There was a time when a woman, or a man, would not have dreamt of going out of the house without a hat. Hats back in the day could be surrealistic (Elsa Schiaparelli's upside down shoe hat which was worn brilliantly by the ever so stylish, the Honorable Mrs. Reginald Fellowes), hats could elicit comments like, "look at the screwy hat on that dame!" (Myrna Loy in a, well, a screwy hat, in The Thin Man) or hats could be sexy masculine (Marlene Dietrich in a top hat).
October 10th would have been the birthday of the French born hatmaker Lily Daché who famously said, "Glamour is what makes a man ask for your phone but it is also what makes a woman ask for the name of your dressmaker." The glamorous Lily also believed that men loved to buy for their wives, girlfriends or mistresses, "floozy hats". (and don't we all have a little floozy in us:)
Hats are having a kind of a moment right now. There were all the girls and ladies at the recent royal wedding looking chic in fascinators (which is such a great word don't you think?!) and there is the current exhibit, Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones, at The Bard Graduate Center.
I recently met Philip Treacy and we spoke about an extravagant hat that he had made and that I have for RARE vintage. Philip said that it was an incredibly difficult hat to make. He used a vintage black brocade fabric and there is a crown of feathers atop the hat that are singed chicken feathers. The hat was so difficult to make that I believe that there is jut this one. And isn't that the way it should be? This hat is a beautiful objet as well as something perfect for the Kentucky Derby or any occasion you would to wear to a hat to and if you don't have an occasion, you will just have to make one!
PURCHASE
No comments:
Post a Comment