Gold Star: Máxima in the Evening

I added Máxima's evening attire to the post on her inauguration gown, but I'm gonna feature her again because it needs to be said: girlfriend looked good. It was her second Jan Taminiau look for the day (huzzah! Can we get a switch to mostly Taminiau instead of...well, you know?), a burgundy-purpleish lace number with an elegant neckline and just enough train to make it count without dragging her down.

 

This was worn to the water pageant and the dinner following, and unfortunately because it was outdoors and on the water she ended up covering that masterful dress with a wrap (two wraps, part of the time) for most of the evening. But the dress wasn't the only sparkling thing: this was no tiara event, but Queen Máx still wore diamond stars in her hair, because she's our girl.

Video: A stop on the river cruise, and the gown in action

The King was in black tie, while the princesses wore their Natan dresses from earlier in the day with capes also provided by Natan.

Bea was there too, in purple no less. Once again, she's not only color-coordinated with Máx, but they're jewel-coordinated too - notice the diamond stars on her shoulder - and I am once again charmed by their teamwork. Bea's accompanied there by her sister Margriet, wearing Addy van den Krommenacker, as several members of the family were.

Left to right: Mary, Mette-Marit, Letizia, Mabel, Victoria

The royal guests were there too, though this was not their event and their presence was subtle. Mary repeated her gown from the Luxembourg wedding, and managed to sneak in some bits from her ruby parure (major earring alert!), so she was my default fave. Mabel's surprisingly understated in her Viktor & Rolf, but still all bow-ed up. (I've heard from several of you that the bow on her shoulder at the inauguration was, according to reports, in fact a bow from her wedding dress, which just breaks my heart. She looked especially emotional all day.)

Christina, Juliana, Annette, Sophie, Laurentien

Annette's wearing her inauguration dress without the jacket. I thought it was curiously dramatic with, and without I'm in love.

Mathilde, Margarita, Mozah, Aimée, Marilène, Irene

Plenty of glitter and sparkle among the guests, you know I approve. I loved Victoria's hardware above, and - this will come as a shocker - Mozah's particularly enchanting to me. (Some of you called her day outfit scary. No, my loves, no. We call that fierce.)

Gold stars nearly all the way 'round, don't you think?

And oh yes, before I forget, there was a brunch today for those still around, and then the royal family departed the palace to get back to business.

NOS has a short video of a few of the guests departing, click here to see. And click here to see Princess Beatrix leaving, once again with cheers of "Bea Bedankt" ("Thanks Bea") in the background.

Photos: NOS/PPE/DutchPhotoPress/Getty Images

Weekly Royal Fashion Awards: March 10-16

Best in Additions

The Duke of Cambridge

Video: Presenting shamrocks to the Irish Guards for St. Patrick's Day

The Duchess is very glow-y and happy and hair-up-y and that's all good. But I'm digging Cambridge #2 this week and I have my reasons. First, he has a new addition to his uniformed fanciness - he was just made an Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, and has the gold braid at his shoulder to prove it. And second, glasses (at the Cheltenham Festival).

Best in Purses

Princess Letizia

Attending the Discapnet Awards; at a concert organized by the Prince of Girona Foundation

I like her sparkly clutch. Yes, I'm reaching.

Best in Shoes

Princess Máxima

Attending a meeting; opening an art event (with and without coat); participating in NL Doet volunteering day

Uh...I honestly think the bowling shoes are an improvement over some of her other clunkers.

Best in Effort

Crown Princess Victoria

At the farewell ceremony for the President of Turkey; the return concert hosted by the Turkish president

Again, Victoria's tried a little hair ornamentation...not sure I'm a fan, but A for effort given the circumstances. (We won't be covering Lilian's funeral now, either. Too sad.)

Who did you like last week?

Pssst: Look for a post on the Pope's inaugural mass later in the week!

