The Poster for the Upcoming Show

Hollywood Legacy

Millinery Guild of Southern California

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Are you a runway fashionista?

Do you like to keep up with the latest fashion trends, especially in hats?

One source of information is Vogue dot com. There you will find lots of news and other information. A great feature is the many videos on the site with runway fashion from contemporary designers.

Two such designers are Carolina Herrera and Marc Jacobs, Both of these designers are featuring hats with oversize brims for Spring 2011.

Carolina Herrera shows hats with both a large brim and a high crown. It looks to me like Goucho Spanish Cowboy meets 1960s elegance. You can see her designs on the following link on the Vogue Website:

http://www.vogue.com/videos/carolina-herrera-spring-2011-video/

Marc Jacobs is also presenting large brimmed hats for next year’s Spring season but these hats have lower crowns and the front brim is turned up in the manner of a bicorn hat.

You can see the Marc Jacobs creations on the following link at Vogue.

http://www.vogue.com/videos/marc-jacobs-spring-2011/

The photographs and videos are great eye candy for fashionistas like us = enjoy!!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Some great videos of hats at Ladies Day Ascot June 2010

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS50ywc5rck

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1F5oXRC8NU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C_GZSzHBpY

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Hats and other headgear are essential for summer style from the Illustrated London News July 1914 from Burberrys.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Finding the Perfect Preakness Hat

The Preakness is coming up this is a great video from You Tube that gives you great hints on choosing a hat for the Preakness and any other race for that matter.

The Preakness is coming up this Saturday. We can look for other great horse racing events to wear our hats over the next few weeks and months. Ascot should be great again!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5dQZ7uP_bs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5dQZ7uP_bs

The Derby a retrospective

It was too bad that Derby day a couple of weeks ago was wet both for the people and the horses. Rainy days are not very hat friendly for your designer hats. You should be very careful with your fancy hats on rainy days -- best not to get them wet if you want to wear them again. I could not find a video I liked with the hats from this year. This is a great video for planning for next year and it contains some helpful hints for other horse racing events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCnC0Xrc6Uw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCnC0Xrc6Uw

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

First Ever National Hat Day in the UK

 I just got my newsletter from how2hats. In this issue they announce the first ever UK National Hat Day all centred around Royal Ascot on June 16. Hats are very special indeed at Ascot. Men will wear their elegant top hats and sometimes bowlers and women try one up womanish (just coined this) in very elegant and creative hats. Very often these hats are for effect and not practical. How can you forget the Ascot scene in “My Fair Lady”? Audrey Hepburn was absolutely smashing in the oversize black and white hat. Arguably the scene makes the movie the best hat movie ever. However I was also impressed by the opening scene in Gigi. But of course Cecil Beaton was the designer for both movies. I will post about the My Fair Lady Hat closer to Ascot time.

 How2hats quotes Jennie Prest of www.queens-hat.com who says, A hat is as traditional in Britain as strawberries and cream. During the summer hats are everywhere, from catwalk couture to bonnets and beanies. More and more ladies choose a hat to complete their outfit and there is no better occasion than Royal Ascot to showcase the Great British Hat. Therefore, we declare Wednesday June 16th to be National Hat Day.

Image:Hat by Hélène de Saint Lager – French milliner

It is very appropo to reference the Queen today since it was her birthday today (when I am writing the article). Bless her heart and she is a great hat wearing ambassador. Every Year queens-hat.com speculate on the colour and style of The Queen’s Hat at Ascot. They note:

Fashions come and go, but Her Majesty’s style remains timeless. The rest of us may try and outdo her but we all know that, come the Royal Parade on each day of the festival, we can’t touch her for taste, sophistication and enduring elegance

So what do you do on National Hat Day? Here are a few ideas from how2hats

• Wear your hat to work, school or around town
• Plan a local hat show or hat charity fundraising event
• Host a special high tea or cocktail party – hats required!
• Get together with other hat lovers for an afternoon of hat making

They are looking for other ideas. Please post your comments on this blog and I will pass them on to how2hats.

Wearing your hat to work, school or around town should be a daily event you do not need a special event as an excuse in my opinion. The other ideas are a good start though.

Incidently January 15 is National Hat Day in the USA. See the previous post here.

