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Showing posts with label Purple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purple. Show all posts

Royal Outfits of the Day: Accessory Interest with Kate and Mary

First: The royal family announced yesterday that they will stream Princess Eugenie's wedding via the Royal Family and Duke of York social media sites and YouTube. That will be open to all, so huzzah for those in countries not broadcasting and those without cable. We will have an open post for the occasion.

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The Duchess of Cambridge opened the V&A's Photography Centre last night.
Wasn't planning on doubling up on Kate posts this week, but then she went and wore one of the most interesting things she's worn in quite some time. I loved this Erdem dress when Carey Mulligan wore it last year and I love it now. Plus, we're dabbling in purple (-ish, just let me have this one) accessories again. So you know I approve.

Erdem dress
(Might actually like it in the shorter retail version if you're going to add the belt, though? And then leave the longer without the belt, like Carey Mulligan did? Not a deal breaker either way.)

The Danish royal family attended a performance celebrating 100 years of Iceland's independence last night.
Crown Princess Mary has also been dabbling in purple accessories. Now, the shoes here almost look like she mismatched the dress color, but it appears she's also wearing her amethyst earrings, which says intentional. I don't think the overall thing is working. So I'm gonna blame that on the dress. (Princess Marie has a late entry to our green theme, you can click through the rest of the family above.)
October 11, 2018

Royal Outfit of the Day: Kate Repeats in Purple

Purple is a worthy reason to break our green streak.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit yesterday.
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This orchid Emilia Wickstead is returning from the family's visit to Germany. Crisp, clean, vibrant; full marks. The bit that seems to be causing the most excitement this time around is the handbag, because it is rare to see Kate with something with a handle. (Not totally unheard of, but rare enough.)

Aspinal of London bag
It's lilac! And it's cute. Now if I can just get her one of my informational pamphlets from the Purple Is A Neutral To Go With Everything Society (still workshopping the name, okay) to ensure that we'll continue to see this bag in the rotation, we'll be in business.
October 10, 2018

Breaking Jewel News: A New Tiara for Princess Marie

Fall state visit season kicked off with a surprise! And from one of the people who needed some additional tiara variety the most, doubling the good news at hand here.

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That's right, tiaras were out in Denmark this evening as the Danish royal family hosted a state banquet for the President and First Lady of France during their state visit, and Princess Marie - French herself, you know - used it as an occasion to debut a NEW TIARA!!!! (Caps and exclamation points entirely necessary.) The tiara appears to be an intricate floral design with a central blue stone, looks like sapphire. I don't place it as one from the Danish vaults; perhaps it is a new acquisition (just speculation). Princess Marie and Prince Joachim did celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary earlier this year.

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Marie almost always wears her Diamond Floral Tiara, so a little variety is great news for her. (She supposedly has use of the Flora Danica Tiara as well, but she's only worn it once.) This is a winner of an appearance all around - that's the best gala dress she's worn in a long time, definitely best of the year level. Heaven at Princess Marie's Closet confirms it is from Rikke Gudnitz.

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No one else was slacking in the gem department for this state visit from the late Prince Henrik's home country, either. Queen Margrethe chose the Pearl Poire Tiara and picked up the red sash of France's Legion of Honor with a set of diamonds, rubies, and pearls (necklace, earrings, brooch) from the Danish crown jewels.

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Crown Princess Mary wore the Danish Ruby Parure Tiara, which is still a rare choice for her for a state visit, although she's been using it more frequently. Her dress is a revamped repeat; she added an over the shoulder sash to an existing Lasse Spagenberg dress. I love the tiara and I loved that dress the first time around, but together...this is not working for me. Combined with the blue of the French National Order of Merit, there's just too much going on.

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And finally, a floaty floral Princess Benedikte added her two sparkly cents with her own largest tiara option, the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Fringe Tiara. You know I never say no to a good fringe.

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Here's the arrival. Always such a comedown when I stick that after the gowns n' sparkle. Sorry, arrival looks. It's not your fault. This is interesting, though: Mary's dress is also owned by Crown Princess Mette-Marit. And maybe some more once word gets out, I can think of a number of royal ladies who go for this style right now.


