Royal Warrant holder Fabienne Delvigne has had amazing success over the years by designing stunning hats worn by four European royal families for some of their most special occasions over the years. Speaking to HELLO! at the Four Seasons Hampshire for Royal Ascot over afternoon tea, the milliner revealed that the honour of working with the royals can come with its own unique challenges, and revealed what happened behind the scenes for one of Queen Maxima of the Netherlands’ most stunning looks…
Fabienne opened up about the incredible hat, which had a plume of feathers, explaining: “She wanted a hat that was called 'Secret Dream'. This hat was all made of feathers that required a certain colouring to match her dress. We had very little time. I ordered feathers and said they needed to be as white as possible but the feathers arrived and they had a colour that was actually quite sad.
“We couldn't give light with that kind of feather… We love a challenge, we found a procedure to whiten the feather to give it a more shiny colour. We started to dye and we were happy, it worked! But overnight the product burned the feather.”
She continued: “I had a meeting with the Queen and told her that I only had three feathers that were okay. I had to explain to the Queen that I found a solution - but there was no way to try the hat. We made the hat with wonderful feathers, very shiny. And that went directly with the driver to the Queen. No trial.”
The founder of La Maison Fabienne Delvigne continued: “At that moment it was, of course, very, very stressful.”
However, it all ended well, with the hat being a huge success - and the Queen even opting to wear it in the sunshine despite it being her choice if the weather was poor. “The story was funny because the Queen chose two hats, one for bad weather and another one for the sun. And it was very sunny,” Fabiene explained. “Nevertheless, she chose to hat that was for bad weather. I think she just loved the hat!”
She added: “I think with such an original hat, that was a big risk. But when you saw the Queen, it was extraordinary and the journalists all said, 'Wow’ and everyone loved it. It was a big success. The Queen was very happy and we were all very happy!”
To read the whole feature with Fabienne Delvigne - including tales of working with Queen Mathilde and Queen Maxima - and future hopes of working with the Princess of Wales, sign up to HELLO!'s Royal Explainer newsletter and receive the full article.