WEDDING FLOWERS: Royal Men
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Showing posts with label Royal Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Royal Men. Show all posts

Royal Fashion Awards: Royal Ascot 2015, Days 2 & 3

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We took a day off from our Ascot coverage, so let's play catch up with a big roundup of royal racegoers:

Best in Gents
The Duke of Edinburgh (Days 2 and 3)
Ascot is my annual time to give the dapper Duke his due. His top hats are "antique", as the Royal Hats Blog explains, which in this case means they're his from fifty years ago. (Princess Anne: "SEE?") For her part, the Queen delighted me with another amazing brooch from Queen Victoria, Prince Albert's Sapphire, and then did an abrupt 180 the next day in a probably modern and hardly as lavish piece, the Shamrock Brooch. I like to think she just wanted us to save up our jumpy claps, knowing that the Duchess of Cornwall was about to pile on pounds of diamonds that evening. Her Maj is gracious like that. (Oh yes, Camilla had a BIG tiara appearance and it is covered at the Vault!)

Best in Comebacks
Princess Beatrice (Day 3) and the Princess Royal (Day 2)
We might as well call this the Triumph of the White Dresses category, because both of these ladies used that simplicity for accessory success after accessory semi-disasters on Day 1. Beatrice continued to play with color - and with handbags - and I adore it. I also adore Anne with a scarf draped gracefully over her shoulders.
Beatrice's dress from Beulah London, hat from Laura Apsit Livens

Biggest Statements in Patterns
Princess Alexandra (Day 2) and The Princess Royal (Day 3)
Alexandra will win you over to her festival of paisley with her cheery smile and her festive hat trim; Anne will simply dare you compare her to a luxury carpet with her steely gaze. But they both come out pretty well in the end.

Biggest Statement in Feathers
Princess Michael (Day 2) and The Countess of Wessex (Day 3)
Positively swashbuckling, these two - in other words, perfect for Ascot. Well done. (The Countess of Wessex Blog explains that Sophie's Jane Taylor hat looks like a slight remix from a previous Ascot appearance, with some extra stuff added. Can't ever get enough extra stuff to stick on your Ascot hat.)

Best in Couture
Princess Haya (Day 2) and Princess Marie-Chantal (Day 3)
Princess Haya continued her couture Ascot run in Chanel Couture with a Philip Treacy hat, and on Ladies' Day, Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece joined in the fun also in Chanel Couture and Philip Treacy. I have to say, it's a good combo.
Haya's suit modified from Spring 2015; Marie-Chantal's jacket from Spring 2011

Best in Forehead-Bolters
The Countess of Wessex (Day 2), Autumn Phillips (Day 2), and Princess Eugenie (Day 3)
I was expecting to like this latest batch of Ascot fashions so much. (It is Friday, perhaps I'm feeling generous.) I don't even mind a round of my least favorite sort of hat, the one that doesn't cover much of your head except for maybe parts of your vision because hey who needs that. I like all these three! Sophie's all stripey, Autumn's all springy, and Eugenie's all swingy.
Emilia Wickstead for Sophie; Hobbs for Autumn (h/t Countess of Wessex Blog); Peter Pilotto dress and Helmut Lang blazer for Eugenie
Bonus points to Eugenie for picking just the right shape of blazer to add to that dress. I think this is my favorite Eugenie outfit in a long time, which makes the York sisters my day 2 and 3 faves, which is also something that hasn't happened in a long time. Stranger things have happened at sea...

Who's your Ascot Best Dressed for Days 2 & 3?

Photos: via Getty Images as indicated / Beulah London / Laura Apsit Livens / Style.com / Instagram / ModaOperandi / Hobbs / Saks

Royal Fashion Awards: Royal Ascot 2015, Day 1

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Ascot's first day was a day of statement pieces - the occasional successful one, and then some other statement items which...were also present. Let's discuss:

Best in Surprises
The Queen
I was going to tell you all about how much I love Lilibet in this vibrant cerise from Peter Enrione with an Angela Kelly hat, but every time I look at her I get lost in that brooch and can't find my way out again. This is a VERY EXCITING brooch selection, and you can obvs read all about it at the Vault (Ascot post here, full brooch post here).

