Royal Fashion Awards: Ascot 2012, Day 1

The races at Royal Ascot are in full swing, and the royals may be going with a color coordination strategy this year. The ladies busted out the blues today for the first of five days of hatted fashion fun:

Best Start to the Week

Queen Elizabeth

Throwing a wrench into your Ascot brooch bets right from the start, QEII busted out the massive brooch from her Brazilian Aquamarine parure which we don't get to see so often on day duty. I hope this isn’t the only surprise Liz has in store for us this week…

Best in Déjà Vu

The Duchess of Cornwall

Oh, Camilla. When she gets a good outfit (and this one, just seen at the Thames pageant, is), she just runs with it. Even when it makes her look like she only has a handful of outfits in her closet total and breaks the unspoken family color code.

Worst in Walking the Line

Princess Eugenie

There are new dress code rules at Ascot this year, particularly for those in the Royal Enclosure. Fascinators are strictly forbidden, as are miniskirts and puny little straps on your dress. The Ascot powers that be meant business, too: they stationed “Dress Code Attendants” at the gates to judge the riffraff. Leave it to a princess to test the rules in her “it’s a hat but I’ll wear it at a fascinator angle and you can’t stop me, hat police!” chapeau and her “I’ll cover my shoulders but only barely and I won’t make it look good!” dress. What a rebel. Too bad the dress code didn’t specifically address butt ruffles.

Best in Ascot Spirit

The Duchess of Gloucester

Ascot’s supposed to be about nutty hats, but with fascinators out of contention even the only York on point today didn’t bother making a run for it. Birgitte did, though! This is her outfit from William and Kate’s wedding, and the hat’s fierce enough for me to skip right over that ruffle that’s out to strangle our fair duchess. 

Cutest Dress

Princess Haya

Ascot means not just an assortment of Windsors but the always lovely equestrienne Princess Haya of Jordan, wife of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, coming out to play. Doesn’t she just look so friendly? Anyhoo…that’s a super cute dress (from Dior), and I’m a sucker for anything with a whiff of a full skirt. 

Best Dressed

The Princess Royal

Anne, you do surprise. Best Princess Royal outfit ever? Maybe, maybe; it fits like a glove and it's not excessively shiny or anything. Even HRH herself was pumped for her sartorial success.

Who do you say wins the fashion blue ribbon on day 1?

Photos: Getty Images/WPA Pool/Cozycot/Zimbio/Daylife

Week in Review: Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 5-11 June

Here's what Mette-Marit wore from 5-11 June:

1. Opening the Nansen conference on climate change, 6 June. Interesting that the red from the last time she wore this was an added belt.
2. Beginning a trip to New York City to attend the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS with a Youth Summit in New York, 7 June. Love the Valentino shoes and Hèrmes bag.
3. Meeting author Johan Harstad in New York, 7 June.
4. Still in NYC, 8 June. The blazer probably makes this my worst of the week, though I'm all for the Valentino shoes.
5. Last day in New York, 9 June, a) on Mette-Marit and b) from Valentino. Whitewhitewhite this week - and I think I might like it? What's wrong with me? I definitely like this last one. Super cute.

Photos: side2/Style.com/Newscom

Month in Review: Princess Madeleine, August

Here's what Princess Madeleine wore in August:

1.  At Villa Solliden, 1 August.  I can't tell if that's a sweater or a jacket.  But I kinda like it.
2. Evening out with friends, 19 August.  This is a lovely dress, but something I'd expect to see out on a royal engagement, not out for a night on the town.
3. Bernadotte 200th anniversary, 21 August.  A sea of pastel purple.
4. Evening celebration of the Bernadotte anniversary, 21 August.  Simple and lovely, but I wish she hadn't worn black shoes with it.
5. Arriving in Greece, 24 August.
6. Pre-wedding party for Nikolaos and Tatiana, 24 August, a) on the Oscar de la Renta runway and b) in action.
7. Boating in Greece, 25 August.  Here's a princess that never misses a chance to sport a bikini.  And hey, if I looked like that, I'd be the same way.
8. Out and about in Greece, 25 August.
9. Greek wedding, 25 August.  Still looks like produce threw up on her.
10. Changing planes in Copenhagen on the way back from Greece, 26 August.  
11. Attending the 10th anniversary of the "My Big Day" Foundation, 29 August.  I love this!  Every bit the modern girl, but still a princess.  And a great choice for a youth-oriented engagement.
    