Photos: Getty Images/SCP/ANP/Parool/All Over Press

Gold Star: The Duchess and the Updo

Hey, look at this bit of colorful, lacy, floaty, delicate loveliness:

 In Jenny Packham at the Team GB gala Friday

No, seriously - LOOK:

Gold star: awarded for letting us know that one is practicing one's tiara hair, even though our wait to see one in another tiara will probably be much too long. Gorgeous.

(Now that we have that sorted, Catherine, can we chat about getting the hubs a new tux? Great, thanks.)

Photos: Pacific Coast News/WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe/Zimbio

Week in Review: Crown Princess Mary, 1-7 January

1. a) Nytårskur and Nytårstaffel, the New Year's Court and Banquet, 1 January, with b) a look at her jewels: the Danish Ruby Parure Tiara, hairpieces from the leftover pieces of her tiara makeover, the parure earrings with a dark pearl drop, and the brooch from the parure with another pearl substituted for the diamond and ruby pendant at her waist. All worn with the collar and star of the Order of the Elephant, plus her brooch portrait of Queen Margrethe on her shoulder.
2. Shopping, 2 January.
3. a) Nytårskur, New Year's Court reception for the Diplomatic Corps, 3 January. I realized later in videos that Mary had a brooch in her hair, which you can just barely see (b).
4. Nytårskur, New Year's Court reception for representatives of various organizations, 4 January, in a repeated court dress from Heartmade designer Julie Fagerholt. This is one of my personal favorite Mary outfits.

Though all the gowns from this year were repeats from past New Year's Courts, two of them appeared with significant alterations. The big changes in dress #1 had some questioning whether it was actually a repeat or a brand new gown. The tailor that made the alterations, Birgit Hallstein, spoke to Billed Bladet and explained that extra fabric was purchased when the initial gown was made for future alterations, thus allowing her to craft an entirely new top and sleeves and make alterations to the hips and skirt area. (Precisely what some of you were guessing at, you smart cookies.)

Do you think the alterations were for the better? I like the red dress either way, but I can't say I'm in love with the changes to the blue dress.

Photos: BT/SN/Seoghoer/MSN/Billed Bladet

Flashback Friday: Silvia and Her Tiara Hair

You didn't think we were going to talk about tiara hair without spending some time on the ladies that do it best, did you? Of course not.

Obviously, that means the Swedish ladies, and the queen of them all in every way, Queen Silvia. You wouldn't have guessed it from her royal debut...

An engaged Silvia Sommerlath, 1976

...but Queen Silvia is the one royal lady with a true sense of adventure when it comes to her evening hair. I suppose it only takes one or two Nobel Prize banquet dinners, at which the photographers come right up and snap from behind you, to realize that you're better off giving them something to focus on.

Over the years, she's given us plenty of basic tiara 'dos with the volume kicked up to 10 or so.

But she's at her best when she kicks that volume right up to 11. Were all of these good ideas, in hindsight? No, perhaps not. But that just makes it more entertaining for us.

There were cascades of curls and knots and braid-like formations:

And then actual braid formations - "formation" here meaning a truly structural phenomenon...

This is not really what I had in mind when I said ladies can use a discreet plait to help hold a tiara in place.

I suppose it's natural for popular culture to creep in, as unfortunate as that may be when one is a queen through the Star Wars years. The half-Leia pastry formations continued well past the proper galactic time frame, though.

Perhaps they extended long enough to inspire Queen Amidala's look? I wonder what her hair is wrapped around. What's underneath there? Styrofoam? Snacks for later? Is this the original sock bun?

As entertaining as Silvia's hair can be, sometimes there's a real reward back there for those that care to look.

Flowers, sure, why not? You know I'm really talking about the jewels here. Extra strands of pearls and diamonds, brooches (including half of the arrow brooch that pierced Victoria's chignon at her pre-wedding dinner)...because sometimes a tiara is just not enough. In conclusion: I love Queen Silvia. Even though she's toned it down in the last couple years, we'll always have the memories.