Worst in FrankenHats
The Duchess of Cornwall and The Princess Royal
I'm pretty sure Camilla's hat is a perfectly plain brimmed number that just sat right down on top of another, more interesting hat, which is now trying desperately to free itself from below. (Maybe this is why the Duchess of Gloucester's hats always grow those weird stems: safety precaution! No hat's gonna risk sitting on that.) Its saving grace - on top of a busy top half to the outfit underneath - is the single color, but I still can't condone this type of hat-on-hat violence. Which is precisely why Princess Anne's hat gets the real worst in show here.
How many hats had to die in a millinery cage match to make this single mishmash of a chapeau? Somebody needs to put down the glue gun and walk away. Kudos to Anne for still fitting into an outfit from 1980 and all, but please try again in the headgear department.

Most Adequate in Black and White
Lady Sarah Chatto, Autumn Phillips, Princess Michael of Kent
Okay, Sarah Chatto's is brown too, but whatever. It matters not. These are all okay. Mostly, I'd just like to know why Princess Michael didn't go all in with a half black/half white eyepatch.

Most in Need of De-Fussing
Princess Beatrice
This is a bold skirt for her, and I love it! I just wish she'd cut back some of the extra fuss on the shoes and the hat so the skirt could shine, instead of being the third piece in the outfit fighting for your attention.
Roksanda Ilincic skirt

Best Runway Omission
Princess Haya
I wouldn't have thought to turn a couture gown into an outfit for the races, but at least she left off the boots, which were thigh high and vinyl and all over the latest Dior couture runway. Princess Haya (daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, and wife of Sheikh Mohammed, ruler of Dubai) usually stops my heart at least once with her Ascot couture parade each year, but we're not quite there yet on Day 1.
Christian Dior Spring 2015 Couture

Best in Statement Pieces
The Countess of Wessex
Yessssss. This is how you do it! Sophie's white Emilia Wickstead dress is simple enough to let the hat take center stage, but isn't boring on its own. Second place to only Her Maj in my eyes.

Best in Gents
Prince Harry and Mike Tindall
On the one hand, the long reign of terror of Prince Harry's infamous yellow waistcoat, worn to all things for all time, is over - or, at least, temporarily interrupted by a dashing new blue number. (It won Zara Phillips' approval, saying hello in cheery yellow from Paul Castelloe.)
On the other hand, Mike Tindall's curtsey game is strong. So I'll call it a tie.

Who takes home your Ascot Best Dressed Crown for Day 1?

Photos: Via Getty Images as indicated, Moda Operandi, Style.com

Royal National Day of the Week: May 19

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Sunday was national day in Norway, and you know what that means...
It's Bunad Time! One of my favorite Times, second only to Tiara Time. And Big Gowns With Trains Time. And Royal Wedding Time.
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess and their whole family - Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Prince Sverre Magnus, Marius Borg Høiby, and labradoodles Milly Kakao and Muffin Kråkebolle - gather outside their Skaugum home to watch the local children's parade go by. Traditional costume (bunad) all around, and even a festive bow for the pups.
The bunad Mette-Marit wore this year is from Vest-Agder, the county where she grew up. Each version is related to a specific area and M-M has several to choose from, which is a luxury as they are not at all cheap. The craftsmanship is wonderful, and I just love seeing these traditions alive and well.

Next, they joined up with the King and Queen to greet the Oslo children's parade from the balcony of the Royal Palace. Traditional dress is gone, and hats are in place instead. I never give the gents enough credit for upping their own game with top hats here. King Harald and Crown Prince Haakon, consider your brownie points awarded.
With her fedora and her shades, Queen Sonja looks like her efforts to go incognito were deviously foiled by a family that refused to give her the dark coat memo. Crown Princess Mette-Marit's in Prada, and against all odds (Prada = not usually my fave) I am COVETING that coat. Shame about that thing crawling up the side of her head.
Prada Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear

Photos: via Getty Images as indicated and Style.com

Sunday Tidbits for May 17: Some Dresses, Some Sparklies

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Lots coming up on the blog this week: pre-wedding business in Sweden, national stuff in Norway, happenings in Spain, etc. But first, a tidbit or two...

--Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist have a service and reception today for their marriage banns and we'll be looking at that later. For now, they've released some new pictures, and Sofia's wearing a Reiss dress. Happy birthday to Prince CP, by the way - he turned 36 this week!
Foto Mattias Edwall, Kungahuset.se
--The Cannes Film Festival is in full swing, and French actress Clotilde Courau - also known as the Princess of Venice and Piedmont, though she doesn't use the title professionally - always turns up. Her dress is Valentino Couture, and I'm in sheer disbelief that we didn't see it on Crown Princess Mette-Marit first. Probably waiting patiently in that Norwegian closet.

--I'm also intrigued by her jewels, from Bulgari High Jewellery's Giardini Italiani collection. I love mixing stone colors in modern pieces.

--Also in Cannes, minus the evening gown: Prince Félix of Luxembourg. [Luxarazzi]

--Prince Harry continued his cuteness assault in New Zealand following my post earlier this week. Here he is trying his hand at a Maori Haka:


--I am intrigued by the Countess of Wessex's floral dress worn to a ballet performance this week, and am waiting to see it without the jacket. In her down time, she and Lady Louise have been having a blast at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, Savannah and Isla Phillips included. [Countess of Wessex Blog, Daily Mail]

--Over at the Jewel Vault this week, we talked about two of the Duchess of Cornwall's famous pearl chokers.

--And finally, here's a little something to drool over: stunning Cartier jewels auctioned at Sotheby's this past week. We'll be talking about some of the tiaras featured at that auction a bit later on. [YouTube]

Photos: via Getty Images and Kungahuset as indicated
Royal Trip of the Day: May 13

Royal Trip of the Day: May 13

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Do you need a midweek pick-me-up? Okay. Let's talk about Harry.
Day 1 of the New Zealand Tour
Following his time with the armed forces in Australia, Prince Harry embarked on a tour of New Zealand that runs through the end of the week. I'm glad we're nearing the final stages, to be honest with you. I've died several times already, and it just keeps getting worse.

In Sydney, before leaving for New Zealand
I take my hat off to the team that plans his tours. Good grief, these people know exaaaactly what they're doing. Harry's on a charm offensive and no woman, man, child, puppy, or cupcake is safe.

Day 4
For heaven's sake, he's even given an interview about wanting to have kids and wanting someone to share the royal grind with. (I know.)


 Day 1
Also, I warned you about the puppies.

Day 5
On the sartorial level, he's managed to stay out of his blue suit for quite a few engagements, which is great. (...Maybe that didn't come out quite right.)
Day 4
Casual wear and baked goods, I don't know what more you could ask for.

Day 4
I mean... {SOUNDS}

Photos: Chris Jackson, WPA Pool, and Martin Hunter via Getty Images

Royal Outfit Grab Bag of the Day: May 7 (Plus a Programming Note!)

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I've got a big fat grab bag of outfits from our regulars for you today, and then we're off until Sunday. To the clothes!

Princess Elisabeth of Belgium christened a ship yesterday with her parents, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, in attendance. 
Is it, like, international week of ship christening for future sovereigns, or what? First Ingrid Alexandra, now Elisabeth. Anyway, I'm liking her little starter "hat" and her mother can't go wrong with that repeated Dior.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale yesterday in a peony floral dress from the Pia Tjelta by Ti Mo collection.
I think this could just as easily have been worn by Princess Elisabeth above, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Queen Letizia held audiences at Zarzuela Palace last week wearing a Felipe Varela dress repeated from March's trip to France.
Is this one of those Magic Eye things? Is a dolphin going to leap out from the middle if I stare long enough?

Daniel wore a suit that wasn't black or blue! Write it on the calendar! It's so sad that that's worthy of note! But you take what you can get when it comes to the royal men! (Also, apropos of nothing: Victoria, Daniel, Haakon, and Mette-Marit went on a ski trip in Norway together recently. Which is super cute.)

