Y’all seemed to enjoy yesterday’s Dutch-royal fashion post, so here’s another one. Queen Maxima has been serving some amazing looks during her tour, with King Willem-Alexander, of South Africa. This is their first royal tour of South Africa, and it genuinely feels like they’re sending a message to the Windsors. The message: that royal tours can still be done if you actually give a sh-t and embrace modernity, rather than acting like colonialist fools staggering from self-made crisis to self-made disaster.
The standout of Maxima’s tour looks is absolutely this bronze ensemble, which is so beautiful, flattering and stylish. While it looks like a dress, it’s actually a two-piece from Natan. She accessorized with a Patek Philippe watch, Jar earrings and Gianvito Rossi pumps. If I have any criticism here, it’s that the earrings are slightly overkill – she could have chosen something smaller and less “distracting” from the amazing ensemble. That, and she made a bad decision with her hosiery.
Additionally, Maxima wore a more traditionally “royal” look for a photocall at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. This floral dress is also from Natan. It’s one of her favorite labels, and she’s worn a lot of pieces from the Dutch label during this tour. Maxima not only loves bold dressing, she enjoys accessorizing. It’s a joy to watch a queen put together an outfit from head to toe.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA – Queen Máxima of The Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa attend a concert at Staatstheater in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pictured: Queen Máxima, King Willem-Alexander BACKGRID USA 19 OCTOBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA – Queen Máxima of The Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa attend a concert at Staatstheater in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pictured: Queen Máxima, King Willem-Alexander BACKGRID USA 19 OCTOBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands during a photo opportunity at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, on day 3 of the 3-day state visit of the Dutch Royals to South Africa. Pictured: King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands BACKGRID USA 20 OCTOBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands during a photo opportunity at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, on day 3 of the 3-day state visit of the Dutch Royals to South Africa. Pictured: King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands BACKGRID USA 20 OCTOBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I love these two because they always look so genuinely happy to be where ever they are!
And happy together too. They look like they would be fun to know!
They both just look like – oh my gosh if this isn’t the most fun I’ve ever had I don’t know what is!
They ENJOY themselves. They enjoy talking to new people. They enjoy fashion and LIFE and trying new things. It is so flipping refreshing I can’t even tell you.
I love her outfits. I love them. Because I’ve been trying to dress more like Meghan – she always looks amazing and effortless – and I am a minimalist in how I dress. So I was like – this is perfect! Meghan is a masterclass!
Be But a BOLD minimalist turns out.
Like I bought one pair of oxfords. But….. They are hot pink.
I went to get an outfit for a party of old friends who are all super serious career people and dress like it and I came home with flare green velvet floral embroidered down the sides pants. I was going for Meghan’s classic amazing look!!!!
ITS LIKE I CANT HELP MYSELF!
But honestly – and I do mean this – as someone who is trying to rediscover themselves and was taking fashion points from meghan – still am! She’s a flipping ICON no doubt – it’s so nice to see Max not taking it so seriously. NOT THAT MEGHAN DOES! But the media takes what she wear so seriously because – again she’s a flipping icon.
It’s just so nice to see that fashion can be fun and risky and carefree and that I personally don’t have to take it so seriously.
I can learn things from Meghan AND Max and be the better fkr jt.
The more interesting is Willem Alexander turning into William by fleeing into a waiting car and leaving Maxima to fend for herself at protests in South Africa today…
Anyway hopefully this costly nonsense is soon a thing of the past as the support for a monarchy is going down.
From your comments yesterday I take it you don’t like them? Mind if I ask why the dislike? Are they disliked at home also?
They flaunted Covid rules, and WA requested subsidies for a park he owns, but then closed it for months to kill animals.
I think it’s becoming more clear that one of the richest men in the Netherlands gets an enormous amount, he’s getting an increase, and meanwhile other dutch worry about paying the bills.
