Note: Getty embeds have not been playing well with WordPress tagging for the past few days, so we are going to rely on Twitter and Instagram embeds for this post. Fingers crossed it’s all sorted out by next week, folks!
Yes, Nikolaos and Tatiana *are* beautiful, but they are both also dedicated to bringing beauty into our lives in other ways. Nikolaos’ photographs were recently displayed at the “Aegean Desert” exhibition. I enjoy seeing both the photos and the bond between Nikolaos and his father here. There is obvious pride and love between the two. On the sartorial side, Tatiana’s royal lady pants are @goals for me.
Beautiful photos of the Greek Royal Family that attended the opening of the photo exhibition “Aegean Desert” #aegeandesert by Prince Nikolaos at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art in Athens Greece on Tuesday 08 October 2019. pic.twitter.com/JRNLjxZ26M
Tatiana attended a fashion show that featured the designs of Mary Kantrantzou. It was held in Greece at the Temple of Poseidon, a beautiful space, and also benefited a children’s cancer charity. A triple win, there. I find myself wanting to see some of Kantrantzou’s designs here on Princess Mary, and I’d like to see the astronomy gown on the celestial carpet from the Netherlands, worn by anyone feeling adventurous.
Welcome our Royal Wedding Gown feature, where we look at royal gowns from a different perspective. Today we’ll talk about how flat-out glamour, paired with royal accessorizing, can transform an ordinary bridal look into that worthy of a royal wedding.
You’ll notice that the thirties plays a big role in my glam squad contingent, and there’s a good reason for it. Despite the terrible Depression, or maybe because of it, some of the most glamorous looks of the last century came from that decade.
Bride: Princess Ingrid of Sweden Designer: Unknown
Princess Ingrid (Ingrid Victoria Sofia Louise Margareta) (1910-2000) Sweden in 1935 on her Wedding Day. She wed King Frederick IX (Christian Frederik Franz Michael Carl Valdemar Georg) (1899-1972) Denmark. 3rd child King Gustaf .. See more pictures: https://t.co/qRvX9YRaDfpic.twitter.com/YlU98jyf7D
— History Lovers Club (@historylvrsclub) May 5, 2019
Princess Ingrid of Sweden married her third cousin (from both sides of the family) Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark on May 24, 1935. Her wedding was a significant media event of the day, and anticipation was high with regard to her wedding dress. She did not disappoint. Her dress was described as a “simply cut” white gown, done up in either silk or crepe satin. Features of the gown included high neck, a draped bodice, and long sleeves. The royal touch was the 20-foot train, trimmed with lace worn by Ingrid’s mother Princess Margaret of Connaught on her own wedding day in 1906. As we discussed previously, the heirloom lace veil has since been worn many descendants of Ingrid or their brides on their own wedding day. The fitted gown had a high glamour quotient, but was “royaled up” both by the train, the lace, and by the sentimental addition of the diamond “Daisy” brooch, gifted to Ingrid by her father and reportedly fashioned from diamonds owned by her mother. Ingrid’s daughter Margrethe also wore this brooch on her wedding day.
Bride: Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark Designer: Edward Molyneux
Princess Marina, Wikimedia Commons
Princess Marina was considered to be one of the most glamorous women to marry into the House of Windsor. For her 1934 wedding to Prince George, Duke of Kent, British designer Edward Molyneux fashioned her a 3/4 sleeve, cowl-necked gown made from silver and white brocade with a flower design. To up the pizzazz even further, he lined it with silver lamé. Since it was a royal wedding, he also added a fifteen foot court train. The bride wore a veil of handmade lace and white tulle that had been worn by her mother and sister at their weddings. You can now send your hearty thanks to Princess Marina for securing the whole shebang with the Kent City of London Fringe Tiara, starting the now de rigueur tiara appearance at British royal weddings. Now that’s royaled up glamour!
Bride: Marie José of Belgium Designer: Unknown, but said to be by some sources her husband.
Our next 1930s bride is Marie José of Belgium, or, as she is rather dramatically known, the last Queen of Italy. She was also called the May Queen, due to her short 30 day tenure during that month. If you want to read about her rather scandalous life, the Wikipedia entry is a good gateway. But we are concerned with her gown.
On January 8, 1930, she became the Princess of Piedmont (Principessa di Piemonte) when she married Prince Umberto of Italy. She wore a gown that owed a lot to the previous decade. It was a loose shift design, with detailing at the hip. In a twist on royal wedding dresses, the design was said to have been highly influenced by her husband. She wore a lace veil secured by the dramatic version of the Musy Tiara, recently featured here.
