Queen Letizia repeated in a big way last week:
Hello again,
Felipe Varela worn to King Felipe's proclamation, dittoed right down to the small bow decoration of the Order of Charles III. I think it's improved this time by her updo, actually, which of course is the same thing I say regarding any old updo. At least I'm consistent.
I was surprised she wore this outfit again, just like I was surprised to see
Queen Máxima repeat her own inauguration outfit this year. I guess I assumed the historic nature of these outfits would throw them under the one-and-done category, packed up and saved for an exhibit 25 years from now or something. Wrong then, wrong now. (CONSISTENCY.)
This was a ceremony for the delivery of the national flag to the 11th National Teach Zone of the Civil Guard, and it's a pretty formal event. She's wearing one of her most important outfits, but she's doing so because she's breaking with an even more formal dress code that existed for these types of events during the last reign. (Or so I am hypothesizing.)
To illustrate my point:
Letizia at a similar ceremony for the Civil Guard in 2005
All black with a mantilla and peineta (the large comb underneath) and a full length skirt used to be the dress code for this sort of thing. It is (it
was) a nod to old formal dress, brought back by Queen Sofia over the years of King Juan Carlos' reign, something she settled into and passed to other female members of the family that took on these types of events.
Queen Sofia, similar ceremony in 2013
Queen Letizia's white suit last week was another sign that she will be doing things her own way. That's not surprising; there are certainly things that need modernizing and fixing in the monarchy, and she and Felipe have shown that they are ready to make changes. Not bad, just different.
Infanta Cristina, similar ceremony in 2006
That said, since this is a place for frivolous concerns and this is
apparently my week to express my love for any sort of nationally specific sartorial thing - man, I hope the whole pieneta thing isn't gone from the royal scene for good now.
It's just very regal, no? And
special, something different from the norm to mark an occasion here or there. Oh well. Once again, my personal interests have been totally ignored in the decision making process of a monarchy in a country to which I don't belong. {DRAMATIC SIGH}
Photos: via Getty Images as indicated