How2hats suggests that June 16 be celebrated as International Hat Day. That’s a good idea since every day should be hat day in any case. I would be interested in your views on other candidates for International Hat Day. How about St Catherine’s Day in November as another candidate for International Hat Day? St Catherines is the patron saint of milliners among other things. Please drop a note here with your suggestions.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Who is Arbie?

If you are Canadian you will be familiar with the mascot of the Royal Bank Of Canada. He is a little man who wears a bowler hat that never seems to come off of his head no matter what happens to him. Bet you probably did not know his name.

The campaign was dubbed the “Arbie” campaign – well do you get it “R. B.” or Royal Bank. Do not confuse him with Arby’s restaurants.

According to BBDO Toronto the Agency who came up with the idea as part of the “Create” program for the Royal Bank of Canada: 

Launched during last summer’s Olympics, the Arbie campaign uses a blue-suited, bowler-hatted animated banker to make RBC feel less conservative and stuffy. This fresh approach to bank advertising includes the animated story of the Muffin Man growing his business beyond his imagination by following Arbie’s advice.

Check out the Royal Bank Create campaign on BBDO’s website

This little guy appears in every piece of Royal Bank of Canada advertising for every product. The picture is a poster on the waterfront in Toronto and is typical of the campaign.

Read more about the Royal Bank branding strategy on this blog post.
Arbie was very prominent at the recent Vancouver Olympics perhaps you might get lucky and get your hands on the Arbie pin?

You can see Arbie in action in this video from BBDO telling the story of Arbie:

http://www.bbdo.ca/en/create-totalwork-campaign-video-39.sn?open=yes

You can also see more of Arbie on You Tube the linked video deals with the RBC sponsorship of the Olympic torch bearing.

It is quite fascinating to me that a little bowler hatted guy is being used to indicate friendliness of a bank. I am from England where a bowler hatted guy in the Financial City of London is considered posh. Perhaps they are thinking that their guy is more like a Charlie Chaplin?

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

On hats by Stephen Jones

On Location: An interview with Stephen Jones from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

Please click on the links and explore the other videos posted by the V&A about the hat exhibit last lear.

Hats an Anthology is coming to Australia at the Queensland Art Gallery in cooperation with the Victoria and Albert Gallery. More than 250 hats will be on display from the V&A collection and the Stephen Jones Archive.

According to the Gallery

The exhibition includes historical items and iconic hats, such as a twelfth-century Egyptian fez, a wide-brimmed black silk tulle hat from Christian Dior’s first collection in 1948, Mary Quant’s c.1968 navy blue beret, and Stephen Jones’s ‘Wash n’ Go’ hat, moulded from clear plastic to resemble a splash of water, from Spring Summer 1993.

It also features hats worn by historical and cultural icons: Elsa Schiaparelli’s black felt beret worn by Marlene Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution in 1957; Philip Treacy’s bridal headpiece created for Camilla Parker-Bowles’s marriage to the Prince of Wales in 2005; and Jones’s own creations, such as Mick Jagger’s hat worn for the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang World Tour and Kylie Minogue’s visor headdress for her Showgirl tour.

The exhibition is a follow on from the successful exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year (see video above)

Thanks to Hat Life for this lead. I am an affiliate please get your Directory now.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

How to Crochet a Cup Cake Hat

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vpiZ9hiKVI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vpiZ9hiKVI

These are from the Art of Crochet by Teresa.

Teresa has a great blog on crochet and a great set of videos on You Tube.

You can find the written instructions by clicking here.

Please click below for a list of videos on how to crochet hats.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=203DB010F79C5E97

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

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).

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

More wide brimmed hats from Carolina Herrera

See my previous post

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Stay Tuned for my interview with Barry Moss of Alan White Millinery

Presentation repeats after a few seconds please press “stop” to discontinue.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Urban Hat by Rene Falcon

www.youtube.com/watch?v=brOOvWkVOKA

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

This video was filmed by me just before Christmas. I am learning how to do editing and this is an early production.

Please visit my friend Rene’s site at http://www.urbanhat.com

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_gL3Fjx-ws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_gL3Fjx-ws

A video remembering top hats and the men who wore them. There are several images from my personal collection and some other whimsical stuff.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Picture Illustrated London News April 25, 1863

Exhibition of Royal Wedding Presents at the South Kensington Museum

I am working on a slide show video with all top hats. This will be a part of it. Coming soon please stay tuned!!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Last Friday I visited the One of a Kind Show in Toronto and discovered the Pook Toque ™. The Pook Toque ™ is a tuque with something extra – two sock flaps are on each side. The addition of the sock flaps is the innovation that allows the knitted cap to transform into many different styles and shapes.