More and more dutch want to get rid of the monarchy. Thankfully.
https://www.nu.nl/koningshuis/6286117/onrust-bij-staatsbezoek-in-zuid-afrika-koningspaar-moet-door-woedende-menigte-naar-auto.html
Dutch article (in Dutch!) on the protests. If you click on it, there’s a video in there that shows Willem Alexander getting into the car before Maxíma, as Inge said. The video starts after a commercial.
Thanks. Harry would never.
Saw the video. He was ahead of her in the crowd.; it was the duty of security to protect the king. They held the door for him and saw him in, holding the door for Maxima to join him seconds later. Not only protocol but safety concerns.
Oh, that behavior makes all the difference. Her fancy outfits don’t look so nice now. Do you think he smiles that much after dodging protesters? Thanks for the facts.
Umm, I personally do not feel that the history of Apartheid, colonialism, and terrible oppression by the Dutch Afrikaaners against the ethnic people of South Africa, takes away from Maxima’s brilliant and fun-spirited fashion sense. Her outfits are lovely. And oppression against any people, in all of its ugly forms, is deplorable.
Willem has publicly apologized and acknowledged his country’s role in colonialism, oppression, and the slave trade. That’s much more than most European or other western powers, who hugely benefited from colonialism, have even considered doing. As a first step, for sure it is not enough for people who are still suffering, or for their ancestors who horribly suffered. The angry feelings of the protestors run deep. There are no easy solutions.
In regard to the video, for sure, Harry would have had his wife walking in front of him. It was a tight, single file line, with the police and protection officers bunched around them. Thus, Willem, who looked fearful and downcast, was not running away. He and Maxima were being led urgently to their vehicle, with tight quarters all around. Again, for sure, Harry would have turned and placed his wife in front of him so she could enter the car first, and he immediately after her, rather than either walking around to enter the other side! 👀🫢 Security personnel are largely to blame for that!
OTOH, I don’t think the Sussexes would have been at the receiving end of this kind of protest. In any case, Harry spoke previously about possible security dangers being a strike against them relocating to live in South Africa (after it was revealed that this possibility had been considered, prior to their departure from the royal firm).
Thank you for raising this Inge, I was wondering why we were ignoring the protesters as they were leaving Slave Lodge. I think that royal tours to the colonies are gross no matter which “royals” are doing the touring.
She looks amazing! This is one of my annoyances with Kate. She has so many resources and nothing ever looks quite right. I would look so good if I had that kind of money at my disposal.
She is always making choices that just work for her! love it!
I feel like the Dutch have also embraced their role in colonialism. They haven’t shied away from it like the British. They’ve acknowledged their wrongs and are trying to right them. Therefore, when they go on these tours, their former colonies/interests embrace them, instead of treating them with disdain. As for fashion, Maxima will always bring it for good or for bad. She’s really killing it with this tour.
And then my original statement is shown to be a lie by the protest today. Oh, well…the Dutch were the worst offenders/slavers, so the King & Queen will reap what was sowed. Shame on WA for getting in the car ahead of his wife.
The big earrings may be a bit of a miss with that fab bronze outfit – but this is Maxima, she’ll always make the maximist choice.
I don’t mind the bronze earrings but the huge earrings with the floral outfit look like she has lighthouses lanterns hanging from her lobes. Maxima is never boring. She’s definitely my favorite of all the royal fashion posts.
I actually like those earrings with the dress, I just wish her hair was up to show them off better.
Her name suits her. She is MAXIMA all the time, and I kind of love that about her.
Yesterday’s post and today’s also seems to highlight that the King and the PM(?)are having a good time with one another. Lots of laughing and good cheer.
Yeah, I wanted to know who the guy with the big smile is; he definitely seems to be happy to be hosting them.
Those red shoes! 😍
She looks gorgeous. I love both of the outfits. That copper is an amazing color, it compliments everyone in that photo. Would love to see more of this color in fashion.
