Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Luxarazzi 101: Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Vol. 3

Due to continued popularity of our previous posts on the matter - have a look here and here to check them again - here's a new episode of Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing or how the members of the Grand Ducal Family basically share one walk-in closet. (Why yes, I do like to imagine it just like that closet in "The Princess Diaries" including those drawers full of jewellery which open automatically by remote control.)
For the wedding of her husband's cousin Archduke Christoph in Nancy in December 2012, Princess Tessy stepped out in a dark brown coloured coat and matching hat. Little did we notice at the time that the coat had in fact been previously worn by the princess' mother-in-law. In 2005, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa sported the same brown number when President of Mali Amadou Toumani Touré came to the Grand Duchy for a state visit. The Grand Duchess also wore the coat for the state visit of Czech president Václav Klaus in 2006.
Mind you, Princess Tessy wasn't the only lady at the wedding who wore a coat belonging to someone else. If you venture back to the first post in which we had a look at Luxembourgish clothes sharing, you will see that Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie wore a coat previously worn by Princess Alexandra. In addition, there was Archduchess Marie-Christine who did the very same when she stepped out in a fur-trimmed poncho-style coat previously worn by her mother Archduchess Marie-Astrid on a number on occasions such as a mass for deceased members of the Belgian royal family in 2010. (Also, hi there you adorable little Count Léopold!)
And guess what! That wasn't even all the clothes sharing and recycling going on at Archduke Christoph's wedding. It seems like Princess Anunciata wasn't the only one who rummaged in Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa's closet to find an old dress of her's to wear for the evening ball as Princess Alexandra stepped out in a black gown that looks suspiciously similar to a dress worn by the Grand Duchess in 1998, just that Princess Alexandra added a little fur to make the outfit a little more winter appropriate. In addition, the dress also includes already previously spotted extra fabric to make up for the height difference though executed a little less clumsy this time around.
Wearing the same hat is an easier (in many senses of the word) version of the clothes sharing going on above. Interestingly though, Princess Alexandra was the first (to my knowledge) who sported this red hat for National Day in 2008. Two years later, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa sported the same hat at the closing of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg.
For a long time, I wasn't entirely convinced that these are indeed the same hats due to a few slight differences. Then again, the hat that then Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy wore for her first international royal event, the christening of Sweden's Princess Estelle, is probably just too similar to a hat worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa for the Te Deum and military parade on National Day 2010 not to be the same. Maybe it's the different angle at which it is worn? If you'd ask me to put money on it, I'd say that the hat was designed by Belgian Fabienne Delvigne, a favourite of the Grand Duchess.
That the hat worn by both Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa at an unknown (to me) event and Princess Alexandra at the wedding of Archduchess Marie-Christine, however, is the same one seems without a doubt.
And the very same goes for the hat that then Madame Tessy de Nassau wore for her very first national day as the wife of Prince Louis in 2007. The salmon-pink pillbox hat had been previously worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa during the Octave celebrations seven years earlier in 2000. If that isn't enough for you, some more hat sharing can be found among the Liechtenstein sisters Princess Maria-Anunciata and Princess Marie-Astrid.
And by the way, it's not only the ladies... Either Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Prince Louis buy their ties in a twin pack to save money or they simply like to share the love. This cream-orange-blue number isn't even the only tie both of the brothers have been regularly sporting during the past few years. For some reason, I could swear that I have also seen either Prince Félix or Prince Sébastien in the same tie though I can't seem to locate any photographic evidence to support my suspicion.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, as long as clothes sharing is done right with clothes that fit the different people wearing them and added fabric blends in nicely, it's a great way to enhance one's closet. All of these clothes are expensive and well-made and especially the junior princesses and archduchesses don't need a gazillion different dress coats, hats and gowns. It's also a good way to be economical as many outfits are only worn for official functions a handful of times.


Photos: Photos: Lola Velasco / Christian Aschman / Cour grand-ducale / Tom Wagner / Tageblatt / Anders Wiklund / Acaba / PPE / DDP

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