Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway are making a working visit to Kenya on 22 and 23 November, which is organized by the UN Development Program (UNDP). On November 22, Crown Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Haakon attended a meeting with local UN and UNDP representatives at Tribe Hotel in Nairobi.
Crown Prince Haakon has been UNDP's goodwill ambassador since 2003. Crown Princess Victoria was appointed as one of the 17 ambassadors who are involved in the work with the Global Goals. The Crown Princess is now an advocate for the Global Goals, especially focusing on sustainability, the sea and fishing.
BY MALINA Iro short sleeve printed maxi dress
BY MALINA Iro printed maxi dress
Well, I suppose if you just throw a bunch of prairie dresses in your suitcase and nothing else, you won't have any trouble picking an outfit in the morning. As far as Victoria's choices go, I really like this. The length is much better than with the previous one and the ruffles create enough visual interest that the fabric isn't drowning her. The overall silhouette is very flattering. My only quibble is the high neckline. Not only does it look uncomfortable, but I don't really like the way it cuts off the head from the rest of the body - a softer neckline or a more voluminous hairstyle would balance out the proportions better.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it's always nice seeing royal families interacting or uniting for a cause, so well done to both Haakon and Victoria!
-Nika-
Although this dress and the one of yesterday come from similar sources of inspiration, this one is much better. Better length and short sleeves make it better.
ReplyDeleteOld, old, old hairstyle.
ReplyDeleteOmg she's not 68, not 72.
She is only 45. Disaster:(
Xx
Would you, by chance, have anything positive to say about Princess Victoria?
DeleteMaybe she doesn't have access to a hair stylist? I have worn my hair like this for a decade because life is too short to spend an hour blow drying and styling. Africa is humid. Humidity is a bugger and a bun defeats humidity every time!
DeleteTo: deadeggs
DeleteNo, I wouldn't.
To caune:
Victoria has had one haircut whole her life. Africa has nothing to do with it.
Xx
Princess Victoria's dress is from the Swedish fashion house “BY Melina”
ReplyDeleteIt is not the first time she has worn their dresses.
The designer behind the brand is a youngish woman known as Malin Andrén.
Do I like it? ….. yes, but I think a more open top/neck would be more suitable to the Kenyan climate.
Her dress on the first day of her visit was also from “By MELINA”, a re-wear.
At the moment Nairobi is entering into its spring (type) season.
Nairobi day temperatures around 25C°. Winter has finished for them but the nights can still be a bit chilly.
Love this look from Victoria! Very pretty dress--again, wish the neckline were different--that fits Victoria beautifully.
ReplyDeleteJanet
The best part of this post is seeing CP Victoria and CP Haakon together. I Her dress is better than yesterday's but a less frilly garment would have been better, in my opinion. I can find no fault with Haakon's appears.
ReplyDeleteC'est en la regardant de près que je préfère cette robe imprimée à celle portée hier ; avec les sandales bleu-marine à brides, c’est parfait !
ReplyDeleteIn itself, this dress is better than last night´s - a bit shorter, a bit more fitted/structured, a bit less fabric. Could have been simplified more plus I´d prefer a more open neckline, but fine. For the occasion though it´s as wrong as the other floaty floral number. This was a business meeting, so surely some business attire was in order if you want to be taken seriously? Since when are frilly floral dresses appropriate for high profil international summits allegedly addressing problems so grave that solving them is crutial for the planet´s future? How does a floral dress signal expertise and authority to weigh in on such matters and to convince that this person should be listened to and taken guidance from? Sorry about this rant, and it isn`t solely directed at Victoria either, but these occasions continue to puzzle me. Of course, one can be super qualified and still poorly dressed but since it is the explicit task of these royals/UN representatives to publicly advocate/lobby for something, shouldn´t they at least *look* as if they are qualified? By and large, the elites of the world don´t even pretend any more to take things seriously.
ReplyDelete(Maybe it´s for the better as it becomes more and more obvious that we are watching a huge show. Making some random overseas royals advocate for UN goals didn´t legitimize these causes to begin with, and them showing up in florals and sandals makes that all the more obvious.)
Dear Vanessa.
DeleteI always read and like your comments.
But could I ask you to take into account that the meeting is not in Europe?
For a woman to wear a business suit in Africa, I think would be out of place.
And I’m sure Princess Victoria would not wear one of her floral dresses to an International meeting in Europe.
Kenya is having spring type weather at the moment and the colours of Africa must be a joy to the eye. They are having temperatures around 25C°. Kenya is a beautiful country.