There are also a few contemporary photos said to be of the couple on the same day, where the bride is wearing a shorter bridal gown, sans the Musy tiara. If anyone has insight on this sartorial mystery, let us know!
Welcome, friends, to our final entry in the ROYGBIV series, Floral! We’ve gone through the official colors of the ROYGBIV spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue & Indigo, Violet) plus the not-so-official categories of Pink, Black, White, Black & White, Silver & Gray, Gold, and Stripes while reviewing royal fashions and I’d like to thank our community for its enthusiastic participation. Please feel free to go back using the links and have a quick review of your favorites! It’s been a fun series to write and I hope that you all have enjoyed it.
Sweden
Look how gorgeous and restrained Christina looks here in this simple garment. Lovely. Just lovely.
And even though I desperately wanted to repeat Madeleine’s Erdem (which can be seen on ROYGBIV Blue), I forced myself to show another of her many, many florals. Giambattista Valli, it is. It’s super busy and that can be a turn off for some, but I think this lady can pull it off just fine.
Victoria’s wears this bold pink floral quite well, and it’s definitely one my favorite of her floral dresses. She wears a lot of floral, but there always seems to be something that is just off to my eye. This tailored day dress can do no wrong in my eye.
I love this departure from The Lady’s normal style (OK, and it doesn’t hurt that my favorite color is involved). Welcome to Tuvalu, 1982. Check out the caption link for a ton of floral photo fun!
Mary’s Ralph Lauren black floral is, in my book, a divine day dress. The pattern isn’t overwhelming, and it’s just…well, cute and professional at the same time. Loving the lighter accessories here. I admit, I also wanted to repeat her floral from Wax’s inauguration, but we can’t have repeats here!
Letizia wears florals A LOT. It’s hard to choose favorites, so I’ll link to herroyalhighnesses on Instagram as the account has shown a plethora of florals that I think La Reina wears well. There’s a few clunkers here as well, so have fun deciding which is which!
Mette Marit also wears a ton of florals, but so often they are in the form of seriously frilly and unflattering so-called prairie dresses. I applaud this appearance at Margrethe’s 70th birthday party where she deployed an evening gown with a restrained (for her) floral skirt. Very, very pretty.
Instagram: DNA Royals
Astrid wearing a beautifully cut gown, back in the day.
Netherlands
I love, love, love Maxima’s van Gogh dress. Plus, The Egg.
Welcome to this Thursday’s edition of ROYGBIV. Today we’ll be looking at gold entries. For me, gold clothing is hit or miss. It can either be so incredibly gaudy or really classy. Here’s hoping I picked some entries that please your eyes! If you’d like to look back on our lengthy ROYGBIV series, just search for it using the tag feature on the sidebar.
This one is a doozy. Depending on where you are in the world, get yourself set up with a snack, a cup of coffee or tea, or an evening cocktail and let’s get started!
Britain
Oh Betty. You slay me sometimes. Somehow this design manages to make the more senior lady look positively svelte!
OK, I admit this gold entry barely makes it into our category as it was pre-royal days, but this Edith Head creation from To Catch A Thief must be posted. Click the caption to read a great article with more snapshots and design sheets. The sculptural details pull me in on this one.
Look at this delicious vision, so proud at her son’s 2004 wedding! Check out the last photo in the slideshow to see her golden gown from the pre-wedding gala.
Auntie Astrid rocking the gown here with delicate pink floral accents. I almost feel like the necklace is too heavy, but hey, it’s Astrid. She does as she does.
Making her debut in today’s category is Desiree, sister to the King. I thought she carried this bevy of sequins off quite nicely, as I would expect any woman from Sweden to do! I especially like the neckline and that she wore the Cut Steel tiara. Nice touch.
Sister-in-law Silvia looks great here in 2015.
And here is Victoria, in one of my favorite Jenny Packham gowns of all time. Stunning.
Netherlands
Maxima knocked me out at Prinsjesdag 2013 in this golden creation. I cannot wait to see it again.
I mean, come on. Look at this lovely lady. You can see what those stairs look like now if you review our recent post on the Huis ten Bosch renovations.
And with my beloved Oma, I leave the gold category to you!
What say you about this gorgeous gold entries? What would you like to see worn again? Would you like another royal to try one of these entries? Show us your favorites in the comments!
Next week we will do Stripes and then wrap up our series with Florals. Feel free to post your blergh/sparkleblergh choices here as well!
Here is a glitzy, high profile example of the extended family vacation. It was so nice they did it twice (scratch that – at least three times). Top photo is 1987, middle 1988, and bottom 1990.
