Royal Outfit of the Day: February 24

I was excited to see the Oscar party scene yield a pair of familiar faces:

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Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and Princess Marie-Chantal attended the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
I was slightly less excited to see Princess Marie-Chantal's gown, sadly. Listen, I consider myself a fan of her style; even when I don't like the exact pieces she selects, there's an easy elegance to her styling that I admire - she manages to make interesting choices without looking like she's playing dress up. But this Alexander McQueen dress seems doomed from the start. I'm not sure any amount of tailoring can make this satin behave when it clearly wants to make all kinds of folds and puckers at the slightest sign of movement or curve. But I still like the softness of the color palette and the floral design.


As shown in the Alexander McQueen Pre-Fall 2014 collection, far left; and in the retail version, full-length in ivory satin with floral embroidery in nude and silver.
Another part of the reason I like following Marie-Chantal's looks was well on display in spite of all that: her jewels. She has a collection of unusual pieces and she doesn't make them wait for a vanilla outfit to go on parade. These earrings, which I believe are from JAR, one of her favorites, are a great touch to bring out the pink tones in the dress. Yet another piece for me to covet...

View image | gettyimages.com

P.S.: My fave from the Oscar after parties? Diane Kruger, making me love a red jumpsuit in Donna Karan Atelier. That's some serious style power, right there.

Photos: Pascal Le Segretain and Venturelli via Getty Images / Alexander McQueen / Matches

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Royal Wedding of the Week: November 28

A little treat today, for the end of a holiday week. (Or a regular week, as your case may be. Either way, FRIDAY.)

One of the first royal wedding gowns covered here was that of Marie-Chantal Miller at her 1995 wedding to Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece. 

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At that time, I wrote about my desire to see it on video once again, having seen it many years ago. So you can imagine the jumpy claps that occurred when, while searching around YouTube back in September for the golden wedding of Pavlos' parents, King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie, I stumbled across a huge portion of the wedding broadcast.

Video, above
This is some goooood royal wedding watching, friends. Not only is Marie-Chantal's wedding look incredibly royal (it is a Valentino couture gown, with no expense spared, worn with the Antique Corsage Tiara borrowed from Queen Anne-Marie), this wedding was attended by pretty much everybody. It even features a rare appearance by Queen Elizabeth II, who seldom personally attends such foreign royal events (the wedding was in London and her ties to the Greek royal family are strong, hence the appearance).

#157057594 / gettyimages.com
The discussion back in that first entry centered on whether this heavily embellished dress was a bit too overwhelming for this particular bride, but seeing it motion once again is renewing my appreciation for the gown. It certainly is heavy, but it in the midst of that ornate wedding setting and ceremony, it seems to fit right in. In the years since we first covered the dress, it has been displayed - the photos in this entry are from the Valentino: Master of Couture exhibit at Somerset House in 2012 - and I've heard from some of you that saw it in person. So let's revisit my original question: too much dress or no?

Photos: Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images

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Tiara Thursday (on a Wednesday): The Greek Pearl and Diamond Necklace Tiara

Programming Note: Tomorrow is a holiday (Happy Thanksgiving!), so there will be no new post. But we won't go two weeks without a tiara feature, so enjoy this week's a day early. We'll return on Friday.

It's rare that I like a necklace tiara more in its necklace form - I'm a tiara girl, what can I say? - but I think that might be the case here. Or perhaps what I'm really after is the pendant that this piece once held...


The Greek Pearl and Diamond Necklace Tiara, in necklace form and in detail
Queen Frederika of Greece (1917-1981) had a necklace of pearls and diamonds featuring a large pointed center motif flanked by repeating motifs of a pearl surrounded by a fine diamond line. Not a lot is known about the piece, but Frederika was pictured wearing it fairly early on and continued to use it until late in her life. She used the necklace in its plain form but also swapped out the center motif for a large sapphire pendant from her collection.


Queen Frederika using the tiara as a necklace; Princess Irene using it as a tiara
And when I say "large" sapphire pendant, I mean LARGE. Large as in 478.68 carats in one stone. The sapphire in question has royal connections prior to Frederika: Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938) wore it first. The cushion-cut sapphire was purchased from Cartier by Marie's husband, King Ferdinand. As you may remember from last time, Marie's jewels had been sent to Russia for safe keeping prior to the Bolshevik revolution and were sadly never returned to her. This sapphire was one of several jewel purchases she and her husband made to replenish her collection. Queen Marie wore the piece on a long diamond sautoir necklace and passed it down in the family, but by the marriage of her grandson King Michael in 1948, the family was in exile and the sapphire had been sold. It was subsequently purchased by a wealthy Greek citizen and presented to Queen Frederika as a private gift.


The sapphire; Queen Frederika using it as a pendant on this necklace
When it wasn't in use as an accessory to that mega sapphire, the pearl and diamond necklace could also be used as a tiara. Queen Frederika's daughter Princess Irene did so on a few occasions in her younger years, and the halo effect created by the side motifs worked well with her of-the-moment hairstyle.

Video, above: Queen Frederika wearing the necklace with sapphire pendant
Irene was the last person (to my knowledge) to be seen using the necklace as a tiara, and it has disappeared from public view. The sapphire also disappeared, only to resurface in a Christie's auction in 2003, where it was listed as the property of a noble family and sold for $1,482,089. It is one of the largest cut sapphires in existence.


Which would you pick: Tiara form, necklace form, or take-the-sapphire-and-run form?

Photos: Flickr/DR/Christie's

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