Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie's Fashion & Style Part 5: December 2014 - May 2015

[casualfan]

It is pretty old for her, but she could do worse.

[Duc_et_Pair]

It is a beautiful classic black dress but Madame la Grande-Duchesse Héréditaire de Luxembourg, Duchesse Héréditaire de Nassau, Princesse de Bourbon de Parme, Comtesse de Lannoy could all have spiced it up a bit, befitting her high rank and status. For an example with nice diamonds and/or pearls. It all looks a bit dull. She could have been mistaken for the President's assistant...

[julliette]

WOW. What a difference from that horrible choice in Qatar to this very nice one with Hollande.

The Qatar outfit is plain awful but what surprises me the most is her choice of skirt. Ok, it's a long skirt but it's see-through, not appropriate at all. I am really surprised (negatively surprised, of course) by Stephanie with this choice.

I love the Hollande outfit. Well, I just love black velvet dresses. She looks fantastic and so elegant.

[Moonmaiden23]

Originally Posted by Spheno

This black dress looks like one of MT dresses. Is it Stephanie's or MT's dress?

MT has indeed worn that style of dress on more than one occasion. I can't say if it's her dress, altered to fit Stephanie.


A necklace would not work with the cut of the neckline, but if she'd worn different hosiery and some dangling diamond or pearl earrings she would have knocked it out of the park and scored another Personal Best.

[Frelinghighness]

Ah ha mil equals hair done! Lovely hairdo, neckline and velvet dress that fits. Diamond earring plus brooch would have been nice, I think pearls with this might have upped the matronly look unless they were a long strand and knotted.
Maybe she is keeping the canvas bare to indicate she hasn't much bling?

[Duc_et_Pair]

Like their Orange-Nassau relatives in the Netherlands, the Nassaus in Luxembourg really have a nice collection of jewels. Two dangling earrings and a diamond brooch would do no harm.

Look at this picture of a similar banquet (suit-and-tie). Máxima wore large dangling diamond earhangers, a very large brooch (a Russian heirloom) and two large diamond bracelets. The rest of her outfit was very simple and plain black. (Click on the picture itself to blow up to XXL).

A couple of diamond earhangers could have spiced Stéphanie a bit. Come on... she is a De Luxembourg - de Nassau - de Bourbon de Parme - de Lannoy, how much more ancestry and prestige can a lady have? Queen Margrethe of Denmark said: "Jewels are made for being worn. Show them!"

[princess carmen]

She may not have her own bling but she married into a lot of it. Surely she could have worn whatever she liked. I'm sure Maria Theresa wouldn't have cared.

[marlene]

Lately I have been wondering about Stephanie and what could be up with her. I can't believe that no one cares how she presents herself when she is representing the Duchy. Something just seems off to me, they seem like a nice family and they certainly seem to have accepted Tessy and all that pregnant before marriage stuff that happened with her and Louis. So it seems to me that Stephanie is being given a long leash to trip on. Does anyone else feel something is odd.

[royal rob]

Marlene when I saw that shocking photo with the long skirt etc I thought something must be very wrong with her to leave the house/palace looking like that
But the black dress photo looks good so now I'm a bit confused.
Maybe it's because I don't know much about her and what engagements she does etc.
Does she do a lot ? So sometimes gets overloaded or is she still having days of grieving for her mother.


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[princess carmen]

I don't think there is anything wrong with her she simply can't dress. Her taste is old , the black dress is o.k not great it probably belongs to her mother in law she wears similar dresses. The fact that she went out dressed in that getup proves she has no clue what looks good on her. I don't think anyone will say anything to her how do you offer help without insulting her. It is obvious she had help for the wedding after she went back to dressing herself .

[Lady Marlboro]

Originally Posted by dazzling

March 5, 2015 - The Princess in Qatar in a purple maxi skirt, white jacket and printed scarf.

Looks like the lining is short (above the knees) I am not fond of such looks. The skirt looks too long, jacket too light. The jacket IMO should've been more crisp/tailored.

Full view ** Side view

I don't follow Stephanie a lot because usually she just looks terrible. I just check in every now and then to see if things have improved so what I am about to say may have been covered before and I have just missed it. There have been some pictures in the past that have made me wonder if her left arm is slightly shorter than the right one. The full length picture above brought it back to mind. The sleeve on the left arm comes further down the back of her hand than on the right hand and its not just because her fingers are curled. Maybe if this is the case it is the reason for at least her jackets and coats fitting so poorly. Maybe she is sensitive about it and doesn't want to admit to it. The thing is, a good tailor could tailor the fit to make it less obvious. This is not something I see in every picture but I have seen it in enough to make me wonder.

[Moonmaiden23]

Originally Posted by marlene

Lately I have been wondering about Stephanie and what could be up with her. I can't believe that no one cares how she presents herself when she is representing the Duchy. Something just seems off to me, they seem like a nice family and they certainly seem to have accepted Tessy and all that pregnant before marriage stuff that happened with her and Louis. So it seems to me that Stephanie is being given a long leash to trip on. Does anyone else feel something is odd.

If you consider the fact that she simply has no sense of style "odd" or "off" then, yes.

I think we have grown used to seeing this new wave of stylish, sleek consort princesses. Now we have one who is simply not. But that does not mean she is a bad person or a failure or that there is some sinister underlying problem. I am not even convinced that this "she is grieving for her mother" theory needs to be floated anymore.