The moose (typically Canadian) involves stuffing gloves into each of the socks to create antlers. Then there is the Donald Trump comb – over effect - one of the flaps is folded over to one side. Or perhaps you prefer both flaps folded over in a kind of Donald Trump squared.  All kinds of effects can created by rolling, bending, tying or curling the sock flaps. You can even turn the flaps inside out and tuck them in so they are not visible at all.

Each Pook Toque™ comes with an illustration sheet showing what effects you can achieve. Here are a few:

Turkish

Rastafarian

The Wave

Robin Hood

Elephant

George Washington

Turtle Neck

Well you need to see it to believe and understand it. You can find this illustration sheet on the Pook site

Where did the funky name come from you ask? Believe it or not one of the co founders of the company is Tony Pook. The other partner is Kevin McCotter.

Catch the CTV Vancouver interview on You Tube

You will not want to miss the demonstration of how to transform the basic hat into multiple styles.

The spelling used by the Pook folks is “Toque” rather than Tuque but essentially they are used synonymously with the two different spellings. The spelling “Toque” actually sometimes refers to a chef’s hat.

The term tuque originated in Canada. A piece of headwear designed to keep the cold out.

According to the Wikipedia entry on tuques:

A tuque is a knitted cap, originally of wool though now often of synthetic fibers, that is designed to provide warmth in winter. Most tuques are tapered, they sometimes have ear-flaps…Tuques may have a folded brim, or none, and may be worn tightly fitting the head or loose on top although the latter is considered more standard.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Cke2wm6T8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Cke2wm6T8

This is a public domain film about the 1939 New York World’s Fair produced by Westinghouse. It is part documentary about the fair and part shameless promotion for Westinghouse. The entire film is worth viewing -- about the hopes for the future after the Depression. Technology was the big hope. There was a great worry about jobs especially for young people. You can view the entire production about the Fair Visit by the Middleton Family at this link.

The clip is about the time capsule that was put into the ground in 1938 not to be opened until 6939.

The last item to be placed on top of the capsule was a lady’s hat -- the reaction in the clip:

A lady’s hat will reveal a lot about us to future scientists

Yes they will think we are nuts!

How we have changed in Society in 70 years. If you are doing a time capsule in 2009 would a lady’s hat be featured so prominently? It does not seem likely. Technology has changed so rapidly since 1938 and so has fashion. 70 years is a drop in the bucket compared with the 5,000 year time period. Perhaps we need to leave a trail of several capsules so that future generations could follow our progress. In fact Westinghouse did bury yet another time capsule in 1965. It’s hard to keep pace isn’t it. (Let’s hope that in future both men’s and women’s hats will be at the top of the list to be put into time capsules!)

You can read about the time capsules here.

Quick Facts

The hat in the time capsule was the 1938 Autumn style designed by Lilly Dache.

You can see a representation of the display case here.

Westinghouse was the first to invent the term “Time capsule” for the burial of stuff for future generations to find. (What’s the future? Perhaps we will have virtual time capsules -- computer generated?)

The capsule is made of Cupalloy -- 99.4% copper, 0.5% chromium, 0.1% silver. Great care was taken in sealing the inner contents and the choice of items. It was flushed with nitrogen gas to prevent oxidation -- could be a problem with the microfilm in the capsule I would think?

You can find the current location of the capsules from both World’s Fairs marked by an unpretentious granite marker at Flushing Meadows Park in New York City. It has been the target of graffiti and looks very untended in the photo in this article.

Climate Change may affect whether the capsules will be easily found in 5000 years. They are neglected now already. What happens if they are underwater -- a scary scenario indeed?

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGx6FQfg3Is

You can also view the video on the following link that has additional comments.

http://www.threadbanger.com/tb-projects/episode/THR_20090417

You can visit the Threadbanger site on You Tube for more how to videos including hats. The site is very interesting I must confess though that I have not actually learned to do all of this stuff myself I am a not really clever with my hands like that. I can admire the process though.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dejbBeh4Xjc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dejbBeh4Xjc

Some very interesting insights on the history and origin of the Cowboy hat and its various styles from Rand Hats. How to change the style elements to change how the hat looks.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I recently posted an item about Pirate Day. The Character was wearing a Bicorn Hat (sometimes known as a Bicorne Hat). The picture above is a late 19th century engraving of Frederick the Great in the 18th century riding his wonderful horse. It is the original design (I guess you might call it bicorne classic) with a very large brim turned up and pinned at the side front.

