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It's a Valentino dress Máxima wore for today's Prinsjesdag - she looked great despite the gloves
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OK, to all those with reservations about hats, hair, gowns, gloves and shoes, please check out the BRF at the State Opening of Parliament who, while they get to wear jewellery, fabulous tiaras, necklaces, brooches and earrings, on the very down side, the ladies get to wear unrelieved white court dress, which even manages to kill the bling unless you are the poor, unfortunate monarch.
By comparision, the Dutch look like splendid peacocks, and those erm, chairs? Okay, they are honking great Thrones and if Maxima had worn the same sort of colour as Laurentian she would have disappered into the unholstery.
I loved Max's hat with that outfit. Serious enough to be appropriate for the occasion and small enough to not be a statement. Her hair was a work of art and her jewellery discreet enough to be noticed, but once again, not make a statement.
I think Max ran into a bit of a problem with the gloves. While multi-coloured leather gloves are readily available, red court gloves would have been darned near impossible to find, but I can't wait until next year when she will have sorted that particular wee problem.
Queen Maxima is the quintessential consort, there to support her husband and not be the "main event". It's amazing how she thought that out, very Max wise, yet not. I don't think I can ever recall someone wearing a solid colour from the tip of her head to the toes of her shoes, except the aforementioned whiteout for the BRF.
However, Max solved the problem very cleverly by going monochrome, and in the carriage, brilliant in red, she shone and all the while, Willam-Alexanderwas shining indulgently as he does. But, when they alight from the carriage and she takes his hand in the formal manner, it seems like the sheer gravitas of King Willem Alexander balances perfectly with Queen Maxima and, when they get to those enormous "Thrones", even in red she does not eclipse him. But she also dosn't fade into the background.
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Queen+Maxima+King+Willem+Alexander+Addresses+kw7-wkY1GQ0x.jpg
Two questions for those in the know, why do only the ladies wear sashes and why are Maxima and Laurentian wearing different ones?