Queen Letizia Brightens Her Belted Denim Dress With a Pop of the Cherry Red Trend

The queen of Spain looked elegant in a dark wash denim dress at the Retino Eco awards in Madrid.

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Queen Letizia of Spain
(Image credit: Backgrid)

Queen Letizia of Spain looked positively radiant in a belted denim dress at the Retina Eco Awards in Madrid on Thursday, Sept. 19. Frankly, I'm convinced the stylish wife of King Felipe could make a trash bag look like couture. She has an uncanny knack for elevating casual, sometimes even ultra-affordable pieces with thoughtful styling—like her cut-out Mango shirt the day before—and the look she wore to officiate the environmental awards ceremony was yet another instance of her sartorial genius.

The sleeveless fit-and-flare denim midi dress with contrast stitching comes courtesy of Carolina Herrera. The detail I love most is the wide, waist-cinching belt, but the dress also features pockets—the holy grail of women's clothing, in my opinion. Luckily, you can still cop the exact dress she's wearing, and a similar version can be found at about half the price from Veronica Beard.

Queen Letizia wearing a denim dress

Queen Letizia of Spain pairs a denim dress with a red bag and red heels.

(Image credit: Backgrid)

The fashion-loving queen—who recently celebrated her 52nd birthday—accessorized the dark wash denim ensemble with a punchy pop of color, care of red kitten heels from Magrit, a matching red leather clutch from Menbur, and gold hoop earrings. After rising to prominence on the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 runways thanks to early co-signs from Tibi, Proenza Schouler, Stella McCartney, STAUD, and Ferragamo, cherry red is expected to continue trending heavily through the end of 2024. So heavily, in fact, that it has spawned an adjacent fall 2024 color trend dubbed mulled wine red.

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Queen Letizia at the event with her pops of red

Queen Letizia's pops of color included kitten heels and a clutch.

(Image credit: Backgrid)

Queen Letizia isn't the only royal who loves to wear Carolina Herrera's sublime denim designs. At last year's Invictus Games, Meghan Markle wore a Carolina Herrera denim shirtdress with a belt and collar to attend the sitting volleyball finals. The Duchess of Sussex also wore a short-sleeved belted denim dress from the brand to support Prince Harry at the Sentebale Polo Cup only a few months after her wedding in 2018. Perhaps Miss Markle and Queen Letizia have been comparing notes.

Hanna Lustig
Hanna Lustig
Staff Writer

Hanna Lustig is a staff writer at Marie Claire, where she gets to gab every day about the topics she holds most dear: fashion, beauty, and celebrity. Hanna’s editorial journey began with formative internships at Elle and InStyle, where she was lucky enough to work for some of the smartest women in media while she was still in college at the University of Tennessee. Hanna then accepted a digital culture reporting fellowship at Insider, where she helped carve out a new beat dedicated to covering influencers. Those experiences later served her well as a staff writer at Glamour, where she developed a knack for spinning quick turnaround celebrity news and trend reporting into juicy feature stories. Some of her greatest hits include an earnest ode to the no-pants trend, this meticulously reported feature exploring the rise of endoscopic facelifts, this snappy take on the Chanel-designed fantasy of Sofia Richie’s wedding, this tribute to WAGs past and present, and this timeline of Katie Holmes’s life and career as told through her denim collection.

Diane Keaton once hung up on Hanna during an interview, but thankfully that mishap did not derail what has otherwise been a deeply fulfilling career writing for and about women. As one of Marie Claire's resident experts on style and culture, her current coverage ranges from exploring TikTok's contrast makeup theory and the return of the boat shoe trend to interviews with costume designers for hit shows like Nobody Wants This and The Penguin. When she’s not at work, Hanna can probably be found listening to pop music, talking to her dog, and gossiping with her best friends. For more of Hanna’s perfect opinions on pop culture, you can follow her on Instagram and X.