Week in Review: Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 13-19 February

Here's what Mette-Marit wore from 13-19 February:

1. Visiting Levanger, 17 February. Are there little poof balls on her boots? I think there are. Hmm.
2. Attending the ISFiT conference in Trondheim, 18 February. Interesting repeated dress. The shape is almost too cutesy for her, I think the fabric's bringing up the maturity level.
3. Other engagements in Trondheim, 18 February. Love, love this coat!

Best and Worst of the Week

On coats alone, I have to go with #3 as my best. But I can't figure out a worst: nothing's terrible, but nothing's really standing out either. Your thoughts?

Photos: Scanpix

Week in Review: Princess Máxima, 6-12 February

Here's what Princess Máxima wore the week of 6-12 February:

1. Attending a Women in Financial Services meeting, 7 February. In the photos where this looks more red than brown, I like it (with the exception that the stockings, which are overkill on the monochrome theme).
2. Opening the Produs praktical education school, 8 February. This sleeveless dress is a repeat. Cute and flattering!
3. At the Goed Geld Gala (Good Money Gala) of the Nationale Postcode Loterij, 9 February. Oh, this might be the chicest daywear I've seen Máxima in since I started this blog.
4. Visiting the closure of the BizWorld project at the Christoffel school, 10 February, a) with her wrap and b) inside without. This is a NATAN top, Mathilde has the same one in different colors, and we just saw Máx's red version last month. With the wrap, it's a whole lot of beige, but I like it without.
5. Attending the signing of one of the agreements between Qredits and the European investment foundation EIF, 11 February. Oh, dear. More thoughts below.

Best and Worst of the Week

Let's start with the worst, shall we?

It's like she took every sartorial complaint I've ever had about her and mashed it into one train wreck outfit! We've got tights that are color-matched to the outfit (such a pet peeve of mine, especially when we're not talking about black-on-black). We've got shoes that don't go with the outfit and are totally wrong for the tights. We've got messy hair, and last but not least, we have curiously overgrown jewelry. And it's a shame, too: on its own, that dress is quite flattering. Thankfully, she also showed us the other end of the spectrum in the same week:

No overly opaque stockings, no messy hair, no excessive accessorizing. All together, an outfit worthy of jumpy claps. What say you, my sartorial-minded friends?

Photos: PPE/Dutch Photo Press

Week in Review: Charlene Wittstock, 6-12 February

Here's what Charlene Wittstock wore the week of 6-12 February:

1. Giving a newspaper interview at the start of her visit to South Africa, 10 February. (All pics this week from the South Africa visit!)
2. Race awards and fundraiser, 10 February. It's not black! Look, she's so excited, she's doing a little dance there.
3. Special Olympics charity fundraising breakfast, 11 February. I thought this was important to view from different perspectives, so you can see the bag (which makes a cute overall look) and the lace panels on the back, too.
4. At the opening of the Nelson Mandela Intimate Moments Exhibition, 11 February. In some pics, this looks like a jumpsuit, but here it's looking like a dress. Please, please, let it be a dress.
5. Swimming the Midmar Mile charity event, 12 February. For once, an outfit no one can say doesn't fit her swimmer's body! Ha!

Best and Worst of the Week

So much to talk about this week, right? Topic #1: the jeans. Full disclosure, I don't like skinny jeans ever (pretty much), and I didn't like them this week. Also, how are we feeling about jeans at these "official" events? Nice compromise, considering she's not the Princess of Monaco yet and so this was a more casual visit, or too informal?

Topic #2: color! Finally! That's why the red number gets the title of Best of the Week for me, skinny jeans and all.

Topic #3: as always, dressing a swimmer's body. We always seem to come back to this, no matter what she wears. I have to say, this is where the skinny jeans fall apart for me: the lower half needs to balance the top half. This is also where the evening outfit of the week falls apart for me, and why it gets my Worst of the Week title. Well, that plus the fact that I want to hike the dress up. And for the reasons you can see clearly in the close up shot: hair (okay, Victoria's ponytails get a pass compared to this) and the bodice. Yes, that's her skin peeking through there. No thank you.