UPDATE: Princess Marie's new tiara is a mystery no more! Heaven at Princess Marie's Closet discovered the details. Called the "Nuits Claires" Tiara, it was a collaboration between French jeweler Mauboussin, who wanted to make a royal tiara, and Princess Marie, who was a part of the design process. The tiara is made of palladium white gold and features a floral background of diamonds and sapphires, with a central pear-shaped 6.82 carat sapphire. Mauboussin owns the tiara and will loan it to Marie for gala occasions, similar to the arrangement behind the Midnight Tiara worn by Crown Princess Mary. Princess Marie also wore a matching ring on loan from Mauboussin. Her earrings are not part of the set; she has been wearing them for a few years now.



August 28, 2018

Royal Dress of the Day: Monday Sparkle from Mary

Mary's back again with some sparkle n' swish to open your week.

Crown Princess Mary and Princess Benedikte attended a gala performance in honor of Tivoli's 175th anniversary last week.

Tory Burch silk chiffon dress (h/t to Heaven)
This pleasingly walks the line between a maxi dress for just, you know, kickin' around, and a serious blinged up gown, no? A teensy touch of sparkle in a sporty way. Perfect for the occasion. (Bonus points awarded for using the necktie as a belt. Because a necktie, really?)

August 20, 2018

Royal Outfits of the Day: British Royals Celebrate the RAF Centenary

Royal Family
Big time gathering of the Windsors yesterday! They all met up to do their usual thing (watch military parades, attend church services, watch flypasts, all that jazz) in honor of the 100th birthday of the Royal Air Force.

Royal Family
Leading the way was the Queen, of course, but since she has a whole blog to herself (you know the drill, clicky click for Jewel Vault fun), we'll kick it off with the Duchess of Cornwall and the second version this week of her personal summer white uniform. Prince Charles headed up the royal men, almost all of them wearing their Royal Air Force uniforms. (One of my faves!)

Westminster Abbey
I don't think the Duchess of Cambridge was on the advance list of royals expected, but how could she miss an opportunity to debut the third in this series of almost-the-same-but-not bespoke Alexander McQueen coats? She paired it with a hat by Sean Barrett.

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The bigger story was her jewels. Like many of the royal ladies, she wore the badge of an RAF organization with which she's affiliated: she's Honorary Air Commandant of the RAF Air Cadets, and this is the Air Cadets Dacre Brooch. (More on the brooch and a close up here, when she first wore it.) Her earrings are the Diamond Pendant Earrings on loan from the Queen.

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The Duchess of Sussex wore Dior with two things we know she loves: a boat neck and a belt. Feels like classic Dior, very elegant. The Stephen Jones hat added the right amount of interest. (Because the But What Color Is It REALLY? debate always seems to consume some folks, let's handle it: Dior calls it black in their press release, and it looks deep navy in action. Doesn't really matter either way.)

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The Countess of Wessex also enjoyed a bit of hat foof (technical term) for the RAF's big day. Both the Jane Taylor hat and the Suzannah dress are repeats here. She doubled up on her brooches, wearing a Dior brooch underneath her small RAF badge.

Westminster Abbey
Every time the Princess Royal wears this outfit (which is a lot because, you know, Anne), I think she's pinned a prize rosette at her waist. A prize rosette in the festive color of brown.

Royal Family
Rounding out the rest of the fam, the Duchess of Gloucester made sure they filled their mandatory navy quota for the day, Princess Michael wouldn't have been hurt by a shorter jacket, and Princess Alexandra smiling in purple will certainly make me smile in return.

Westminster Abbey, Royal Family
Ending this on the rest of the uniforms feels about right: the Duke of York, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael.
July 11, 2018

Tiara Watch of the Day: The Belgium/Australia State Visit


Programming Note: The blog returns Monday!

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde welcomed Australia's Governor-General and his wife for a state visit to Belgium yesterday, thus keeping us in tiara watching fun for a second time this week. (Thanks, Mathilde.)

