Queen Máxima of the Netherlands has once again shown why royal watchers follow her wardrobe so closely. During an official visit to Ghana this week, she swapped formal tailoring for a relaxed, summery outfit built almost entirely around openwork, the cut-out embroidery that lets light and air through the fabric. Vanity Fair Italia went as far as calling her the queen of openwork.
A working visit with a purpose
The Queen travelled to Ghana from 2 to 5 November in her role as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health. According to the Royal House of the Netherlands, the programme focused on four themes: building financial health into government policy, funding agriculture, developing services that help people budget and save, and making long-term investment affordable for households. Her diary included a farm, a dried fruit factory, a hospital, a market in Accra, a courtesy visit to the Asantehene in Kumasi and meetings with President John Dramani Mahama and senior financial leaders.
Openwork from top to toe
It was for the farm and fruit-factory visit that Queen Máxima chose her most playful look. Vanity Fair Italia reports that she wore a flared denim midi skirt by the Indian label Chorus, covered in floral cut-out decoration that almost looks carved, paired with a white blouse from the same brand with intricate openwork embroidery across the shoulders. It is a fresh alternative to the classic white shirt, and a detail she returns to often, from small eyelets to much bolder cut-outs.
Navy ballet flats and a wide belt with a gold buckle defined the waist and kept the outfit grounded. Her earrings, a pair of hoops by Olympia Babylonia set with bright blue stones, picked up the blues of the denim and the shoes. The final touch came from her hosts: a scarf woven locally in Ghanaian colours and personalised with her name, which she kept on throughout the visit.
The lesson is an easy one to borrow. A single texture repeated across two pieces looks deliberate rather than busy, and coloured stones that echo your clothes tie everything together. Blue sapphire earrings or a pair of bright statement earrings do that job well, while a structured shoulder bag or a few stacked bracelets finish a daytime look without overpowering it.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia (Laura Scafati, 5 November 2026); Royal House of the Netherlands (29 October 2026); UNSGSA; Citi Newsroom (3 November 2026).
