# Total sartorial splendour at Nobel banquet **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164 "2015-12-11T14:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/21 "2015-12-12T02:08:15Z")
Egads. I’d have the prize mailed to me. I just KNOW I’d drop some priceless item of china, get meatball sauce on my shirtfront, or make a gesture with the wrong fork that means I’m making a pass at a Crown Prince. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/22 "2015-12-12T02:20:20Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > In Literature? To quote Sarah Palin, “All of them” ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/23 "2015-12-12T02:40:10Z")
**Professor Hubert Farnsworth:** It’s a little experiment that might win me the Nobel Prize. **Leela:** In which field? **Professor Hubert Farnsworth:** I don’t care - they all pay the same. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/24 "2015-12-12T03:34:04Z")
One thing about working in labs at Princeton is that it’s hard NOT to be the same lab with a Nobel Winner. I heard from one of them that you find out you won via a phone call from Sweden… at about 3am our time. I told the committee, screw that, I’m not playing your little game. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/25 "2015-12-12T03:59:32Z")
Just how many tiaras do the Swedes have, anyhow? (They have “favorite” and “rarely seen” tiaras?) How does Madeleine walk down the stairs like that without stepping on her hem? And whose pictures are they wearing in badges on their left shoulders? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/26 "2015-12-12T06:15:36Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Just how many tiaras do the Swedes have, anyhow? (They have “favorite” and “rarely seen” tiaras?) > > How does Madeleine walk down the stairs like that without stepping on her hem? > > And whose pictures are they wearing in badges on their left shoulders? Looks like the King, although I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/27 "2015-12-12T07:16:24Z")
Surprised that, for such a formal blow-out, King Carl is bare-headed, and not wearing a crown or some other formal headdress for the occasion. (ETA: At least for the awards presentation, if not at the banquet.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/28 "2015-12-12T07:18:04Z")
A few years back, when Mother Teresa got the Nobel Peace Prize there, didn’t she make a speech chewing them all out for spending so lavishly instead of using all that money to feed the poor? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/29 "2015-12-12T07:25:28Z")
How many of the people attending that awards ceremony and banquet (including the prize winners) do you think really know how to dress up all so purty, as well as knowing all the protocols and etiquette and ceremony that they have to follow? I picture events like these as probably being heavily scripted and rehearsed, and the guests and winners being tutored on how to behave in minute detail. Similarly for the elaborate clothing. I wonder whether your typical physicist (more accustomed to wearing a lab coat), or Russian author, or Palestinian peace worker, would own formal clothes like that. I suspect a lot of them might be wearing rented outfits (how precisely tailored would they have to be?) and the providers of those outfits had to help them get dressed properly. Me? Last time I went to a wedding, I had to go buy a necktie for the occasion, and the clerk at the store kindly tied it for me. (ETA: That must have been about 15 years ago. That same necktie is still hanging in my closet, with the _same_ knot still tied in it.) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/30 "2015-12-12T09:11:16Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Surprised that, for such a formal blow-out, King Carl is bare-headed, and not wearing a crown or some other formal headdress for the occasion. (ETA: At least for the awards presentation, if not at the banquet.) That would normally only be for state ceremonials, and it may be that, even then, the custom in Sweden, as in the Netherlands, is for crowns and the like to appear only as symbols of state, rather than to be worn. Even in the UK, the Queen only wears a crown for the annual State Opening of Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/31 "2015-12-12T09:16:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s [one young woman](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12/10/20/2F3F37A800000578-3354970-image-a-102_1449777934053.jpg) wearing a formal gown and what appears to be a military cap. Is this just an unusual fashion choice or does it represent actual military service? For all I know, she’s an officer in the Swedish Navy and this is their ceremonial uniform If you look at other photos, you’ll see both young men and women in those caps and the sashes in national colours who are obviously a sort of guard of honour. I’m guessing it’s an honour for selected high-achieving students. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/32 "2015-12-12T09:22:32Z")
I’m going to completely lower the tone and add that Norwegian armed policewomen are totally hot (see very last photos in link in OP). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/33 "2015-12-12T10:48:25Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > A few years back, when Mother Teresa got the Nobel Peace Prize there, didn’t she make a speech chewing them all out for spending so lavishly instead of using all that money to feed the poor? Peace Prize is in Oslo rather then Stockholm. Its also a lot less formal. The actual worthy Nobels are in Sweden; and a lot more formal. BTW, OP I did not know you are a chick?:eek: WHy else would you be reading the femail section of the Daily Mail?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/34 "2015-12-12T11:22:10Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > If you look at other photos, you’ll see both young men and women in those caps and the sashes in national colours who are obviously a sort of guard of honour. I’m guessing it’s an honour for selected high-achieving students. Like I said, they’re wearing their student caps you receive when you graduate high school. I don’t know how it is in the US but here you go to high school because you want to get a college education and the cap kinda symbolises your commitment to academia. Otherwise you go to a vocational school or not at all. Atleast that’s the traditional view. There’s nothing to prevent you from going to college after vocational school and many do just that. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/35 "2015-12-12T11:25:29Z")
I really enjoyed this post and seeing the fantastic pictures of princess so-and-so with her wonderful tiara of aquamarines and diamonds. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/36 "2015-12-12T11:56:16Z")
> [@j666](#): > > And whose pictures are they wearing in badges on their left shoulders? It’s a royal family order. Some countries with monarchies use them. The following link is to a Wikipedia article on them, with pictures. > **[Royal family order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Family_Order)** > > A royal family order or royal family decoration is a decoration conferred by the head of a royal family to their female relations. Such a decoration is considered more of a personal memento than a state decoration, although it may be worn during official state occasions. > The tradition is practiced in the royal families of the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand and Tonga. > The badge of a royal family order consists of a portrait of the sovereign set in diamonds, which is suspended ... ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/37 "2015-12-12T14:22:10Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > It’s a royal family order. Some countries with monarchies use them. The following link is to a Wikipedia article on them, with pictures. > > [Royal family order - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Family_Order) Thank you. Madeleine getting down that staircase in one piece is still a mystery though. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/38 "2015-12-12T15:11:01Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Peace Prize is in Oslo rather then Stockholm. Its also a lot less formal. > > The actual worthy Nobels are in Sweden; and a lot more formal. Democracy in Tunisia isn’t worthy? Why _is_ the Peace prize segregated, anyway? Unlike Economics, it was one of the originals. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/39 "2015-12-12T15:11:17Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Madeleine getting down that staircase in one piece is still a mystery though. “Practise, lady, practise.” ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164/40 "2015-12-12T15:20:27Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Why _is_ the Peace prize segregated, anyway? The answer is basically “That’s what Nobel’s will said”. Norway and Sweden were in union at the time of his death though, so he maybe just thought the institution in Oslo was a better fit for a more political prize. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/total-sartorial-splendour-at-nobel-banquet/740164.md?page=3)