Do you have a favorite Silvia tiara 'do?

Photos: Corbis/IBL/BEW/Svenskdam

Wedding Wednesday (on a Thursday): Royal Bridal Updos, Part 2

Previously, on Order of Splendor... (it's just like a soap opera, guys) we took a freakishly long look at royal brides and their updos. And we left off with this gem:

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, and a little taste of what's coming at you right now. Today we finish up all things fancy in royal bridal updos with the ladies that really went for it. I mean, if Team Updo had mascots, these ladies would be it, hair do's and hair don'ts included.

Don't Date Yourself...

Hair styles come and go just like the rest of fashion. This is one of the problems with an updo: you might accidentally stick yourself permanently in the past.

L to R: the Princess Royal; Duchess Marie von Württemberg; Princess Caroline of Monaco; Princess Michael of Kent

Oh, Princess Anne. She really is the MVP of Team Updo; seriously, I think she sleeps in one. The hair really adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the Star Wars feel of this gown, no? With her simple fringe tiara and light veil, she had room to show off her beehive, which dates her to the 1970s bride she actually was. This isn't a major updo in scale, just in style. Also dated, but curiously to the wrong era, is Marie von Württemberg. She married in 1993, but that Anne-esque do comes straight out of the another decade.

Speaking of Star Wars, next up is Princess Caroline at her first wedding. (Anne predates Princess Leia, by the way. Caroline has no such excuse.) Earmuffs made of some kind of baby's breath-looking flower are no substitute for a tiara. Princess Michael went for a fancy substitute for a tiara at her civil wedding, being that not even she can pull off the tiara-and-suit combo. It might be the first time something qualified as "fancy" while also appearing to use a fisherman's net in its construction. Actually, this isn't really an updo, but it's so done I'll just stick it here.

Hair on Show

I suppose it takes a long time to whip up these creations. Might as well make them the star of the show, right?

L to R: Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon; Viscountess Linley; Queen Rania of Jordan; Princess Alexandra of Denmark at her first wedding and then as Countess of Fredericksborg at her second

Princess Margaret put her hair on show as the backdrop for the fantastic Poltimore tiara, the height and dazzle of which was all designed to give this pint-sized royal some extra height on her big day. When Serena Linley married Margaret's son, she opted for shameless flattery with a look designed to mimic Margaret, right down to the hair. Queen Rania made a similar move at her wedding, though instead of a tiara she just choked off her updo with a bedazzled hair ornament to match her dress.

And then we have the lovely Princess Alexandra (now Countess of Fredericksborg), a lady that loved a ferocious updo even more than the Swedish ladies and their fancypants Nobel Prize hair. Not only did she opt for a serious barnet at her first wedding to Prince Joachim, she went the Rania route at her second wedding too. No offense to Joachim's current wife, Marie, but I quite miss Alex. Well, her stylist, at least. 

MAJOR Updos
Occasionally, the hair is the entire point of the show.

Just like Princess Michael: not an updo, per se, but deserving of a place in the category nonetheless. This is Princess Victoria of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and she wins the You Did What? With Your Veil? prize.

This is Isabel and she is the Duchess of Braganza. She wins our ribbon for Most Precariously Placed Tiara.

This is Princess Clotilde d'Orléans. And she wins the crown for Most Disappointing Front View. Such a wee tiara (hair ornament? bracelet?) and so far back. Not a good combo.

And now, to finish us out, more ladies from the house of Württemberg: truly a family of updo lovers.

This is Princess Diane of France, Duchess of Württemberg, and I'll bestow upon her the prize for Most Likely Assembled by Fairies and/or Singing Birds.

And this is her daughter, Duchess Fleur of Württemberg. Is this 'do a tribute, or is it just in the genes? Either way, she wins the title of Most Likely to Have Been Caught In a Flower Storm Just Before the Ceremony.

Et en fin:

This is Diane's other daughter, Duchess Mathilde of Württemberg. And she wins the prize for Ruining Team Updo For Me.

