
 
June
Prince Albert visited the Netherlands, and there were tiaras even though Charlene stayed home. Plenty of state visits happened in June, including a trip to France for the British and the last state visit of King Juan Carlos' reign. The return of tiara banquets in Spain and Queen Sofia's use of the major Fleur de Lys Tiara as her farewell put this one on my list of best tiara moments for the year.

July

September
A state visit from Estonia to Norway brought us back to our tiara ways after the slow summer season.

October
Princess Noriko of Takamado kicked off the month donning her tiara for the last time as she bid farewell to the Imperial Family before her wedding. The Norwegians had two tiara events in a week, first with a state visit from India and second with their annual gala for parliament. (And in case you're counting, that adds up to a whole year of appearances of the Diamond Daisy Tiara for Mette-Marit, with no variety in sight.) A state visit from Singapore to Britain got thrown in the mix, and the month ended with dueling state visits: Felipe and Letizia hosting the first incoming state visit of Felipe's reign, and Willem-Alexander and Máxima traveling for a state visit to Japan. Máxima's debut outing of the Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara coupled with the return of Crown Princess Masako clock in jointly on my list of best tiara moments this year.

November
Amethysts and an excellent Elie Saab gown featured when Luxembourg hosted a state visit from Germany, but a dinner at the Swedish Royal Palace failed to wow me. Princess Margriet brought a tiara to America for the Stuyvesant Ball, wearing the star version of the Pearl Button Tiara for the first time, and a royal wedding in Morocco gave us a little sparkle variety.

December
The Duchess of Cornwall was resplendent in her family tiara for the Buckingham Palace Diplomatic Reception but obviously the main tiara event in December was and will always be the Nobel Prize Ceremony and the King's Dinner! Featuring the return of the Baden Fringe Tiara, another on my list of favorite tiara moments for the year.

Phew! Not a bad year, eh? (Remind me of that when we hit a tiara dead spot in 2015.) Now, over to you:

What were your favorite tiara moments in 2014?


Photos: Julian Parker/UK Press, Frank Van Beek/AFP, Pool all via Getty Images / RTE video / Hola / NewsJapan video / SVT video

Year in Review: Kate and Mette-Marit's 2014 Bests

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Each year, I like to pick a single Best of the Year outfit for each of the royal ladies we check in with most frequently. I chose these two royal ladies to kick things off because of one big similarity: I had a really hard time picking a best for both of them.

The Duchess of Cambridge
The thing about Kate is that she's a very consistent dresser. This works in her favor most of the time - nothing came to mind when I started pondering what her worst of the year would be, for example - but it sure did make it hard for me to pick any one thing that stood out as the year's best. I was tempted to name the recently reused Packham, but honestly that would have been because it gave us her two biggest jewel moments for the year and not because of the dress. So I flipped back through the year and emerged with this one in mind:
It almost feels too ordinary to be the year's best, if you know what I mean - and you will, once you see how many gowns make my list as we roll on - but I love the clean silhouette and the poppy print. It's also among the fruits of the Cambridge's New Zealand/Australia tour, certainly one of 2014's most memorable royal trips. So there you go: L.K. Bennett and blue poppies it is!

Crown Princess Mette-Marit
Mette-Marit stumped me for a different reason. You see, she usually turns up the volume and does her best sartorial work at international royal events, so I automatically start there when it comes to looking for her best of the year. But this year...we didn't really have any such events! So we're left with her events at home, which was a lot of similar day outfits, most of the Pia Tjelta by Ti Mo collection, and a handful of repeated gowns, sometimes revamped but leaving me longing for the original. Le sigh.
So I settled on a Valentino coat worn during the celebrations for the anniversary of Norway's constitution, a piece I like so much I picked it when it came time for her closet raid. I'm having a bit of a love affair with white this year, and nobody does it better than M-M, so it feels right after all. 

Your turn: What were your 2014 Kate and Mette-Marit favorites?

Photos: L.K. Bennett and CPL Shannon McCarthy / © Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Defence,  NRK.no/Style.com/Stortinget

Year in Review: 2014's Royal Happenings

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Now is the time when I look around and wonder when I forgot how to use a calendar, because once again the end of the year has snuck up on me. But here we are, with many of the royal families beginning to wind things down for Christmas holidays, and it is indeed time for our annual year in review posts. Today, a look at some of the year's main events.

I always look first for those events that bring together big groups of international royals, and as I tried to remember what happened this year (always a struggle), I had one thought: We have been so spoiled by the past few years. Seriously, 2013 capped a run of years packed with the kind of events - weddings! jubilees! inaugurations! - that bring us big fat royal gatherings. In comparison, 2014 has felt much quieter on the international royal front.

From the centenary of World War I to the 70th anniversary of D-Day (pictured above), this has been a year of remembrance. And when I thought back to occasions where royals from different countries came together, it was often for these memorials. So often a somber duty, but one they do particularly well.
 
Also tops on the list of Important Royal Events of 2014: King Juan Carlos abdicating in favor of his son Felipe, continuing the trend of throne swaps from 2013 and keeping us well stocked with introductory visits to chat about.

The past few years have been full of weddings, so I suppose it only follows that we are now in the years of BABIES. Prince George's first tour, Princess Leonore's birth and christening, twins for Monaco, a second baby on the way for the Cambridges, and more. Tiny humans, everywhere, running the show.

We did have a few weddings on our radar this year, though: in Monaco (well, actually in Switzerland, but you know what I mean), in Germany, in Japan, in Morocco. But the one that tops my list for Royal Wedding of the Year was that of Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este and Elisabetta (Lili) Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein. Even in a sparse wedding year, we still get our share of Valentino couture gowns. And 2014 leaves us with the promise of at least one big royal event for 2015 in the nuptials of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist.

Stay tuned in the coming days, as we revisit the year's tiara moments and some of our favorite looks from our regulars. Until then:

What was your favorite 2014 royal moment?

Photos: Samir Hussein/Wire Image via Getty Images, RTVE video, Anna-Lena Ahlström/Kungahuset.se, Elisabetta Villa via Getty Images 

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