Weekly Royal Dish: Charlene Wittstock will be Her Serene Highness Princess Of Monaco

Weekly Royal Dish: Charlene Wittstock will be Her Serene Highness Princess Of Monaco

Her Serene FASHION Highness...

Prince Albert of Monaco and fiancé, Charlene Wittstock, soon-to-be Her Serene Highness of Monaco, Charlene--recently attended the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d’Antibes, France. Looking absolutely stunning in a pale blue silk gown with Swarovski crystals around the Empire by Armani Prive, Charlene Wittstock was dazzling on the arm of her fiancé.

Yesterday, it was announced that Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe, a country in southern Africa for those geographically challenged)born stunner Charlene Wittstock will be Her Serene Highness, Princess Charlene of Monaco as well as Duchess of Valentois, Marchise (Or Marchioness) of Baux, and Countess of Carlades. These are the same titles that the late Princess Grace of Monaco also had. The soon-to-be Princess Charlene will get the same protocol as her Prince Albert. And hopefully some of the BILLIONS he has--he is after all supposedly, one of the wealthiest Monarchs in the entire world!

Charlene Wittstock in Armani Prive

But really, what I am interested in is the fact that the future Princess of Monaco is quite a Fashionista! It all sort of began when she wore a Haute Couture hand-made suit by Armani Prive (seen above) that if she actually purchased it, would set her back about $40,000. If anyone wants to pinpoint Charlene's "Fashion Moment", this would be IT for me. Even future sister-in-law Princess Caroline's son was like "Oh No you DIDN'T!!" (see photo above)

Recently, at the Monaco Grand Prix 2011, she wore this lovely and very Lady-like printed dress (above)...

Charlene Wittstock in Akris, AmberLounge Fashion Event

She also caused a stir wearing this strapless jumpsuit, by Akris for an AmberLounge Fashion Event. Strapless black sequined and wide legged palazzo jumsuit? For a future Princess? Yep, she gave them "Disco" huney!

Charlene Wittstock in Akris, Grand Prix of Monaco 2011 Party

Later that same day--for the Monaco Grand Prix 2011 Gala, she also wore Akris. This time it was a bateau-necked bronze sequined gown that SCREAMED Hollywood Screen Goddess.

Charlene Wittstock in Akris gown, Queen Elizabeth II's Pre-William and Catherine Wedding Party at Mandarin Oriental, London

Speaking of Akris...Many wondered who had designed her over-the-top strapless silver gown during the "William and Catherine Pre-Wedding" evening reception hosted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Yep, it was from the Swiss design House of Akris. It should be noted that they recently opened a boutique in Monaco and let's just say, Akris' PR Office is certainly working OVERTIME!!!!

Finally, (again in Akris!), here is Charlene and her future husband, Prince Albert of Monaco (above) at last month's Kate and William Royal Wedding. Albert and Charlene's Wedding is to take place July 2, 2011. The rumor is that she will wear Armani Prive, a custom made gown estimated at over $100,000. I cannot wait to see it!

WEDDING SEASON READY

WEDDING SEASON READY

It's official, the wedding season is finally upon us! So, since I've never really talked about how Emil and I get ready for a special occasions, such as a wedding for example, I thought it would be fun to  share some of our time-tested recipes to make this day as enjoyable as possible!

After being together for a little over 10 years and attending countless weddings together, one of the most important things we've learned is the importance of fighting the urge to get stressed out and making sure to keep things as fun and relaxed as possible! Take last weekend for example, we were invited to a family friend's garden-themed wedding reception in West Hollywood on Saturday evening, so Emil and I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to have a staycation! So on Friday, we packed our weekenders and headed to WeHo! To set the right mood for the day, we spent Saturday morning indulging in some of favorites, i.e. brunching in bed, doing a bit of reading, but mostly, binge-watching old episodes of Family Guy! Basically, a perfect Saturday morning in every sense!