This two cornered hat was worn in the eighteenth century, mainly by the military – army and navy officers but also others like pirate captains! It was developed from the well known tricorn hat that you would have seen worn by the American colonists in the War of Independence. The tricorne is a three cornered hat which was actually worn by some into the 19th century. You will notice that the bicorne hat is worn side to side in the picture shown. There is another variant of this type of hat known as the Cocked Hat where a similar hat is worn from to back to front rather than side by side. You may have seen pictures of British naval Officers from the 18th century wearing hats that way.

As you may be aware there were some pretty large wigs being worn in the 18th century and hats were a problem. The bicorn hat was designed to be tucked under the arm when not worn. Indeed, given the wig wearing of the age there was a version of the hat just designed to be carried under the arm and not actually worn. A bicorne of this type was sometimes known as a chapeau-bras or chapeau-de-bras.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wHHzBHv9pk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wHHzBHv9pk

This is a fashion video from the VICAT channel on You Tube.

Please go over there and look at their other wonderful fashion videos both vintage and current -- you will not be disappointed.

VIDCAT is a New York based Video Producer and Director specializing in fashion and beauty videos.

You can buy fashion videos and watch more videos on www.vidcat.tv and www.vidcat.com.

Happening in Toronto C 1964 …….

1960s hat style

This is a scene from 1964 Toronto. Ladies having tea or maybe lunch in the dining room of the old EATON’s store. That store is no longer standing and has been replaced by a shopping mall -- the Toronto Eaton Centre.

Please note the wearing of fashionable hats was common place!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Question for readers – what is the type of hat being worn by the two Pirates? (Hints it’s from the 18th century classic pirate era + hope you don’t think it’s too corny)

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Drawing Hats

I am experimenting with a feature where I draw hats of various kinds on the screen. My first experimentation is probably going to be the drawing of a cowboy hat (stay tuned). I am certainly not an artist although I did do a course on watercolours a couple of years ago. Well time for a Google search to see if I can get help from some real artists …..

I found a very interesting blog post about how to draw a Fedora Hat – particularly the kind of Fedora that was popular in the 1930s and 40s (as worn by Nick Charles in The Thin Man for example). You can find the post here on the blog Cartoon Snap by Sherm Cohen. Sherm is a Cartoonist who is resident in Los Angeles and has worked on the Ren and Stimpy Show ,  SpongeBobSquarePants , Phineas and Ferband other projects. According to Sherm’s bio he is currently working as Director and Storyboard Supervisor on Kick Buttowski, a forthcoming series for Disney TV Animation. His newest book, Cartooning: Character Design is published by Walter Foster Publications.

Sherm found 2 vintage references on drawing fedoras ( a task he has to do on a regular basis apparently) and these references are scanned and reproduced for our personal use. There were some great tips there. Here are some of the tips:

• Draw the Hat as if it fits over the skull not the hair remembering that the hat does not touch the skull in some parts of many designs.
• The taper of the Crown needs particular attention as a design feature.
• The hat should not be shown high on the head but almost touching one of the eyebrows (in measuring the circumference of the head for a hat one needs to remember this fact)

Please check out the post and Sherm’s blog.

Sherm also cites the Fedora Lounge on how various creases are put into the hats to change the style. One must pay a lot of attention to these style features when drawing hats – they change everything.

Please let me know if you find other references on drawing hats. I’m still looking. I think cartooning hats places some discipline on one since it forces an attention to the key design features.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

A twitter follower drew my attention to this story.

You can find tweets about it at hashtag #500hats. A couple is trying to sell 500 hats during the month of August to forestall foreclosure. The hats are hand knitted and sell for $10 each. You can wear them yourself or donate to charity.

Pleas go to the Squidoo Lens for 500 Hats for more information.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYULoTdvYms

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

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Above pictures are Lisa Shaub in her creations

All rights reserved by Lisa

This is part 2 of an interview with New York Milliner Lisa Shaub. Part one was posted last week – please be sure to check it out.

In this part Lisa tells about when Britney Spears came to her store you wont want to miss it!

Please right click to download the mp3 file.

