Royal style & gossip: tiaras, tantrums and totty

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Sorry, just not my day and I dropped the ball again!

Link to previous thread

I watched a documentary the other night on the Queen Mother. She had the personality to carry off great fashion and jewellery. In 1938, she and the King were due to pay a state visit to France. That was very shortly after her own mother had died and by convention she was expected to wear black. But this was Paris. So on the boat over to France she changed from her black outfit to an almost completely white one, and apparently just wowed the fashionistas. All her outfits for the 4-day visit were either white or cream.

That was a very clever fashion decision. Obviously she couldn’t wear bright colours in order to be seen, but all the white/cream outfits made her very visible.

This blog has more details, though the photographs don’t show her outfits as well as the film in the documentary did:

royalwatcherblog.com/2017/03/16/royal-visit-to-paris-1938/

Kate is in a reworked Alexander McQueen desss this evening and looks totally beautiful

Original and re worked side by side. I like the dress I'm not sure what the cap sleeves add and I think it's a bit of a shame as I think it's spoiling the line of the dress across the collar bone. It's an odd change to make in my book but I'm sure she has her reasons

I prefer it with the sleeves taken off and her hair up, seems much more “dressy”

Love Kate in trousers (not skinnies). It's a great fresh look for her.

Much prefer dress in the before picture, hair looks fab, lovely shoulders giving a hint of sexiness, the after picture it just looks.....ordinary

It looks sexier in the older version with the updo.
However the proportions are better in the new dress.
Kate has broad shoulders compared to her ( very slim) hips.

I’m more curious as to how they did the new top.
Is the whole top remade? Or did they find some extra fabric for the sleeves?

I do however like this repurposing of dresses.
CP Mary does it a lot

Beatrice is also there tonight apparently not a fan of the shirt dress it looks poorly fitted and a bit big on her but her waist looks tiny with that belt! The York girls seem to have granny's figure.

Love Kate in the black trousers & Gucci shirt. Great look!

The Queen Mother was not a conventional society beauty like Anne Messle. But she was attractive . She had many admirers and suitors, can’t remember his name but she was romantically linked to some Scottish lord?? and Queen Mary and Queen mum’s Mum had him sent abroad and out of they way. So she must have been quite irresistible.
Also I think fashion and general grooming at the 20s and 30 was just so unforgiving , hair styles , makeup and clothes looked awful on almost anyone . Unless you were stick thin with chiseled cheekbones, straight nose and perfect Cupid bow lips of course .
It’s my least favorite fashion era.

I think the reworked dress would look better if her hair was swept back behind her shoulders. She's got a delicate face and I think all the hair plus the pattern of the material ends up looking too fussy.

Her hairstyle looked better with the blouse earlier today - maybe because the blouse was a solid colour? And I loved the whole look with the trousers. That seemed more business-like and a better daytime style than some of her other outfits.

Some closer shots of the dres for the seamstresses amoung us either way it would have to have been planned way in advance to be sure of getting an exact match I think maybe they have added in a panel around the arms but I might be wrong

@itswinetime
I was having a good look too. Yes there is a panel under the arms.

Agree with pp, that she should have worn her hair up.

And this was Eugenie on Monday did we see this? fairly sure it's a re wear for her

Kate's Alexander McQueen dress reminds me of toilet roll doilies!!

Some bits on the Queen Mother:

• In his official biography, William Shawcross portrays Elizabeth as a person whose indomitable optimism, zest for life, good manners, mischievous sense of humour and interest in people and subjects of all kinds contributed to her exceptional popularity and to her longevity.
• "She is sweet and pretty and charming, she also has a basic streak of toughness and tenacity."
• Bertie's mother, Queen Mary, visited Glamis to see for herself the girl who had stolen her son's heart. She became convinced that Elizabeth was "the one girl who could make Bertie happy."
• QM (known for her personal and public charm) was one of the most popular members of the royal family and helped to stabilise the popularity of the monarchy as a whole.

I liked the original McQueen, I personally would have not risked reworking it and simply wear it a second time, it’s a gorgeous dress.

I’m sure they still have fabric samples.
Most designers keep fabric samples for some years just in case a dress gets torn and needs mending.

I’ve missed a couple of days on here but I thought to myself yesterday- surely Mumsnet will have noticed that MM is wearing a dress covered in BROKEN CHAINS to a commonwealth event and will have something to say about that.... and no one has! I was actually kind of shocked she would wear that as it seemed kind of ... a statement? Like generally the symbolism of chains is something i wouldn’t expect the royal family really go for as regards former colonies 😂

Love Kate’s trousers and blouse look.

Gosh, Philip was handsome back in the day wasnt he?

Pingu, someone did mention chains earlier in the thread

I met Queen Noor briefly about 15 years ago. She was spectacularly stunning to look at in RL. Very bright, serious, and articulate, too. She was giving a speech at a university in the US.

Also in principle I liked Kate’s trouser/blouse combo but in reality I thought she looked lumpy and needed to tuck her shirt in better. It’s looked a bit like when I catch myself in a mirror after a day at work and think - oh god I need to sort this out- and have to hoick my t shirt down under my skirt etc.

Ah I missed the mention of chains but I’m glad someone else thought it! Quite apart from her hat I was thinking - Christ that’s a bold choice!

The chain design on Megan's dress looked more Chanel-esque that anything else, to me. I think some people may be reading too much into it.

The reworked dress makes DoC look less painfully thin. Agree that the hair up would have been a better look

Think the problem with DoS's dress yesterday was the seam in the middle of the dress was in the wrong place and this made the dress look odd. Think she could have chosen a better hat or not had a parting in her hair

Lots of designers have done chains. Versace, Hermes and heritage prints spring to mind.

I just read a comment on Meghan’s pillbox hat that says she looks like one of the Thunderbirds.