How about you: is there a point at which you hop off the updo train? Or are you keen to ride it straight into gimic territory?

Wedding Wednesday (on a Tuesday): Royal Bridal Updos, Part 1

Yes, that's right, Wednesday's coming three times this week. (Three. Eh, it's a holiday week, right?) All the royals seem to have gone into hiding last week, depriving us of our usual amount of review posts to chat about. So, I'm taking the lovely Katherine up on her post request from last Wednesday. Katherine wanted to see royal brides from Team Updo, and I thought it best to oblige; you never know, she could really be Catherine, just cleverly disguised.

As I told you last week, the number of brides with updos seriously outweighs the number of brides with flowing locks. So settle in, let's get started:

Updos Because You Have To

Some royal brides end up pulling their hair back because any other choice would be an utter disaster, basically.

Case in point: Princess Maxima. Her wedding day look featured a strong collar, a statement tiara, and a hefty veil. Hair down would have been complete chaos; pulling it back to a regal updo hidden under the veil was just the ticket.

Princess Letizia had the same situation: high collared dress, lace veil, tiara. And thankfully she chose the same solution. An excellent choice, especially since she's such a petite thing.

Princess Mathilde's wedding look falls in this category as well. Goodness, I do love a high collar on a wedding gown. It just screams regal, especially in a cold weather wedding (December for Mathilde).

And more! Big veils, head caps, tiaras, and so on:

Left to Right: Princess Grace of Monaco; Princess Annette of Orange-Nassau; Infanta Elena of Spain; Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria

Nobody does elegance like Grace. And Marie Christine's such a cute Archduchess (and new mum!). That's the way to pull the hair back but still frame your face properly.

L to R: Princess Alexandra of Kent; Crown Princess Pavlos of Greece; Queen Paola of the Belgians; Princess Anita of Orange-Nassau; Infanta Cristina of Spain

Cristina's wedding hair will always rank among my favorites. Just lovely in every way, and perfect swept up and away from the shoulder line of her gown.

More coming at you after the jump!

Veil Hangers

The hair may not be the star of the show, but that doesn't mean it can't be useful. After all, you have to attach your veil to something.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit's hair was pulled back simply, the perfect complement to her minimalist gown, tiara, and makeup. She covered up the knot on the back of her head by hanging her veil right on it.

Crown Princess Victoria did the same thing, really allowing the heirloom Cameo Tiara and the family veil to be the stars of the show, right alongside her million-watt smile.

It's quite a common solution to the "How will I attach my veil?" question, really.

L to R: Princess Märtha Louise of Norway; the Duchess of Parma; Princess Astrid of Belgium; Princess Marilène of Orange-Nassau; Queen Silvia of Sweden; Princess Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark

I may not have been a fan of Tatiana's gown, but I do enjoy the hair.

Tiara Support

It's one of the prime reasons to pull one's hair back at a royal wedding: tiaras need a proper nest from which to shine.

These lovely ladies anchored veils and let their tiaras sparkle to the nines:

L to R: the Duchess of Anjou; Lady Helen Taylor; Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg; Lady Sarah Chatto

Maria Teresa's wedding hair is just perfect, in my opinion. It perfectly echoes the shape of the simple diamond tiara she wore.

L to R: Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau; Princess Claire of Belgium; Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg; Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands; Lady Rose Gilman

 Lady Rose makes my list of favorites here; just the perfect pedestal to display the Gloucester Iveagh Tiara.

The Importance of Being Neat

An updo is not a free ticket to bridal hair success, unfortunately.

I may be firmly on Team Updo, but that doesn't mean I can't acknowledge that it's not a foolproof strategy.