You can find more information about Lisa at her Website. You can also go on a virtual tour of her store on this link.

Lisa mentioned the Milliners Guild. This is a group of Milliners concerned with the sustainability of the practice of Millinery. Their mission:

The Milliners Guild is an organization of small millinery business owners and milliners who specialize in the design, production and promotion of handmade headwear.

The group is committed to increasing the public profile of millinery as well as the public’s awareness and interest in millinery products.

The Guild is dedicated to working together to maintain and expand resources in order to ensure a steady flow of raw materials.

Through a collective website, special events and educational seminars,the guild will provide consistent communication about this thriving and contemporary industry to the public, press and students of the craft

Need I say it, you can check out Britney Spears at her Website.

Thanks to Lisa and calling others to participate

Thanks to Lisa for being my first interview. I am new to this and I plan on doing more broadcasting.

Would you like to be interviewed?

Are you a hat designer?

Do you have a hat business?

Are you are supplier to the hat trade?

Do you have a skill such as crochet that can be applied to Millinery?

Are you a performer that uses hats as a part of establishing your profile/branding?

Are you a power hat wearer and want to talk about it?

Do you have a friend or relative past or present that wears (wore) hats proudly?

Do you have an interesting hat story to tell?

Please help me get the hat wearing story out there so we can encourage more to participate in the growing hat revolution.

Please Contact me on the Contact box on this blog and start the discussion on how you can be involved.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

This is a picture I picked up at the Toronto Antique Market last weekend. It’s a sea of hats and appears to be a group company photograph. It’s curious that women if any are not in the picture – are they back in the office/factory doing the work?

There is quite a variety of hats here. The higher status men seem to be wearing bowlers (derbys) the lower status wear caps of different typs. At least one of the men appears to be wearing a Homberg.

I am not sure when this photo was taken. It is before World War 1 – it is a Cabinet Photo style albeit a very large one. It might have been taken a bit before the 1910 date I put in the heading to this post. I reduced it to postcard size and I will be offering copies for sale on my Cafe Press store when I next update the Store contents – I have quite a few new items to add.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Check out the Guardian Website for some iconic Michael Jackson Clothing including the Equestrian hat and the famous Fedora Hat. Click Here.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

The horse racing season is in full swing in North America and Europe. We just had a busy May and June. In Australia they are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Spring and their horse racing season. With the horse racing season comes hats for horse racing. Check out Red Dusk Jewellery.com for some new hat styles.

Among the events listed is the World Famous Melbourne Cup well known for the hats worn at the race. Be sure to fill out the survey at the site. Tell Jolieske about you favorite hat.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

An amusing Cartoon from the late Victorian era – incidents when wearing the Tam O’Shanter. See my previous blog post on the Tammy.

I hope you are able to read the comedic comments.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Here is a great video from the official Royal Channel on You Tube giving us an inside look at one of the 4 Garden Parties hosted by the Royals. You can see that most of the women wear really fancy hats. Oh well maybe sometime soon perhaps?

Was that song I’ve got Plenty of Nothing being played in the background?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKiOcdM6Gbk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKiOcdM6Gbk

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

My weekly (well almost weekly) Antique Market Find is this great picture. It’s from the late Victorian Period I believe. It is a small Cabinet Card and needed quite a bit of Photo shop work. I love the parasol, the very Hispanic headdress on the woman and the great boater on the man.

All Rights Reserved

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

There is another video from the Prelinger Archives called the Aristocrats of Fashion. It is a public domain item. The video mainly shows rayon clothing from the early forties but there are many hats on show. Everything is “gay” not meaning homosexual but meaning bright and happy.

Check out the gay pink Snood at minute 5.12 and the snoods are a summer favorite at 6.45.

There are other interesting hats such as the wide brim number at minute 4.37 and more hats at 5.47 including the “dippy blue hat”.

I was unable to embed the video after several attempts. However here is the link – enjoy.

Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger in New York City. Over the next twenty years, it grew into a collection of over 60,000 “ephemeral” (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. In 2002, the film collection was acquired by the Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Prelinger Archives remains in existence, holding approximately 4,000 titles on videotape and a smaller collection of film materials acquired subsequent to the Library of Congress transaction. Its goal remains to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to films of historic significance that haven’t been collected elsewhere. Included are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions

So what is a Snood? No it is not a character from Sesame Street!