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima attended a ceremony for Remembrance Day in Amsterdam this week.
I do not usually comment on things like this, but I can't help but note how lovely Máx looked here. I like it when events like this warrant a little extra effort.

They also attended the Liberation Day Concert.
And finally, if I focus hard enough on the emeralds - earrings and a butterfly brooch from the family collection - I can pretend that dress that stole feathers from a Big Bird gone goth didn't make a reappearance.

Photos: via Getty Images and Twitter as indicated; Kongehuset Facebook and By Ti Mo

Royal Birthday of the Week: May 5

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Sweden's King Carl Gustaf celebrated his 69th birthday last week as he usually does with music and military outside the palace, and he was quite dashing in his uniform (as was Prince Carl Philip). This year, because he's a grandpa and it's a classic grandparent move, he let his two squirmy granddaughters run the show. "Let" might not be precisely the right word. I trust he won't mind if we focus our attentions elsewhere too.
Princess Estelle couldn't resist displaying a few of her famous dance moves, but she was totally calm in comparison to her cousin Princess Leonore, who used up all her patience charming the pontiff earlier in the week and was good and DONE with sitting still, thankyouverymuch.
Kids will be kids, right? And coats will be coats, by which I mean they will be in beige and in mass at any royal gathering, guaranteed. A trio of Swedish brands for Sofia Hellqvist, Crown Princess Victoria, and Princess Estelle, while Princess Madeleine wore a beige version of the Seraphine coat worn by the Duchess of Cambridge in blue a few months ago. (Madeleine was also in Seraphine for her Vatican visit, a jacket she paired with a dress from another Kate favorite brand, ASOS.)
Coats from left to right: Sofia's from Tiger of Sweden, Madeleine's from Seraphine, Victoria's from Filippa K, and Estelle's from Livly
I can accept this sea of blergh as a background for Estelle's splash of blue and primarily for Queen Silvia's repeated purple cape. Anything to showcase a purple cape.

Since it's a day for grandfather/granddaughter outings:
Over in Norway, Princess Ingrid Alexandra christened the lifeboat Elias for the Norwegian Society of Sea Rescue with some support from her grandfather, King Harald. Throw in a fancy braid and some pretty purple flowers for them both, and you've got yourself a recipe for aww.

Photos: via Getty Images as indicated, SVT video screencaps, Tiger of Sweden, Seraphine, Filippa K, Livly, and Redningsselskapet via Creative Commons

Royal Fashion Awards: Queen Margrethe’s Christiansborg Birthday Dinner

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Queen Margrethe and the Danish royal family were joined for an official dinner for her 75th birthday by fellow European sovereigns, and: YAY. That's all I have to say. Well, I have quite a lot more to say, as you will see from this lengthy and picture-laden entry, but that's the gist of it.

A couple notes: If we’ve covered these jewels in the past (and we usually have!), there will be a link. Most of these people are wearing the light blue Order of the Elephant from Denmark, which is usually given to sovereigns and their spouses, plus those in the Danish family. If foreign royals are wearing a different sash, it’s because they haven’t had a chance to receive the Order of the Elephant yet (they’re usually given at state visits, and occasionally at other times; here's my explainer post on that).

Now, to the awards:

Best in Coincidences
Queen Margrethe
Tuesday’s post featured a flashback to an epic Margrethe outfit using the Floral Aigrette Tiara and pieces of the ruby, diamond, and pearl set from the crown jewels – and that’s precisely what she gave us again! And in a flowing red dress, because why not? She is the birthday girl, after all. (And she flew solo, because Henrik is out with the flu.)