Belgian Monarchy
Only the very grandest of settings will do for a state banquet! (This is at the Castle of Laeken.) Mathilde did not bring the grandest of tiaras - not a surprise, she tends to adjust her bling based on the guest - but longtime readers will already spot what I love here.

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PURPLE! Purple on top of purple, even. The dress almost looks blue here, it's very much on the cool violet/periwinkle end of things while the sash of the Order of Leopold is much warmer. I shall not let that get in the way of a good purplefest.

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She added in her diamond butterfly brooch, diamond and pearl earrings, and the Wolfers Necklace Tiara from Queen Fabiola.

The fabric shown on the runway, Armani Privé Spring 2016
The dress is custom Armani Privé, seen previously at King Carl Gustaf's 70th birthday banquet in 2016, when she also wore the Wolfers Tiara. Her Laurel Wreath Tiara would have been a good one to try here.

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Going backwards in time, the Queen's new Natan for the welcome ceremony has the delicate floral embroidery I love, and she's pulling her accessory color from those details, another thing I love. So it took me a while to figure out what wasn't clicking here for me: I think it's the forehead placement of the hat. I'd love to see her repeat this dress and pull a different accessory color out of the florals.

Speaking of florals, we'll continue to go back in time to last week, when Mathilde was also in a flower power mood:

Queen Mathilde attended the graduation gala at the Royal Ballet School
Belgian Monarchy
Also BIRDS! More animals in the florals, why not? It's got leaves and it's got ruffles, and if you think you smell an Erdem...

Erdem Florence Dress Agar Bird
...you are absolutely correct. She debuted this during the couple's state visit to Canada earlier this year; the designer is Canadian. I like this one on her, I really do.
June 28, 2018

Tiara Watch of the Day: National Day in Luxembourg

If you can start your week with tiaras, do. Right? Luxembourg's grand ducal fam provided over the weekend during the festivities for National Day. We'll start with some less shiny toppers, though: hats at the annual Te Deum.

L to R: Prince Sébastien, Princess Alexandra, Prince Louis, the Grand Duchess, the Grand Duke, Princess Claire, Prince Félix, the Hereditary Grand Duchess, the Hereditary Grand Duke
Grand Ducal Court/Claude Piscitelli
Two hats and two flowers, to be more precise. I love Grand Duchess Maria Teresa when she's in sleek and simple mode; I love her doubly so when she decides to do it in purple. She's my Te Deum winner by a country mile.

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It's a liiiiiiitle weird to me that Princess Claire repeated this Vilshenko dress from National Day two years ago? Like...there aren't that many events in Luxembourg you attend, you know? Anyway, I will give her credit for the improvement of a magenta flower over the pale flower she wore in 2016. Maybe she realized she needed a redo.

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I'd like to give Princess Stéphanie some credit for her hat interest, too, but that dress is making it real hard. She and Guillaume recently announced that they'll be moving to London for some post-graduate studies. I hope she'll carve out some quality shopping time, too.

Stéphanie did bring out the jumpy claps for the evening gala, I will say that. TIARA TIME!

Grand Ducal Court/Claude Piscitelli
Four tiaras! Not a shabby turnout at all. All National Days should have a gala, internationally. Make it so.

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Behold, the aforementioned jumpy claps: Princess Stéphanie didn't just wear the Luxembourg Turquoise Tiara, she added the entire massive necklace from the family collection. A good way to make the small tiara stand out, and also, YUM.

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Princess Claire is once again wearing Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde’s Tiara, which she debuted at the 2016 National Day gala. Her chic white dress is Alexander McQueen (the same style was worn with a tiara by a Danish noblewoman at Crown Prince Frederik's 50th birthday dinner). Stéphanie and Claire, by the way, are both wearing the Order of Civil and Military Merit of Adolph of Nassau. It's Luxembourg's second highest order.

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Princess Alexandra's got a lot going on here, with her Elie Saab of many colors and the sash (the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, like her mother and brothers) and the shawl. She chose to bring out the blue with the Aquamarine Bandeau Tiara.