On the last birthday of the late Alix, Comtesse de Lannoy there was a family group photo taken at their fabulous Castle d'Anvaing..and I never saw a group of frumpier, badly dressed people in my life. Stephanie was right in the midst of them, looking pretty much as she does now. So there they were, this family of aristocrats at their gorgeous old castle, descended from one of the most ancient dynasties in Europe...and looking like the cast of the Beverly Hillbillies.

Stephanie de Lannoy is who she is. Either she will grow into a fashion swan as Charlene Wittstock did(just compare her 2005-2006 photos in Monaco to the ones of her today if you want a real shock!) or she will not. And the Royal world will go on.

Ultimately, it's only the citizens of the Grand Duchy who have the right to decide to speak up and demand that their future Duchess take her fashion game to a higher level.

[Lady Nimue]

Originally Posted by MARG

You know, I don't believe I have ever seen such total consensus on any other fashion thread ever, and that is saying something!

Maybe because those of us who see it differently haven't posted. To me, there are two very bad pictures. It's not possible to give a true assessment of her clothing choices because of the bad pictures. What seems obvious to me is that what she has on doesn't photograph well and/or were photographed in bad lighting and at a bad angle.

Just a hunch (because she is fairly consistent) I suspect she looked just fine in person.

Originally Posted by cepe

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_crE8qWIAE48fo.jpg:large

At the dinner for President Hollande.

Lovely.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Princess Stéphanie simply looks okay to me. I only stated she could spiced it all up a bit, just with nice dangling diamonds or pearls. Come on, it is Monsieur le Président de la République française coming for dinner... allez...

She comes from an ancient, conservative, aristocratic family. Her parents could have been her grandparents. It is very well that there, on the Château d'Anvaing, deep in pittoresque Frasnez-les-Anvaing (Hainaut), this is how they dress: sober and appropriate.



Princess Stéphanie can look glamorous and she has worn more different diadems so far than, let us say, Catherine. Let us not forget that. See picture (click on itself to enlarge), taken in Amsterdam.

[Moonmaiden23]

HRH certainly wears Royal jewels with confidence and aplomb. That has never been the problem. She also looks consistently lovely and appropriate when being presented to the pope.

All that is needed is for her to apply that same savoir-faire to her other overseas visits, and to her working wardrobe within the Grand Duchy. All the raw material is there....she is young, attractive and has access to considerable financial resources. We know that she can look fabulous, she has done it before.

[MARG]

Originally Posted by Lady Nimue

Maybe because those of us who see it differently haven't posted. To me, there are two very bad pictures. It's not possible to give a true assessment of her clothing choices because of the bad pictures. What seems obvious is what she has on doesn't photograph well and/or were photographed in bad lighting and at a bad angle.

Just a hunch (because she is fairly consistent) I suspect she looked just fine in person.

I think you misunderstood the consensus I was talking about, namely that the majority of posters of a similar mind about the outfit she wore in Qatar. Not her entire wardrobe. So perhaps I should have said general consensus.

I was blown away by the way she looked. Stephanie has always worn beautiful clothes beautifully made. To be honest the most discussion revolves around whether what she wears is too old for her or not but regardless she has always been immaculately turned out.

Not so this time. What she wore on this occasion was a style of dress we have never seen her wear before and I am not alone in never wanting to see her wear again. Not only was her ensemble rumpled and ill fitting, it was also inappropriate for both the place and the occasion. That shocked many of us more because Stephanie has always been very modest and somewhat conservative in her dress.

Needless to say this generating quite some discussion, e.g.

Originally Posted by royal rob

Marlene when I saw that shocking photo with the long skirt etc I thought something must be very wrong with her to leave the house/palace looking like that
But the black dress photo looks good so now I'm a bit confused.

And that is the crux of the matter, her ensemble in Qatar was an abberation.

[princess carmen]

Lets be honest I think the only people who care how she looks are people on forums like this. Her family and friends must just accept that this is how she dresses not a big deal. I think we are all used to having princesses put effort into how they look. She usually does well with her hair and makeup which it would seem she is better at than putting her clothing together.The problem is she wears clothes that don't fit properly and are too old for her which all make her look frumpy.

[AdmirerUS]

Hmm. So that leads me to ask, on a relative scale of fashion-forwardness in Europe, where does Luxembourg fall?

Here in the states, regions have fairly distinct styles. New Yorkers tend to care how they look and accessorize, Angelinos too, except they tend to the casual rather than the dressy. Chicagoans care too - but not with their outerwear in the winter; bless them, they prefer to look like puffy, over-layered blobs in the snow.

In the Midwest in general, things get less fashion forward. In more rural areas, you tend to regress 5-10 years in fashion trends.

For all I know about Luxembourg, the general population could be into layered seperates and scarves.

[princess carmen]

The fact is I don't care if she turns into a fashion lover that is not important. It would be nice if she could learn the word tailor and use one the ill fitting clothes are not pretty even if she must dress like a 55 year old at the least they could fit properly. Baby steps tailoring and maybe some age appropriate clothing could follow.

[AdmirerUS]

Originally Posted by Lady Marlboro

... There have been some pictures in the past that have made me wonder if her left arm is slightly shorter than the right one. The full length picture above brought it back to mind. The sleeve on the left arm comes further down the back of her hand than on the right hand and its not just because her fingers are curled. Maybe if this is the case it is the reason for at least her jackets and coats fitting so poorly. Maybe she is sensitive about it and doesn't want to admit to it. The thing is, a good tailor could tailor the fit to make it less obvious. This is not something I see in every picture but I have seen it in enough to make me wonder.

I just checked Getty and you seem to be on to something.