My problem with this new image of Thranduil is that he doesn't look at all like he belongs in a forest! He wears the crown of leaves and twigs, but he doesn't strike as a nature boy at all.

And maybe that's appropriate. I don't follow elves, so someone who knows something can enlighten me, but I hear Thranduil is not of the same type of elf as the people he rules over? If this is true, I suppose I can see something along the lines of "I'll wear this rustic crown for the people to show them I can relate to their backwater ways".