Best in Repeats
Crown Princess Mary
You saw me die over this Birgit Hallstein gown when Mary wore it previously. And then you saw me die over it in another format when Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wore something similar to the New Year’s Court in 2014. And here we go again! Mary paired it this time with the tiara, small earrings, bracelet, and hair clips from the Danish Ruby Parure. This is both stunning and understated – in other words, the perfect choice. And in an inadvertent twin episode, PM Helle wore her version again, too!
Helle Thorning-Schmidt on the right

Best in Old Favorites, Part 1
Princess Marie
Marie loves a good peplum gown and she loves her Diamond Floral Tiara (which is her only solid option for an event like this, having just one other tiara at her disposal which is much more informal), so this navy lace peplum and tiara combo was entirely expected. But it’s also entirely lovely! She's also wearing a brooch from Queen Alexandrine as a pendant, so she's fully loaded with her family heirlooms.

Best in Old Favorites, Part 2
Queen Anne-Marie
I almost did another flashback to the birthday celebrations in 2010 today, which would have featured this exact same gown and Greek Emerald Parure pairing on Anne-Marie. She wears the heck out of her gowns and she wears the heck out of those emeralds, and I can’t say I blame her on either count.

Best in Beach Cover-Up Gravitas
Princess Benedikte
On anyone else, this floaty top layer would be a swimsuit cover-up, tossed on as they flew in from a day at the beach. But Princess B. can carry anything off, and now it's magically part of a gala gown (mind you, the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Fringe Tiara and a solid smattering of diamonds doesn't hurt, either!).

Best in Extended Tiaras
Countess Sussie and Princess Elisabeth
Married to Count Ingolf of Rosenborg, cousin to the Queen, Countess Sussie (on the left) usually brings us a sighting of Queen Alexandrine’s Fringe Tiara, and so it is here. Also a cousin of Queen Margrethe, Princess Elisabeth (on the right) usually brings us a sighting of Princess Thyra’s Sapphire Tiara, and so it was yet again. File both these tiaras under "not a fave, but lovely to see."

Best in Solo Gentlemen
King Harald and Grand Duke Henri
I make no excuses for paying more attention to the ladies around here, but a little love for the gents in attendance without their better halves: Harald and Henri! Dashing in their uniforms all on their own (and I love Harald completing the Scandinavian Sovereign Trio there, which should be the name of their a cappella group). An engagement in New York is occupying Queen Sonja, and I'm not sure what happened to Grand Duchess Maria Teresa.

Best in Splendor Dedication
Queen Silvia
Silvia injured her shoulder a while back, and it appeared she had some sort of support fashioned out of her dress material for her bad arm, not for one second risking her sartorial splendor for some random injury. THIS IS TRUE DEDICATION, PEOPLE. All the applause to you, Queen Sil. (And to your fabulous Leuchtenberg Sapphires too!)

Best in Big Guns
Queen Mathilde
Together with her almost unbearably shiny repeated Armani Privé gown, Mathilde gave us a tiara debut: the full version of the Nine Provinces Tiara! She's worn the bandeau, but this was the first time she's added the top arches in. I think this might be the first time I've actually liked this pointy wall of diamonds, so credit to Mathilde for making that happen.

Most Meh in Understated
Queen Máxima
Well, she can’t bear full responsibility for bringing the jumpy claps every single time, I suppose. And leave it to Máxima to wear a tiki hut skirt and still make my understated list, eh? She went standard with the Diamond Bandeau Tiara, her favorite, but she did pin the brooch from the Stuart Tiara parure to her waist. She's just teasing us, at this point, keeping us waiting for an appearance of the elusive beast itself.

Best in NEW TIARAS!
Queen Letizia
Never mind that Máx went standard, Letizia picked up the slack with an elusive tiara of her own! Made by Ansorena and reportedly a gift from Felipe, we've been waiting years to see this one in action. The center brooch has been seen, but not the tiara. It was nearing apocryphal status, for heaven’s sake, but a foreign tiara engagement proved the perfect place to finally bring it out of hiding.
We will have to give this one the full Tiara Thursday treatment later on (a couple Spanish articles about the tiara: one, two).
I'm reserving judgement until then. But for now, for simply showing us something I had completely given up on, she wins all the jumpy claps!

Stay tuned...the festivities continue with a full day of events tomorrow and another dinner tomorrow. For now:

Who was your best dressed at this dinner?

Photos: Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images, DR1 video, Ansorena

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