L to R: the Duchess of Gloucester; the Countess of Ulster; Autumn Phillips after her wedding and shaking it at her reception

Now, I love the Duchess of Gloucester, and her attire was perfectly suited to her country wedding with zero royal fanfare (remember, she and Prince Richard weren't supposed to be the future Duke and Duchess at that time). But I can't shake feeling that this is just the kind of quick sweep back I used to do in junior high, before volleyball practice. At least she's not wearing a scrunchie. Now, her daughter-in-law Claire, the Countess of Ulster, looks mostly neat, but those two bits hanging out at the front just look so sad. They look like they've been forgotten. At the very least, they've clearly forgotten their curl. And Autumn, well, she started out neat and tidy and her hair went downhill from there, devolving into a ponytail sort of thing by the reception. To her credit, the happy bride looks as though she could care less, bless her boogieing heart.

The Bigger the Hair...

Updos aren't always easy to accommodate within the tiara + veil scenario. Some have more success than others.

Updos can get big. And while that can be fabulous, it can also be problematic when you add a veil to it. This is my problem with Crown Princess Mary's wedding look.

That's some big hair, right? I'd love to see it without the veil, but I'm distracted by the way it's covered. When you make a veil summit the top of Mount Updo, it's bound to have difficulty climbing back down. In this case, it's folding over her head. And it's anchored with the wee tiny tiara she was given as a wedding present, which I think is just not up to the task of holding this look together. Makes me wish she'd gone all out, bucked the white tradition, and used her major ruby tiara instead. (Yoohoo, intrepid photoshoppers of the Internet: any of you feel like giving me a taste of what that might have looked like?)

These ladies also had fairly big hair, though I don't notice it as much as I do with Mary:

L to R: Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark; Princess Marie of Denmark; Princess Aimée of Orange-Nassau; Queen Margrethe of Denmark; Princess Margriet of the Netherlands

See, Margriet solved her problem by just sticking the veil right on top of Mount Updo.

Do you have a favorite updo strategy? Who here makes your list of favorites?

AND! We're not done. Stay tuned for Part 2 on Thursday, when we will discuss the ladies that really went all out in the name of Team Updo. (Think: Margriet and more!)

Wedding Wednesday: Brides with Flowing Locks

We are a week and some change away from Kate and William's wedding, and the rumor mill has reached a fever pitch. I don't know about you, but I've reached a personal fever pitch of numbness; I just can't get too excited about any of these "facts" that are emerging. At this point, I'm just rooting for the couple to keep all the secrets they want to keep and surprise us properly on the big day.

One such rumor is the supposed confirmation from Kate's hairdresser that she will wear her hair down and "flowing" on the big day, which made me wonder: how often has this been done in the past? And what kind of a success rate such a strategy has achieved?

We'll start with the brides that had no choice but to wear their hair down, since it was too short to wear it any other way.

Left to Right: Diana, Princess of Wales; Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg; Crown Princess Margarita of Romania; Sophie, Countess of Wessex

Diana's signature hairstyle fell prey to the July weather, and her fringe suffered a monumental collapse. Marie-Astrid was sporting similar hair at the time of her 1982 wedding, but she was able to do something with a little more style, which turned out quite nicely. The chief triumph of both Marie-Astrid and Margarita's styles is that they managed to conceal the bases of their tiaras, which is so key. The tiara frame is what ruins Sophie's wedding hair for me; she's had much greater success with that tiara now that she's grown her hair out a bit and has some styling options.

Hair down and short under the bridal veil and tiara (where required) was much more common a few decades ago, when royal ladies were teasing their bobs as high as they could reach and shellacking them in place with hairspray.

L to R: sisters Queen Beatrix, Princess Irene, and Princess Christina of the Netherlands

We will pause here and bow our heads to the royal ladies that have yet to give up this hair strategy (ahem, Beatrix above and Fabiola and Sofia below).

L to R: sisters Princess Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleberg and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece; Queen Sofia of Spain

L to R: Katherine, Duchess of Kent; Queen Fabiola of Belgium; Queen Sonja of Norway

Really, though, some of these ladies are so coiffured they might as well have an elaborate updo. There's no "flow" to be had anywhere above, so I'm not sure any of these count towards our purpose here.