Photos: Life/Zimbio/Getty/Looklocal

Week in Review: Princess Letizia, 6-12 February

Here's what Princess Letizia wore the week of 6-12 February:

1.  Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Prince Felipe taking his oath as Prince of Asturias, 8 February, a) outside with coat and b) inside without. I really think outfits #2 and #1 should have been swapped for formality's sake.
2. Visiting the Cadena Cope radio station in Madrid, 9 February, a) outside and b) inside. Again? I seriously had to triple check and make sure this was a different event. If she wears this one again next week, I'm naming it worst no matter what else she sports, even though I like it.
3. Greeting the German president and first lady, 10 February.

Best and Worst of the Week

I'm a sucker for purple. I like to think she knew she'd be featured in endless "style face-off" articles next to Bettina Wulff there, and she stepped up her regular gray just for the occasion. She didn't abandon it, no, that would have been too much to ask, but a dash of color does go a long way. The first outfit of the week, on the other hand just needed a dash of...something. A belt on the cardigan? A blazer instead? Just something to make her look less like a school teacher and more like a princess. Right?

Photos: Zimbio/Getty/Purepeople/Abaca

Week in Review: Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 30 January - 5 February

Here's what Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore the week of 30 January - 5 February:

1. Visiting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 31 January.
2. Attending a dinner at the Hotel D'Angleterre,31 January, a) with coat and b) without.
3. Visiting the UNAIDS building in Geneva, 1 February. 

Best and Worst of the Week

Number 2's the best, no question. The cardigan's kind of ruining the thing, but the coat makes up for it with that little touch of fur to class it up. Now, on the worst side, I'm torn. Neither 1 nor 3 are terrible. The texture on the skirt of 3 and the detailing on the jacket of 1 both add interest to what could be plain and boring outfits. Yet: the pink scarf is just too much extra and too unnecessary on 3. That's not as bad as this, though, from Outfit 1:

Seriously? Brown shoes? That suit, though it looks black, is in fact navy. But that still doesn't make this okay.  Also, peep toe shoes + tights = bad news, so I have my worst. What's yours?


Photos: Daylife/Reuters/Belga/DANAPRESS

Week in Review: Crown Princess Mary, 30 January - 5 February

Here's what Crown Princess Mary wore the week of 30 January - 5 February:

1.  Appearing via video for World Cancer Day, 4 February. And this is how you handle appearances before you're ready for a full body shot again - another Princess lesson from Mary (who really didn't look that dour in the video, screenshots are tricky business).

Photo: tv2fyn.dk

Week in Review: Princess Letizia, 16-22 January

Here's what Princess Letizia wore the week of 16-22 January:

1. At the annual Foreign Ambassadors Reception, 18 January.
2. a) Attending the commemoration of the Santillana publishing house, 18 January, and b) the dress as worn previously. Not fair to evaluate the dress with the coat on, really.

Last week was light neutrals, this week is dark neutrals! See, she really does switch it up sometimes. (Ha.) What we have this week are two examples of things Letizia's tiny frame can pull off: a tightly cinched waist (#1) and a bubble dress (#2). And one example of something no one's frame can pull off: sticking a motorcycle jacket over a dainty bubble dress. Color me shocked she just didn't throw a scarf over it instead. Maybe she really is shaking things up.

Photos: Terra

Week in Review: Princess Letizia, 1-8 January

Here's what Princess Letizia wore the week of 1-8 January:

1. Attending the Pascua Military Ceremony, 6 January, a) inside and b) outside.
2. Out with the family, 7 January.

Ah, this blue outfit. Let's chat: I have very specific likes and dislikes here. I really like the skirt, but I do not like the jacket. Something softer would be preferable, I think. If we have to have this jacket, I'd prefer it worn like last year (at the ambassador's reception):

When you close it up, suddenly the shirt underneath becomes just a random black t-shirt that doesn't make any sense. I'd also prefer last year's hair, because the wind-blown hair deal from this year looks, I don't know...anticlimactic atop this get-up. Also, dyed-to-match shoes are only acceptable in a bridesmaid sort of situation in my world. What do you think?

Photos: Eduardo Parra/Getty Images Europe/Zimbio/Vanitatas.com