A French Honor (and Classic Pearls) for Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari

Last week, the King of Thailand’s daughter, Princess Sirivannavari, was honored in Paris for her contributions to the fashion industry—as an exhibition dedicated to her grandmother’s iconic wardrobe opened across the city.

Princess Sirivannavari, the younger daughter of the King of Thailand, arrived at the Salon des Maréchaux inside the Palais-Royal in Paris on Friday for a special ceremony: her investiture as a Grand Officer of the Legion d’Honneur. It was announced in January that the French government had decided to convey the honor on the princess, recognizing her role as a créatrice du mode—a fashion designer and tastemaker.

Sirivannavari, who earned a master’s degree in design in France, founded her eponymous fashion brand in 2005. She has designed runway collections shown in Asia and Europe and has produced jewelry collaborations with Beauty Gems, the Thai firm that has designed pieces worn by members of the Swedish royal family.

France’s Minister of Culture, Catherine Pégard, presented the insignia of the Legion d’Honneur to Princess Sirivannavari during the ceremony. A press release from Thailand’s government public relations department noted that Pégard “delivered remarks extolling Her Royal Highness for her works, honoring the Princess’s esteemed role as an individual with exceptional ability and dedication through her valuable missions that have contributed and promoted French culture and Art de vivre, as well as the enduring friendship with the French Republic.”

To receive the insignia of the order, the Princess wore a tailored jacket and skirt in an elegant shade of dove gray, with lovely floral embellishments on the bottom of the skirt. The ensemble is part of the Thai national dress developed by her grandmother, Queen Sirikit, in the 1960s, marrying traditional Thai clothing elements with Western fashion design. You can read all about the different styles codified by the late Queen in this interesting collaboration between Google and the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles.

Along with her new French chivalric decoration and her Thai royal badge, Sirivannavari wore several earrings in each ear. The biggest and most impactful of these feature a diamond-set circle stud with a larger diamond accent stone and a round pearl pendant.

She also, notably, wore floral ornaments in her hair. These are shaped like lily-of-the-valley, with a tiny lucky ladybug nestled among the blossoms. The flower, called muguet in French, is an important motif from the nation’s fashion history and in France in general. Posies of lily-of-the-valley are exchanged each year on La Fête du Muguet, which is celebrated on May 1. The flower was a particular favorite of Christian Dior, who incorporated it in some of his iconic designs and often wore a sprig pinned to his lapel.

And don’t miss the diamond rings that the Princess wore on her right hand: a band and a solitaire that looks to be set with a substantial central stone.

Princess Sirivannavari is deeply involved with the continuation of her late grandmother’s fashion legacy. In April, she offered remarks during a special exhibition of Thai fashion in The Hague. And a few days after her big investiture in Paris, she wore an elegant traditional ensemble for a reception celebrating the opening of La Mode en Majesté: Royal Thai Dress From Tradition to Modernity at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. The exhibition is a collaborative effort by several institutions, including the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. It’s open to visitors until November 1.