Cather­ine Middleton

On April 29, 2011, Great Britain’s Prince William will marry Kate Mid­dle­ton. Hats will be worn — lots and lots of them. If there was ever a cel­e­bra­tion for cha­peaux of all types, sizes, and imag­i­na­tive shapes, this occa­sion will be the high­light of the cen­tury. I love hats and yes, I wear them too. How­ever fig­ur­ing out just the right jew­elry to go with them can some­times be a bit, um, chal­leng­ing. Can you don an elab­o­rate pair of ear­rings with an equally dra­matic hat? Con­ven­tional wis­dom says no, how­ever I recently came across an image of Queen Elizabeth’s grand­daugh­ter, Zara Phillips, wear­ing very long, con­tem­po­rary ear­rings with a hat of com­pa­ra­ble pres­ence. The look was youth­ful, lovely, and didn’t dilute the impact of either acces­sory. If any­thing the accou­ter­ments viewed together seemed to enhance Ms. Phillips’ vibrancy. Hers was the only image I came across of a woman who chose to wear a bold ear­ring with her hat.

Zara Phillips, Princess Beat­rice, and Laura Parker Bowles all in Philip Treacy’s creations

Queen Eliz­a­beth II

Princess Diana

Her grand­mother, the Queen, chooses beau­ti­ful, archi­tec­turally strong hats that match in color to her ensem­ble. Her ear­rings are almost always close-fitting pearls. How­ever, the Queen always wears a FABULOUS dia­mond or diamond-and-other gem­stone brooch which some­how cre­ates a strik­ing dia­log with her hat. The over­all com­po­si­tion plays up both her head­gear and her shoul­der badge in a very mar­tial kind of way, one that denotes her regal sta­tus almost imme­di­ately. The late Queen Mother often wore pen­dant ear­rings with her round-brimmed and feath­ered hats, and still every­thing was kept to refined pageantry. Only the warmth of her smile was allowed to project beyond the para­me­ters of her stately comportment.

Statute of the Queen Mother

Most of the images pro­vided below show women wear­ing small ear­rings, not sur­pris­ingly with unerr­ing pearls either closely fit­ted or dan­gling just beneath the ear. Actress Sarah Jes­sica Parker wears hats well and always with an ear­ring that plays up the the­atri­cal­ity of the hat.

Sarah Jes­sica Parker

Sarah Jes­sica Parker

Wed­ding are uniquely fer­tile ground for drama. The veiled bride in white — or in the case of Cather­ine Mid­dle­ton, per­haps a glit­ter­ing tiara and cathedral-length train. Ms. Mid­dle­ton seems also to favor a small ear­ring and hat cou­pling, although this is her wed­ding day and she is mar­ry­ing a prince after all. This cat’s hat will be one she will wear for the rest of her life. The bling comes with the job too. The hap­pily ever after is the only thing she and the prince will have to earn. After twenty-five years of my own mar­riage, I can only offer that if there is con­stant love and con­sid­er­a­tion, there will be sparkle, just not the kind every­one else can see. And that is the way it should be.

The Duchess of Corn­wall and Sophie Wessex

Autumn Phillips

Lady Helen

Angelina Jolie