Royal Outfit of the Day: January 24

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa (left) wore a modified version of a runway look from Elie Saab Fall 2012 Couture (center) for her son Guillaume's civil wedding to Stéphanie de Lannoy in 2012; actress Lupita Nyong'o (right) wore the runway version earlier this year.

Lupita (or LUPITA!, as that will always be said in my head) is the talk of this awards season, and she's quickly becoming one of my new girl crushes. Our discussion of her appearance at the Golden Globes reminded me that she herself has worn a royal repeat, wearing the runway version of an Elie Saab Couture look previously modified by Maria Teresa. But despite my Lupita love, I'm going to give this battle to MT - this conservative number suits a grand duchess better than it suits a younger actress, no?

Speaking of Elie Saab Couture, the Spring 2014 couture shows have been happening in Paris, and it's all kinds of pretty.

Links for some of the collections we might see on royal parade:

• Valentino: The opera meets The Lion King. Interesting, this collection. A potential for Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Queen Máxima, Princess Marie-Chantal, Sheikha Mozah, and more.
• Giambattista Valli: Some nice ball gowns here. We've seen this designer on Mette-Marit and Charlotte Casiraghi, to name two.
• Elie Saab: Always and forever my fave, and a favorite of the Luxembourg ladies plus Crown Princess Victoria. Clotilde Courau was in the audience for the show; she was at a couple other shows too, including Valentino.
• Christian Dior: Not as often seen on our regular line up. Current Dior designer Raf Simons is Belgian, which always makes me wonder if we'll see any of this pop up on Queen Mathilde.
• Chanel: For the ladies of Monaco, naturally. At least the sneakers Karl Lagerfeld sent down the runway would be an improvement over Princess Caroline's pedicure shoes...or would they?...
• Armani Privé: Sometimes dresses Mathilde or Queen Paola for special events, and can be seen on other royals too. Bit meh, I thought.
• And one extra: Zuhair Murad, a designer I wish we'd see more of on the royal scene. There are some really beautifully detailed things coming from this label.

Photos: Getty Images/Style.com

Runway to Royal: The Luxembourg Wedding

I don’t know about you, but I have the most massive tiara and couture hangover from this weekend. To soothe my symptoms of withdrawal, I have a couple more posts for you on the fabulousness we just enjoyed. Hey, we’re not going to see another event like this for a good while, so we better take it all in. First, a little comparison from runway to real royal life: who adapted it best?

This is legit couture – made just for you, so runway matches aren’t exact. So many of you noted multiple similarities between a lot of the Elie Saab gowns, and I don’t disagree with you. As with most ornate creations, it doesn’t help that we can’t pick out the fine details like we would be able to if we were standing right in front of the dresses. But I can’t get enough of it either way, so I remain firmly on Team Bring It On. For the record, Marie-Chantal's was my favorite - a true classic.

Also for the record, there were Elie Saab ensembles that didn't float my boat. Sorry, Clotilde. I'm still upset there wasn't a legit tiara (I just love the pink tiara she wore on her wedding day sooooo much, I'm complaining about its absence again), and the wedding outfit needed some color somewhere in the worst way.

I guess this is something of a classic silhouette for Mary; she’s worn these tiered gowns in the past, and I won’t lie to ya, they’re never my favorite. But they are probably spectacular in motion.

I was surprised how many of you hated Sophie’s outfit for the wedding. All I know is this: I watched the arrivals live, and it was like one long parade of standard suits and shiny suits and standard suits and shiny suits. Sophie was a breath of fresh air, totally striking in her black and white. And I couldn’t tell there were horses in the print – something which seemed to bother several of you on a deep level - until looking at photos.

Some found Caroline’s dress for the gala hideous, but I say to you: rejoice, for she stopped short of matching boots. (I actually quite like it, especially when you compare it to some of her recent evening choices).

What I loved about both Astrid and Margaretha was that I would never in a million years have selected these dresses for these two ladies. But here they are, workin' them like nobody's business.

Máxima is my favorite runway to royal example: she's given this Jan Taminiau dress so much more life with her feather boa on steroids and her rubies. Bless her and her flamboyance.

This is only a selection, feel free to post other runway finds in the comments!

Who had the best runway interpretation?

Photos: Getty Images/Cour grand ducale/Style.com/Jan Taminiau/Jesper Høvring/Bruce Oldfield