A garden party is spent outdoors on grass, standing, for several hours. The sun moves round, the wind has nothing to stop it and both of your hands are usually holding something. Weight and balance matter here as much as the shape does.
A Buckingham Palace garden party asks women for day dress, usually worn with a hat. Elsewhere the code is looser and the practical questions stay exactly the same. Every piece is blocked to your head measurement and made by hand in the London atelier.
Choosing yours
Three things that decide a garden party hat
The Palace asks for day dress with a hat
Buckingham Palace garden parties ask women for day dress, usually with a hat or a fascinator. Men wear morning dress or a lounge suit, and national dress and uniform are worn too. Most other garden parties set no rule at all.
Grass, wind and no walls
Nothing outdoors breaks the wind. A wide brim needs a deeper crown and an accurate fit to stay on, and a headpiece on a band or a comb removes the question entirely. Straw stays lighter than felt across a standing afternoon.
Size and fitYou will have a cup in one hand
A garden party is eaten and drunk standing up, so there is rarely a spare hand to steady a hat in a gust. Anything you have to hold you will end up carrying. Each piece here is wired and blocked to your own measurement.
Made for you
Monika will design a piece around your outfit, match the colour by hand to your fabric and block it to your measurement. One to four weeks from the first conversation.
Hats for a summer garden party. Straw, wide brims and light headpieces, hand-blocked in the London atelier.
Questions
What do you wear to a Buckingham Palace garden party?
The Royal Family asks women for day dress, usually worn with a hat or a fascinator. Men wear morning dress or a lounge suit, and national dress and uniform are also common. The afternoon is spent outdoors on grass, so a piece you can stand in for several hours is worth more than a piece built for a photograph.
Do you have to wear a hat to a garden party?
At Buckingham Palace a hat is the expectation rather than a written rule. At a private or a corporate garden party there is usually no code, and a hat is a practical choice for several hours in open sun. Ask the host if the invitation says nothing, since a marquee changes the answer.
What hat suits an outdoor summer party?
Parasisal, sinamay and light silk stay breathable across a long standing afternoon where felt gets hot. Pale shades sit cooler on the head and photograph well against green. A brim gives you shade, and a headpiece on a band gives you one less thing to think about in wind.
How do I stop a hat blowing off outdoors?
Fit does most of the work. Every hat here is blocked to your own head measurement rather than to a standard size, and a deeper crown holds a wide brim far better than a shallow one. A comb, a band or an elastic matched to your hair colour can be added to any piece on request.