Royal Outfit of the Day: January 8

Video: The Prince and Princess of Asturias attended the Pascua Militar, a military parade, along with the King and Queen.

Give me a minute to gaze wistfully at these Spanish people, standing around outdoors like it's no big deal, before I have to don five or ten layers and deal with whatever new arctic weather problems have been thrown at North America today. Pfft.

Okay. I'm over it.

Letizia joins us today to stand in solidarity with the Danish serial court dress repeaters. This outfit, a Felipe Varela number featuring a deep blue blazer over a navy velvet dress with a matching blue sash at the waist, was worn to the annual reception for ambassadors in 2011 and to the Pascua Militar in 2012. There's so much bad news surrounding the Spanish royal family at the moment (the scandal surrounding Infanta Cristina and her husband continues to get worse; a poll is making the news rounds, suggesting that a majority of Spaniards want the ailing King Juan Carlos to abdicate; his appearance at this event, looking frail and struggling with his speech, is not quite reassuring), a low key and appropriate sartorial repeat is not at all surprising. Playing it safe indeed.

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Photos: Pool/Getty Images

Flashback Friday: Letizia's Court Dress

As we just saw this week, Pascua Militar in Spain requires a special dress code - a modern court dress, I call it (you can also call it a form of gala dress, and other names I'm sure). There is another event that also uses these outfits, the annual reception for the foreign ambassadors which is held later in January. The Princess of Asturias has been attending these events since 2005, seemingly in sartorial phases.

Those that can't handle repeats should look away: we've got the same jacket used three times in a row for the same event, twice with the same skirt. And this is indeed in a row, because she did not attend either of the events we're looking at today in 2006 or 2007 (she had recently given birth to Infanta Leonor in 2006, and was pregnant with Infanta Sofia in 2007). As much as I love a full skirt, I think I actually like this one better in its initial appearance.

Now we have the red phase - my favorite! It looks like we have the same skirt here, but the jacket in 2005 is different. The 2008-2010 version, though, is amazing! One of my all time favorite Letizia outfits, no question.

Now we're in the belted phase, as I call it. Cummerbunds are the name of the game. And, hey, if anyone's going to have a tight waist phase, it should probably be Letizia. They help her petite frame to not get lost amidst all this fabric.

 

Lately, it seems, we're in a sort of blergh phase. Entirely too easy to draw connections between this sort of color palette and all the messy whatnot surrounding the Spanish royal family these days, and I don't enjoy reading that far into clothing selections. And on that depressing note, we await her next repeat! Happier thoughts now...

Which outfit's your favorite?

Photos: Getty Images/Pool

Random Royal Appreciation: Pascua Militar

As our royals slowly ease themselves back into the public eye after the holiday, we have another very formal event with a corresponding dress code in Spain: Pascua Militar, the annual New Year's military parade and ceremony.

To go along with the gentlemen's military uniforms, the ladies go more formal with long skirts in a modern type of court dress. This isn't quite as sparkly as the times when you see these outfits with orders for the ladies in other countries, but I think it has to be given special attention because, well, frankly this is about as fancy as the Spanish royal dress code gets these days. It's been entirely too long since we've seen them bust out their tiaras (not a good time for state visits, I suppose, on account of the economy and whatnot). So we'll take a long skirt when we can get it!

Letizia's gone deceptively simple. Sure, she has ornamentation, but she also looks like she's thrown a t-shirt on underneath. Not my favorite of these outfits for her (a flashback may be in order for Friday, methinks). The Queen, on the other hand, well. This lady has a talent for packing on the ornamentation, does she not? Upholstery-esque print! Fringey bits! Sparkly thingies! As many bracelets as the human wrist can support at a single time! Etc! And yet she's kinda pulling it off, so kudos indeed.

What's your verdict on this year's batch of long skirt-ed wonders?

Photos: Pool/Getty Images

Week in Review: Princess Letizia, 1-7 January

1. Pascua Militar, the annual military parade and reception, 6 January, in a repeated court dress. I like this, but I felt like something was missing. The hair could have used a little help, perhaps. Then again, she was bound to look a little lacking next to Queen Sofia's rather...er...froofy take on the formal day dress. It takes a queen to pull that off, you know.

Photos: Zimbio

Week in Review: Princess Letizia, 1-8 January

Here's what Princess Letizia wore the week of 1-8 January:

1. Attending the Pascua Military Ceremony, 6 January, a) inside and b) outside.
2. Out with the family, 7 January.

Ah, this blue outfit. Let's chat: I have very specific likes and dislikes here. I really like the skirt, but I do not like the jacket. Something softer would be preferable, I think. If we have to have this jacket, I'd prefer it worn like last year (at the ambassador's reception):

When you close it up, suddenly the shirt underneath becomes just a random black t-shirt that doesn't make any sense. I'd also prefer last year's hair, because the wind-blown hair deal from this year looks, I don't know...anticlimactic atop this get-up. Also, dyed-to-match shoes are only acceptable in a bridesmaid sort of situation in my world. What do you think?

Photos: Eduardo Parra/Getty Images Europe/Zimbio/Vanitatas.com