For the love of hats

Hat Therapy from Chrissie King

I met a great British Milliner from Yorkshire England through Twitter. I make a lot of hatty contacts through Twitter and have a twitter list called Hat Fanatics. Please tweet me @darlasycamore if you are on twitter and want to be added to the list. I would of course appreciate if you follow me on twitter.

Chrissie has a shop in Hebden Bridge Yorkshire and has a website called Hat Therapy. She makes a variety of hats for all occasions. Some of her hats are in the photo gallery below. I also made a slide show of the photos and put them on my You Tube channel see below.

Although Chrissie is based in the UK she ships worldwide and hats can be made to order. Just look at the hats on her website for inspiration and give her a call to discuss your order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfXPrfkpSdY

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Who is Zahi Hawass?

Last Saturday night I attended a talk by Zahi Hawass at the University of Toronto Convocation Hall. Unless you are a history or archaeology buff you may not know Dr Hawass but you probably have seen him on television every time there is a show about ancient Egypt and the latest discoveries. Perhaps Dr Hawass has become the most famous Egyptian supplanting Omar Sharif (remember him in Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia)?. So that is what Omar said himself in the video introduction to the talk.

Dr Hawass was  in my home town of Toronto in connection with the exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts at the Art Gallery of Toronto.(AGO) The Exhibition King Tut The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs ends on April 18, 2010. I made a day of it and combined the lecture with a visit to the Exhibit and a dinner at the restaurant at the Gallery. I loved the Exhibit which featured Tut and other Pharaohs but came away a touch disappointed since there were fewer Tut artifacts than in the previous exhibition in Toronto in the late 1970s. I guess it is deemed unsafe these days to transport the more iconic items. However, I did have a favorite item in the exhibition - it was a small amulet of a vulture that was worn as a pendent - it was quite comedic, looking like a caricature with a wry knowing smile. Oh well, I will just have to visit Egypt personally - anybody with deep pockets want to sponsor me? Dinner was at the AGO’s Frank restaurant. I bought a package deal the exhibit plus dinner. Frank is very much upscale and dinner for one cost eventually cost around $80. The service and the food at Frank was excellent. The restaurant actually called a few days before to confirm and to apologize that certain items were not on the menu. I had the Whitefish and it was excellent.

Back to Dr Hawass and his presentation. His hour and a half presentation with photographs was a series of anecdotes about recent discoveries and recent “digs”. One exciting dig was to find (perhaps) the burial place of Cleopatra and that guy Mark Anthony. Sorry everyone Cleopatra did not have the looks of Elizabeth Taylor judging by face on coins of the day. In another anecdote Dr Hawass told us of the visit of President Obama who spent over an hour with him (see You Tube video below). Dr Hawass gave Obama a hat, the trade mark hat - more on that in a while.

Zahi Hawass has become a controversial figure in some archaeological circles where archaeology is seen as meticulously siffting through dirt grain by grain and not doing public appearances. He has become a showman. His title Secretary General,  Supreme Council of Antiquities conveys that aura. Dr Hawass has done a lot to promote tourism to Egypt and interest in Ancient Civilizations. So what if he hams it up in his Indiana Jones hat? Hats off to him I say and a big high five.

Here are a few You Tube Clips showing Dr Hawass and his marvellous hat.

On Archaeology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL-P-zjiCZ4

The visit of President Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJtYYvVjYHA

The search for the tomb of Anthony and Cleopatra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ4ugRiL8WM

Dr Hawass and the Indiana Jones Hat

So what about the famous hat? It’s a mystery whether Dr Hawass wore a similar hat prior to the Indiana Jones series. He does however, pride himself on his hat being “real”and not made for a movie. Those particular Indiana Jones hats were professionally custom designed. Baron Hats in Hollywood designed at least one of the hats used in the Indiana Jones movies. It’s based on a 1930s style Fedora. You can get your very own upscale replica for $398 in Felt and $498 in Beaver at their website.

Do other archaeologists wear hats? You bet they do. I came across an interesting blog post from archaeologist Paul Barford who blogged about the Zahi Hawass Hat.

Barford had got the replica of the Hawass hat and seemed a little disappointed that it did not seem to be an exact replica.(Materials used are different for example and there appeared to be very minor style differences).Really this is not a problem and the hat costs only $45.

Barford’s post was very informative being as it was by an insider in the profession of archaeology. He noted that:

…. hats are themselves an interesting phenomenon, and in certain parts of our milieu have become a part of the archaeological dress code. A few years ago I did a count of the archaeologists working in Europe and beyond who habitually wore them and it came to (as I recall) sixteen (more than Mick Aston striped sweaters).