Best and Worst of the Week

At first glance, I liked outfit #3.  But looking further...the jacket's adding fictional pounds to her body, the headband looks like something you could buy at the discount store for little girls to play dress up with, and the lavender shoes are taking the color theme a bit too far (and this is coming from a girl that LOVES a purple shoe!).  No competition for the repeated Oscar de la Renta worn to the party the night before the wedding.  Perfection.

Photos: Abaca/PurePeople/PPE/Nieboer/Marcio Madeira/Style.com/Svenskdam/Sevenpixnews/ANP/Diario Feminino

Week in Review: Crown Princess Mary, 8-14 August

Here's what Crown Princess Mary wore the week of 8-14 August:

1.  Taking the kids to school, 9 August.  The most color of the week, and I love it.
2. The Danish Navy's 500th anniversary celebrations, 10 August.  A little plain, but chic and simple.
3. Reception on the royal yacht Danneborg, 10 August.  A repeated dress.  I feel like she needs something else going on here, but anything more would have overwhelmed the dress. 
4. Visiting the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair, 12 August.  Want to make sure everyone knows you've got a bun(s) in the oven?  Stick a belt right where it counts.
5. At the Fashion Fair again, 13 August.  SCREECH.  That's the sound of the week's fashion coming to a major halt.  What is this?
6. Gala celebrating the naval anniversary, 13 August.  Those Danes really do it up for the Navy, don't they?  At this point, our mother to be would have received points simply for not looking totally run down exhausted, but she's fresh as a daisy.

 Best and Worst of the Week

Confession: I am not a big Prada fan.  The ornamentation feels a little Christmas tree-esque to me; you know, stick a doo-dad here, and a thingy over there, and call it good.  Nevertheless, Mary looks stunning in this brown dress.  There's just a little baby bump showing, and the color is playing off her complexion to it's best effect.  It's almost good enough to make up for this Addams Family-esque affair from earlier that same day.  You know, with Letizia unseen for the week on holiday, I thought we'd get a break from the ill-fitting trousers, but oh no.

Photos: Billed Bladet/msn.dk/BEW Photo/Marcio Madiera/Style.com/PPE/Nieboer 

Month in Review: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, June

Here's what Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie wore in June:

Beatrice

1. AEGON Tennis Championships, 10 June.  Clearly not expecting to be photographed.
2. Trooping the Colour, 12 June.
3. Leaving Whiskey Mist bar, 15 June.  Blue must be this princess's favorite color, hmm?
4. Ascot, Day 3, 17 June.  The nuttiest of the Philip Treacy hats she put on display this month.
5. Ascot, Day 5, 19 June.
6. Attending Sentebale reception in New York, 26 June.
7. Attending Prince Harry's polo match in New York, 27 June.  Clearly a short trip to New York, as evidenced by the efficiency of the packing: same jacket and bag as yesterday.
8. Elephant Parade auction, 30 June.

Eugenie

1. Trooping the Colour, 12 June.
2. Ascot, Day 3, 17 June.  All Philip Treacy hats, all the time.  This one is my least favorite.  It's so...random.
3. Ascot, Day 5, 19 June.
4. Working at Christie's in London, 23 June.
5. Christie's, 24 June.
6. Christie's, 25 June.
7. Elephant Parade auction, 30 June.  Must be her favorite necklace.

Best and Worst of the Month

Not a bad month for Bea.  She's looking fantastic these days, after getting in shape for her marathon.  I almost picked #6 as best - seriously, she looked fantastic in NYC - but I the more I look at this flapper-style Ascot getup, the more I love it.  This is the kind of sartorial experimentation a young princess should do; it's so much fun.  Sure, the skirt's a little on the short side, but at least she didn't end up in the same situation Eugenie did.  The white skirt Eug sported at the Elephant Parade was even shorter, but at least she didn't wear that to work.

Photos: Ian Gavan/Getty Images/Newspix/Belga/Enigma/Indigo/ActionPress/BEW/FilmMagic/Stuart Wilson/PA Photos/otherimagepress.com/IBL/John Gichigi/WENN.com

Mary in Washington, Day 3

Ooooohhhhhhh. This is full-on retro glam. I'm in love.

Photo: ANP/AFPPhoto/YuriGripas

This Ralph Lauren Blue Label dress is perfect for this visit to Arlington National Cemetery - it's not a funeral, there's no need for black mourning gear, but at the same time a frock too bright would be out of place.

Photos: Belga/ROYALPRESS/PPE/Nieboer

Going to the trouble of having your shoe fall off just to highlight the fabulousness of your Louboutins is a little extreme, though, Mary. ;)