Queen Elizabeth II's Fashion and Style Part 4: April 2012 - July 2012

[MichelleQ2]

does anyone know if there is a practical reason she is wearing a net as opposed to a hat? it seems deliberate as it is 2 years in a row. And I dont recall any other event where she has used such a headpiece.

 

[Artemisia]

Thankfully, Her Majesty hasn't worn that hairnet piece to any other event.
I don't see how it can serve a practical purpose though; if anything, it's the single most impractical headpiece I've ever seen.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Thankfully, Her Majesty hasn't worn that hairnet piece to any other event.
I don't see how it can serve a practical purpose though; if anything, it's the single most practical headpiece I've ever seen.

Don't you mean impractical or your comment is kinda odd?

 

[Artemisia]

Don't you mean impractical or your comment is kinda odd?

Indeed, thanks for noticing!
I doubt the headpiece could be called practical by any stretch of imagination.

 

[Baroness of Books]

It's only practical if HM is pressed into service as a food handler!

 

[MichelleQ2]

my theory....

The Queen always wears gloves when she is meeting people to protect her hands. Daytime gloves are always worn with a hat. Hats may not be encouraged at the Chelsea flower show (competition with the flowers? attracting bees? Im just guessing here) the website doesnt address a specific dress code, but some sites have said hats are not expected other than sun/rain hats. perhaps HM feels naked with gloves and no hat and the hair net is the solution?

I really dont know -just surmising... but curioser and curioser as to why this sartorial choice was made deliberately 2 yrs in a row. there must be a method to the madness.

 

[KittyAtlanta]

Perhaps this net hat, popular in the 50s and 60s, is a better option when bending down to look at a floral specimen. Not much chance of it blowing off or falling off.

 

[udyusa]

Good answers...Perhaps she just got tired of wearing a hat!

 

[Baroness of Books]

It's just at this venue she doesn't wear a hat, so maybe she does just want to sniff the flowers without her hat in the way. But it's definitely not a favorite look of mine.

 

[mrswhitham]

Here's the comparison - I like this year's hair accessories a bit better. Innovative but not worth copying/repeating


** 2012 ** Flower show 2011 **

Another variation on a theme, but the theme is wrong!

 

[EIIR]

Argh, I was hoping we'd never see the hairnet hat again, even in its amended form it's still just awful.

I'll forgive HM though, she gets it so right 99% of the time. Not even the Queen's perfect.

 

[Artemisia]

I think MichelleQ2 is right; I just went through quite a few pictures from the flower show, and not a single lady was wearing a hat.
Most probably this hairnet is indeed there for convenience and practicality, however implausible that may seem at first glance.

 

[Baroness of Books]

So I guess she's going with the de rigueur headwear, but I'd prefer to see her wear her usual hat since it looks so much better and people would also instantly see her.

 

[NGalitzine]

Hasn't she worn a hat the other 46/48 times she has been to Chelsea?

 

[purple_Lulu]

This mode of hair adornment has a much longer association with Chelsea than just last year:

1987 http://www.rexfeatures.com/set/925813

1993 http://www.rexfeatures.com/set/926616

1996 http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/47/1996chelseaflowershow5sd.jpg/

And the question of WHY? remains!

 

[Artemisia]

Hasn't she worn a hat the other 46/48 times she has been to Chelsea?

As a matter of fact, she didn't, at least definitely not during the last two decades.
From 1990 to 2012, the Queen didn't wear a hat for any Chelsea Flower Show.

- At Chelsea Flower Show in 1996 (wearing the same hairnet as last year)
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2001
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2002
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2003
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2004
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2006 (wearing a headscarf)
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2007
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2008
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2009
- At Chelsea Flower Show in 2010

 

[EIIR]

I love getting to see HM's snowy-white hair.

 

[Jacknch]

I'm afraid the Queen's hair adornment is one of those English idiosyncracies combining tradition, practicality, quaintness and formality all rolled into one and which is almost impossible to explain....least of all to the English themselves!
Hats such as the Queen would normally wear are always for the day time. This being an early evening event would not require a day hat. However, the event is outdoors and not a casual event so some form of head covering is required.....for the Queen at least. Accordingly, she has chosen correctly. I do recall Queen Juliana wearing a similar hair adornment but to what event I do not know. Naturally it would be unseemly to question the Queen's choice of style, but on a practical note the veiling will protect the hair from gusts of early evening wind.
Personally, I like to see the Queen wear something different from time to time.

 

[MichelleQ2]

such research! thank you all. She has gone bare-headed - which she looks so lovely (2004 my favorite)... so it must be a windy day the warrants the hair net to keep it from being blown about (and ill timed photographs). I would assume there must be a no hat tradition at the Chelsea Flower Show in the recent past. Images from the 50s suggest a different code as the ladies all wore hats.

 

[Baroness of Books]

Thank you all for the well-researched links which indicate that HM has worn this mode of headwear for quite some time at Chelsea and it's no fluke. And thanks also, Jacknch, for shedding some more light on this riddle. But I would prefer her wearing no head covering at all rather than seeing that flowered/beribboned hairnet.

 

[IloveCP]

Ugly hairnet! The outfit however is lovely.

 

[Duchessmary]

If the net had been coordinated to match her outfit, it would've looked tons better.

 

[Osipi]

If HM felt she needed some kind of a head covering at an event where hats aren't worn, I'm perhaps the flowered hairnet was the best way to go. Somehow I just can't imagine HM wearing a fascinator at all.

Brings up a question. Has HM ever worn a fascinator at all? Ever?

 

[Baroness of Books]

Could her small hats from the 1950s be considered precursors of fascinators?

 

[NGalitzine]

What about what she wore at Edwards wedding. Wasn't that feathered thing more fascinator than hat?

 

[Daria_S]

I love the purple coat, but the hairnet is a miss for me.

 

[Jacknch]

What about what she wore at Edwards wedding. Wasn't that feathered thing more fascinator than hat?

Yes, it was I think - attached on the side with feathers kind of arching over her head like Camilla's, and also Princess Lillian's, wedding hat.

 

[iceflower]

Back to her usual style with a lovely hat :


Queen Elizabeth at the first Buckingham Palace garden party for this year on May 22, 2012, looking great again:



** Full view ** Upper part ** Upper part/Side view **

 

[udyusa]

Ah, HM is a vision in soft peach... I love the way the embellishments on her hat compliment the brooch. What brooch is she wearing?

 

[Artemisia]

Ah, HM is a vision in soft peach... I love the way the embellishments on her hat compliment the brooch. What brooch is she wearing?

If I'm not mistaken, it's the Queen's Rose Spray Brooch.
She doesn't wear it all that often.