Much fuss has been made about the fascinator Princess Beatrice Duchess of York wore to Prince William’s wedding.  It was not pretty but it was bold.  The Princess is blessed with a stunning red mane that requires no embellishment but, to meet tradition and expectation, she donned an eccentric beige Philip Treacy fascinator crafted from stiffened ribbon that resembled, depending on your frame of mind, a cat hatch, a toilet seat cover, or fallopian tubes.  And she wore it proudly, perfectly upright and low on the forehead.

Philip Treacy is an English milliner of prodigious vision who doesn’t make hats so much as theater.  Fashion, real fashion, involves taking a risk and making oneself the center of attention and, often, making oneself uncomfortable, and that’s exactly what Beatrice did.  (She did it before, too, donning a Treacy butterfly fascinator for cousin Peter Phillips’ wedding in 2008.)  It’s more than you can say about Princess Katherine, who wore a wedding gown that was designed in not-so-subtle imitation of another, more fashionable, princess.