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The recent break in the Grand Duchess' streak of Belgian Scroll Tiara appearances - at the Danish birthday party - proved to be very short-lived indeed. She's right back to her Scroll antics, complete with what I believe is another Elie Saab gown. My affection for my formerly favorite Lux tiara is waning due to lack of variety and it's concerning. I'm sure Maria Teresa is terribly worried about it, too.
June 25, 2018

Royal Flashback of the Day: Princess Madeleine's Christening Looks

Swedish royal christenings have been very good to Princess Madeleine, sartorially. Or, I should say, she's made them very good. A flashback of her looks during the recent run of Swedish christening fun - and in case you weren't keeping count, that's been a serious run; they've had seven of them in the last six years! - reveals two of my all-time favorite Madeleine outfits and only one I'd say was a disaster. That's not a bad record. Not bad at all. (Click the kids' names to return to the individual christening posts.)

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The first one turns out to be the most forgettable, this lavender belted coat with veil headpiece. I remember it mostly because she made the delicious choice to use diamond drops from the Connaught Tiara as earrings.

Anna-Lena Ahlström/Kungahuset.se
Two years later and it's Madeleine's turn to hold the baby. The first of her three was marked in a lace dress by Valentino which was very sweet and very short and very pink and very veiled. (I still think the veil with nothing much else to it looks silly.)

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Oh, but the second time was the charm, for this is one of those all-time faves. A Valentino so rich for the October season - and such a welcome break from all the pastels these christenings tend to produce - and so perfectly coordinated by bringing the color from the bottom of the skirt up to the fascinator. LOVE.

Anna-Lena Ahlström, Kungahuset.se
She followed that all-time fave with the other all-time fave: the very best royal interpretation of the SLEEVES trend (sorry, Máxima), in a pink Roksanda Ilincic dress. Another fascinator is well deployed here. Best to leave all the volume to the SLEEVES.

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Madeleine has a knack for picking the best from the Erdem pile. (Another example made your Best of 2017 list.) This one was practical, too; left all the froof at home and out of the way for the kid wrangling.

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One disaster, I said. Here it is. (She was pregnant with Princess Adrienne at the time.) The Valentino dress is kind of juvenile and it doesn't work with the coat, which she left on throughout the service. The whole thing feels more haphazard than we've come to expect from her.

Erika Gerdemark, Kungahuset.se
The latest addition to the christening outfit collection is, if nothing else, a return to a totally pulled together look. The Giambattista Valli dress, the flower crown, and the pieces of the Cameo parure make a pretty and carefully coordinated picture. My third favorite of the pack.

How do you rank Madeleine's christening looks?
June 13, 2018

Royal Dress of the Day: Princess Beatrice at the Met Gala

This year's Met Gala had a surprise royal attendee: Princess Beatrice! Or maybe that's not such a surprise at all, since the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual soirée often includes royal and royal-adjacent attendees; Beatrice joins Diana, Princess of Wales, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Queen Rania, Princess Marie-Chantal, Princess Maria-Olympia, Charlotte Casiraghi, and others who have wrangled invites over the years. (Charlotte Casiraghi was also in attendance this year.)

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So how'd she do? While it's not required to dress to the gala's annual exhibition theme, doing so is the entire fun of the event (if you ask me). This year's exhibition is Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. I think Beatrice's Alberta Ferretti look is more along the lines of, "It's kind of Renaissance painting-ish, sorta kinda maybe? Eh, that'll work." And that is actually the category occupied by many of the guests this year, so she was right at home. It was a good match for her for this event. You wouldn't expect her to dig into the religious iconography side of things; she's there for fun on her personal time and not as an official duty, but her grandmother still is who she is.

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Headpieces were one of the biggest trends of the night. I think Bea was wise not to go too tiara-esque here. Keep the events the family would consider tiara-worthy and this sort of just-for-fun thing separate. It's a well played look for this particular guest.

My queen of the night, however, was one who dug all the way into the theme.
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Zendaya absolutely killed it as a modern Joan of Arc in Atelier Versace - the best Versace of the night, and the label dressed a lot of people. This is exactly the kind of costumey fun that makes me look forward to the Met Gala every year. Break out the things you wouldn't wear on any other red carpet, please and thank you. LOVE.
May 09, 2018