Since I always choose my outfits well in advance ( definitely a lot less stressful this way, plus you have ample time to think about hair and make up ), getting dressed takes me no time at all. The way I like to choose my outfits is by by thinking about the setting. Is the event taking place at a very formal banquet hall, or is it more of a casual outdoor party? On this particular occasion, it was a garden-themed wedding with a decidedly casual vibe, so I decided to forgo a formal dress and opted to wear a romantic ruffled two-piece in a prettiest shade of pink in stead. To continue with the romantic theme, I paired my ruffled two-piece with a cute cross-body mini bag in a matching shade of pink and sky-high metallic platform sandals, to add just a bit of dressiness to the look. Finishing touch, cute pearl ear cuffs, and a few layered rings in gold.

As far as evening make up goes, I definitely prefer that smoky-eye, nude lip look. On this occasion, because my outfit had such a soft and romantic feel, I didn't want to create a very heavy smoky-eye, so I went with very soft grayish, lavender eye shadow, cat eye liner and matte pinky-nude lipstick.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I prefer to wear my hair down, except maybe for a few very rare formal occasions, when up-do is an absolute must! Since romance was definitely the theme of the day, I decided that voluminous, softly sculpted waves were the perfect hair style to complete my outfit! Super simple to re-create, I started by spraying sections of my hair ( I worked with 2nd day hair, since my fine hair tends to hold styles better the next day ) with Tresemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray. I always use this spay on my hair before curling or straightening because not only does it protect my hair from heat-damage but also keeps it very shiny, soft and manageable. Next, I curled 1 inch hair sections using a curling wand. Wands tend to work a bit faster than curling irons, so 2-5 seconds is definitely ample to time get that perfect curl. Once all of my hair was curled, I spayed sections of my hair with Tresemme TRES Two Extra Hold Hair Spray, making sure to hold the spray about 10 inches away from my hair! This one, is definitely my favorite extra-hold hair spray at the moment because while it helps to keep my hair styles in tact, it leaves my hair shiny, not matte and doesn't flake at all!

Super easy and simple, this look took me a little over an hour and a half start to finish, hair, make up and getting dressed included. I even had time to do my best Queen B impression while wearing Emil's suit ( my voice definitely needs some serious work, but getting it wrong is part of the fun ). As usual, I was dressed first, sitting on the couch, sipping my Rosé and watching Emil run around in his pjs, looking for his shoes, all while trying to tame his hair. Though his hair is super short, it's quite thick and course, so he used to spend ages getting it picture-ready. But he's made a switch to AXE Clean Cut Look Classic Pomade recently, which made things a lot easier!

P.S. We made it to the reception and this time around we were there on time! Well, .... practically on time!It's a work in progress! :)

WHO WHAT WEAR x TARGET Ruffle top & Layered ruffled skirt | GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI Lavinia platform sandals | MIU MIU Madras mini leather cross body bag | VivaLuxury x Gold Philosophy Delphine Ear Cuff, Trilliant Earrings & Clara Ear Crawlers

Hot Pink Wedding Guest Dress

Hot Pink Wedding Guest Dress

Hey pretties!

pic from my Instagram 

Dress: Elizabeth Lau - old but similar, Clutch: Lulu Guinness c/o, Necklace: Lulu Frost - old but new season, Sunglasses: Anthropologie

This weekend I attended the wedding reception of one of Oli's oldest friends. It was SUCH a beautiful venue, my eyes were on stalks exploring all of the magical nooks. Hot pink is, as I have professed before, one of my favourite 'good day' colours. This Elizabeth Lau dress has been my fall back on many occasions; I love that the shape doesn't date and it hangs just so. I bought it a few years ago in the sale in one of my favourite boutique The Hambledon, but there are a tonne of great hot pink dresses out there which you can get your hands on. I've rounded up the best for you below: 

SHOP

I am so excited to see some of you this evening at my workshop for Burts Bees!

Have a super day all,

Love,

MB x