Completely agree (minor note on the hosiery – that was a fail, but the rest is on point!) I feel Maxima makes those looks work because she’s engaged, right? She’s in the moment, you can see it with the genuine smile, focused gaze, posture etc: she’s not faking it. There’s commitment and it’s authentic, and that transpires in those pictures. Which is why she can wear more or less anything, and the outfit never wears her: she has a personality that does not “disappear” behind a fashion statement, no matter how bold.
I completely agree, that copper dress is doing everyone a favor!
I love how she can look like a completely different person, just by taking fashion risks.
Love the copper dress..those hose hatched from a plastic egg in 1982. No no no, woman.
Agreed! I don’t think you can get away from the sheen though if you’re wearing support hose…? I’m sure there are other options now but I don’t really know anymore since I haven’t worn or bought nylons in quite some time.
Can I dress like her when I grow up?
I’d like to be Maxima when I grow up and I’m 50 😂. Maybe when I finally get to my batty eccentric hag phase and I can wear this to go grocery shopping.
I would never have guessed she was wearing separates! What a fun dress. It does slightly remind me of a costume for a Roaring Twenties themed party lol, but I feel like you can’t help but be in a good mood wearing a dress like that! I didn’t even nice the hose until pointed out and it is a bit yikes. Would she even need to wear it at this point there? It’s spring in South Africa now right?
That second dress reminds me of the white LK Bennett dress Kate wore with the blue flowers clustered in the middle. I like the one on Maxima too.
I love both these outfits, minus the bronze earrings -but both outfits are overall fantastic.
Don’t love the first dress, but I like the second dress just not with that hat.
Completely superficial, but my goodness she has beautiful eyes 😍 so full of life and just gorgeous!
I love both of her outfits but esp the bronze one ! I also love what a comfortable and fun mood they all seem to be in.
Just a minor correction: Natan is a Belgian label, favoured by quite a lot of European houses, but especially by Queen Mathilde of Belgium (Natan also designed her wedding dress which propelled the brand really into the royal courts) and Queen Maxima. There actually have been quite some occasions where they partnered up for an event/visit and were deliberately/undeliberately twinning with their looks :-).
I remember those black and white houndstooth coats/dresses. It seems all the BeNeLux royal ladies have those awful NATAN kneehigh suede boots as well. And Mathilde and Max both have those overscale straw hats in bright shades (orange, pink). The shaggy hats that look like a dog got at the brims.
The floral dress is nice but the copper fringe is FIRE!!!
Not a big fan of what she wears. It’s bold and eye catching but there’s something a bit fussy and fusty about it. Could be the accessories or styling. Giving 80s socialite vibes.
Thank you for covering QM. Love her!
She wears her clothes and it shows. Some people have their clothes wear them and it shows.
The bronze dress looks so good. She obv enjoys fashion and knows who she is.
I love everything but the stockings. Pantyhose is so dated. It ages women who wear them. And no it doesn’t matter the tone. Unless of course you are specifically going for a vintage look.
Natan is a Belgian label, not Dutch 😉
They are such a cute couple.
Queen Maxima always looks fabulous. Her choices rarely fail, a beautiful lady who embraces life and the people around her. Máxima works extremely hard and is the most popular member of the royal family in the Netherlands. The queen is praised for her work ethic, her passion, warmth, and authenticity made her easy to love. She is known for championing progressive causes such as inclusive finance, the inclusion of immigrants, and LGBTQ+ rights. A commoner from Argentina who embraced her new country and life with a passion and has become loved by many. Khate in particular could learn an enormous amount from her.
And she’s a smart cookie. I think she worked in investment banking. I dealt with her in my old job. We had her on a number of high level panels discussing access to finance in developing countries. Very good speaker and able knit conversations together. And, the best chic suits! She was unfailing warm and polite to me and my staff. They loved her.
Has this been reported. I’ve seen bits of it on twitter.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dutch-king-queen-confronted-angry-protesters-visit-slavery-104171530
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Angry protesters in Cape Town confronted the king and queen of the Netherlands on Friday as they visited a museum that traces part of their country’s 150-year involvement in slavery in South Africa.