At the moment, Sweden is covered in snow and temperatures, day and night, are at around zero degrees or minus zero.
It must be hard for a European woman living with such cold weather to choose a wardrobe for such a meeting in Africa. Something that is not OTT and yet not understated.
When you see in the last photo (N°10) the tenure of the other people attending the meeting, I think Princess Victoria has made the right choice with her wardrobe.
p.s. Thanks to our blog administratrice for the 10 photos.
Compared with other royal sites, we are a bit spoilt.
@Vanessa I see what you mean. I have a hard time understanding how dress code and/or protocol works in these type of gatherings. Because they indeed sometimes show up in a suit, and other times in 'florals and sandals' like you pointed out :-) Customs in the country they visit might be a reason? Maybe whoever is organising gives out a dress code (and royals politely follow these)? Or perhaps the personal interpretation of what "business attire" is? Someone should investigate this for us! ;-)
DeleteVanessa you just don't get it judging this isAfrica with warm sunny weather at about 25 degrees. If she had appeared in a smart business suit like Queen Letitia often wears THEN she would not be taken seriously in Africa and would look downright silly in my opinion. I speak as an ex S.A. citizen that has now lived in Europe for more than 40 years and I am still not always used to some of your in my view very silly ideas. Like white or light trousers in summer and darker clothes in winter, no slingbacks in winter etc. To me she looks very neat and elegant and like she took the trouble to pick a nice dress to appear in, in a way that would go down well in a place like Kenya and any country south of Kenya. Our dress ideas are far more casual in thses countries and a lot of very powerful women there waer very flamboyant clothes and are a force to be reckoned with.
DeleteHhm. Interesting replies, thank you.
DeleteI have thought about this, and I give you that the weather/climate is of course a consideration but then again, most other people at that event readily wore business attire. And it´s not like this meeting was held outdoors but in a (likely fully air-conditioned) convention centre of a luxury 5* hotel. And even if the conditions were hot, surely that still wouldn´t cancel out the requirement to dress appropriately in business attire? It´s not like Haakon is sitting there in shorts and sandals, even if the weather as such would call for it.
Regarding the African setting: I wonder if that really matters much. This is not a local initiative but an international program of global significance allegedly necessary to save the planet. International customs should apply, at least to those representing the UN goals. International customs do allow for traditional attire as long as it is fit for business. At international summits we often see non-Western clothing, most notably from Africa, the middle East and Asia, so it doesn´t have to be suits necessarily. I´m not discussing styles, I´m discussing the level of formality.
Victoria does indeed look neat. I´m not disputing that.
@nalerina, but how come all men in the group photo are wearing suits, full formal attire with shirts and ties and business shoes, most of the women wear pantsuits, or a dress/skirt/blazer combination, quite a number of them wore tights and pumps, or at least closed shoes. Victoria ist the only one in this rather informal summery outfit with bare feet and sandals. I personally think she got this whole Africa is a hot country go for summer clothes thing wrong. And I ask myself where are her advisors? From my personal experience relying on several stays both private and professional in West Africa I can say that Africans favor a formal attire when it comes to business meetings and may even feel offended when guests show up in some summery, casual, beach holiday, safari style outfit or whatever. I am not saying that Victoria got it all wrong, it could have been worse if we think of her many frilly, flowery, romantic, house of the prairie dresses, but in my personal opinion, she did not get it right.
DeleteNot gonna go into the hole debate about if a dress is bad choice or not, but I do see that there is several other women at the meeting in dresses. Just saying 😉
DeleteThose shoes are hideous, they makes her feet looks wide.
ReplyDeleteVictoria once said in an interview that Haakon is like her brother. It’s nice to see such a kind and warm relationship between them. Victoria looks lovely in this dress which fits her well and suits the season of the country. I do wish her hair was not so severely pulled back but that is her “working” look and she has done this for many years now.
ReplyDeleteThis grey floral dress is quite nice, I prefer this to yesterdays dress. It would suit the climate I would imagine. Its lovely to see both of them together at this event and importantly supporting sustainability.
ReplyDeleteKenya must be beautiful, at least from what one can see. Like this dress much nicer than the other one.css
ReplyDeleteShe may think wearing her hair in severe bun will make people take her seriously but instead it clashes with her frilly dress and distracts. Tailored blouse with skirt or trousers would have been better option than this informal frilly dress. Agree with Vanessa and what she wrote.
ReplyDeleteKaarin
Post a Comment
(We will not publish anonymous comments that were posted without stating a name or nickname)