The Hawass hat is being sold for charity. The label inside  says(in part):

DR ZAHI HAWASS REPLICA EXCAVATION HAT/ This is an exact replica of my famous excavation hat. All profits from sales of this hat will go to fund the Suzanne Mubarak Children’s Museum in Cairo (100% wool, made in the people’s Republic of China

You can get your own Zahi Hawass replica hat at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, at least until April 18, 2010. I saw it there. You can also get the hat at this vendor website

Although Paul Barford is a self confessed non hat person he did a comparison of the Hawass and Jones hats. Yes, a close examination of the two hats reveals a number of design differences. The Indiana Jones Hat being highly stylized. Barford noted that the Indiana Jones hat has a higher crown and wider hat band, although both appear to be made of felt (being more sun friendly than leather). He noted that the Jones hat was more pinched in the front than the Hawass hat. OK Paul this pinch is known as the “Dent” (see also RCMP Hat). Read more about hat parts in my post on the subject.

Contact Dr Hawass

You can contact Dr Hawass at his website. You can also follow him on Twitter. If you want to be a friend of his on Facebook submit a note saying why. Dr Hawass is currently looking for funds for  Chair of Egyptology at the American Museum in Cairo (AUC). What about it Microsoft or Google why not match funds with individual contributors?

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If you were a Congressman would you wear something to identify you as “something special”?

The experienced Congressman says no way. Times don’t really change. This is a Cartoon from 1891, a hundred and nineteen years ago. The difference is they were all “men” and apparently the top hat was their uniform, but so many men did wear top hats. If you really wanted to be different perhaps a different type of hat (a boater, a deerstalker,a bowler… suggestions anyone?).

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0QkJNqYpFM

This video comes from the British Film Institute Channel on you Tube.

You can watch over 1200 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the new BFI Mediatheque - http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

Personally I get chills watching these BFI videos and want to be transported for a visit back in time to see the lovely hat wearing in person. Only for a visit though I could not live with the lack of rights for women such as the inability to vote!! There is a bit in here about Boer War veterans.

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Did you know that the color for 2010 is Turquoise?

In my interview with Barry Moss he pointed out that turquoise will be one of the hot colors in his line this year. Have you noticed that this color is being used by designers of hats in their Spring/Summer collections for 2009? Is it true or is it an urban myth? I would be interested in your feedback.

Every year a company called Pantone announces the color for the next year. Pantone is a world leader in the use of color in all areas of design. The company also provides exact specifications for colors so that there can be exact matches for various shades of color.

The genius of Pantone is its color matching system, invented in 1963. The system was originally used in graphic arts but it has been adopted in other areas such as interior design and fashion over the last 45 years or so.

The press announcement on turquoise click here.

Discover more about Pantone by clicking on the box below and go directly to http://www.pantone.com. (I am not affiliated with Pantone).

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Check out the Headwear Association (THA)

The Headwear Association in the USA is located in New York City and has been around since 1908, over one hundred years. Originally it was an industry fraternity association but the objectives have been broadened.

The mission today is to promote hat wearing and the headwear industry throughout the world and foster goodwill and fellowship among those engaged in the headwear industry.

Each year THA has a dinner that all can attend. The dinner is a great way to meet and greet your headwear comrades and learn some new things. .. everyone will be there - retailers, wholesalers, hat lovers, hat makers and anyone else who enjoys hat talk. It will be held in New York City this year on March 18.

There will be an awards ceremony,  Annual Hat Retailer of the Year will go to Martin Mann of Hats Plus in Chicago and the Ben Rosenthal Award will be awarded to S. H. Baik of Young An. The outgoing president of the THA, David Goldman will also be honored.

Recently THA started a Headwear Hall of Fame™ to recognize the positive influence of famous hat wearers - who routinely wear (wore)a hat in their daily life for fashion, fun or function (not in a role or performance). This year Brad Pitt was singled out as Hat Person of the Year. The inductees were Humphrey Bogart, Brad Pitt, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Jessica Parker, Audrey Hepburn, and Jennifer Lopez. More people will be added each year.

The Association is a leader in the promotion of hat wearing to protect against the harmful effects of the sun. THA also has Charity Event to distribute hats for the homeless. Last year 6,000 cold weather hats were donated.

An individual can join the Association for an annual fee of $25.

Read more about The Headwear Association on their website.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlmEMTN6b3Q

I have been using a number of Slide Share programs to develop videos to display hats old and new this is another one.

You can visit Flixtime.com and make your own free slide show. Provided you respect their terms and conditions the materials therein are free from royalty. The site is currently in beta and you are limited to a one minute show at this time. I presume that a premium paid version is under development.

I continue to look at other slide show offerings in connection with another project I have started.

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A Cartoon from 1891

The lady’s hat was well pinned. The men’s top hat travelled and the man ended up wearing the lady’s muff.

All in all quite a hat trick!!

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More wide brimmed hats from Carolina Herrera

See my previous post

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