Wearing the hair down is quite common among royal ladies at their second (or third) weddings, which usually doesn't entail a tiara.

L to R: Princess Lilian of Sweden at her 2nd wedding to Prince Bertil; Princess Caroline of Monaco at her 2nd wedding to Stefano Casiraghi and at her 3rd to Prince Ernst August of Hanover; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at her 2nd wedding to Prince Charles

Lilian and Camilla both have the kind of hair that you don't change for any occasion, while Caroline went for white and a veil and an updo at her first wedding and strayed from that appropriately at her second and third ceremonies.

UPDATE: I forgot about Princess Anne's 2nd wedding! She married Tim Laurence in a half-up/half-down 'do.

Anne went the opposite direction: whereas most ladies wear their hair down usually and up for a special occasion, she abandoned her usual updo for her special day and let half of her hair down. (Thanks to Stuart in the comments for reminding me!)

Now, of course, tiaras aren't at all a royal wedding requirement. (Yet. My petition is pending.) We have several royal ladies that have opted to wear their hair down while going tiara-free.

L to R: Princess Noor of Jordan; Princess Haya of Jordan, Sheikha of Dubai; Queen Noor of Jordan

I'm a particular fan of Princess Noor here; the cloak-like veil is a perfect complement to the length of her hair. Queen Noor's the only one I'm not big on; it's awfully plain for a Queen!

L to R: Princess Tessy of Luxembourg; Princess Stephanie of Monaco; Sophie Winkleman (Lady Frederick Windsor); Lady Davina Lewis (daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester)

In these cases, Tessy and Davina's half updos really give them a sweet and girlish look that I think works with their bridal styles, and the styles of their weddings too (neither wedding was all that "royal", so to speak). Stephanie's style fits in too; she wore a short, tight wedding dress, for heaven's sake. We should all be thankful she didn't try and add a tiara or a veil. Sophie's headband (which looks like something any one of us could buy at a bridal shop) is the closest we come to tiara here. I have to say, even with such minimal ornamentation, I wish she would've had her hair up.

In the realm of royal brides that had a) longer hair, b) wore it down, and c) also wore a tiara, we don't have much to review. It is far more popular to pull one's hair back.

L to R: Queen Elizabeth; Sarah, Duchess of York; Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco

The Queen just kept her regular hair style at the time and put a tiara and veil on top (she's never been one for fancy 'dos, really), while Sarah and Lalla Salma both opted to let their ginger curls speak for themselves. I think Lalla Salma's the only one really pulling off the goddess look here. Fergie and the Queen...well, I'm so used to seeing their wedding pictures as they are, I can't even picture a different hair style.

To get a few more examples of long hair worn with wedding tiaras, we need to open our field to include some aristocratic weddings.

L to R: Victoria Lockwood, the former Countess Spencer; Lady Katie Percy; Camilla Parker-Bowles (at her first wedding to Andrew Parker-Bowles); Laura Parker-Bowles

Victoria Lockwood was the first wife of Diana's brother, the Earl Spencer. She encountered the unfortunate combination of flowing locks and damp weather, and not even the sparkle of the Spencer tiara could save the day. Another unforgettable turn came earlier this year with Lady Katie Percy and her crooked tiara. Not successful at all in my opinion, but I am glad she restrained herself from adding a tilted veil on top of it all. Switching back to our short, coiffed glam, Camilla's first wedding saw her decked out in her family's tiara, just like her daughter did years later. I'll give Laura the prize for making the long hair + tiara bridal look work the best: there's enough of the hair pulled up to keep it from looking straggly, yet it still cascades down her back.

Now, final verdicts: I'm on Team Updo. (Because: it's your wedding day, be fancy! Why risk looking unkempt when you can do that all the other days of your life?) Are any of these ladies making the flowing royal bridal locks work for you, or would you like to join my team?