The Snood is a small net like cap worn by women to keep their hair in place. The hair net portion appears to resemble a large loose bag. It keeps the hair tidy and away from the neck.It has been said that Snoods are a cross between a soft bag, a hair net and a sort of kind of hat in its own right. Snoods have been made of several types of material over the years such as netting, cotton, silk, muslin, lace etc. Many Snoods are crocheted but this method was not invented until after the 17th century. Often Snoods are available today as DIY projects or in stores are made as crocheted pieces.

Snoods are great for women with long hair but sometimes they can be worn with shorter hair as an accessory to provide the illusion that the wearer has longer hair.

Sometimes Snoods are worn as part of a headwear ensemble including a hat. Here is an example of a Snood/Hat combination now available for sale at Gardenartus Antiques.(A buddy of mine on Twitter. You can find Dena Gray at @AneD on Twitter).

These Snoods have been worn by women since the Middle Ages and they have gone in and out of style over this long period. They were quite popular in the early 1940s, the period of the video. Women were called upon to work in factories and Snoods and scarves were very useful accessories to keep hair out of machinery.

Elizabethan Examples

American Civil War Examples (Mid 1860s)

There are smaller similar head wear accessories that are in the same family as Snoods. These include “cauls”and “bun covers” that are designed to cover a small part of the hair. This is in contrast with the Snood that is designed to cover the majority of the hair.

Here are two great references that provided the main input to this article.

“Snoods: Beautiful Hair Adornments from the Middle Ages to Modern Times” by Karen Marie Shelton.

Lady MacSnood – an authority site with the URL – Snoods.com

Happy Snoodling!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Would you like to turn your bicycle helmet into a stylish hat and stay protected?  In our modern times we quite rightly have laws requiring head protection. Such laws were not in effect years ago and falls on the head lead to serious injury and even death. If you are a macho Sportsman you might think that a helmet is cool. Perhaps you are interested in making the look more feminine?

I was at the One of a Kind show in Toronto today and of course I was looking for interesting Milliners to follow. There are many possibilities going forward.

I came across Snug as a Bug. It’s a store that has cool clothing for kids and some cool stuff for adults as well. They have the coolest bicycle helmet covers – very funky.

Here are a couple of the covers (reproduced by permission).

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

On Yahoo Lifestyle today they had pictures of various celebrities wearing what they considered, in their “humble” opinion to be fashion disasters. The self appointed “Fashion Police”?

One of these was a picture of the Queen wearing a fur hat with fur cuffs. Was this real or fake fur? The commentary just went ahead and assumed it was real fur. I quote:

The ultimate goal is to make it appear as if a baby fox is curled up, sleeping on your head.

Are “we amused” (check out the sayings of Queen Victoria)? The article goes on to say “Way to go Queenie”. Whatever you think of the Royals I do not think it is right to be disrespectful. The article says that the Queen is not exactly a fashion icon. I beg to differ – for an older woman she rocks and I love her hats! She has always been classy but then she certainly has the budget.

Personally I am not comfortable with wearing real furs, although fake furs are OK in my book. I was brought up on meat and potatoes so I could never be a vegetarian. I think that  PETA (The people against the ethical treatment of Animals) would have a field day with this? As well I love my cosy fun fur hats that look like Lara from Dr Zhivago. Try living in these sub zero temperatures in Canada without a cosy hat.

The Queen was put in the same “class” as other “fashion disasters” such as Sharon Stone wearing a see through dress. Well really? I was not amused.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I just found a great fashion site called Style.com. I did a search for hats and found 5,864 pictures in the site. See the thumbnails here

If the link gets broken just go to the Style.com site and search for “hat”.

You can click on a thumbnail picture for larger image and slideshow.

In a future post I will list fashion sites where you can track latest runway styles.

If you are aware of good sites for me to list please list them here as a comment.

It looks that hats might be coming back but it’s early days.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Check out the Goorin Brothers website. Goorin recently had a competition to choose which of their hats would be most becoming to President Obama.

Goorin is a keen supporter of bringing back hats. The following is a quote from their site:

Goorin Brothers is bringing back the hat with vigor and purpose, appealing to a very special class in society. The New Royal Class, as Goorin sees it, is comprised of those creative, unique individuals found in every walk of life who blaze their own trails. These original thinkers thrive in an atmosphere of underground inspiration and want a hat that will help them express their distinctive spirit. Wear a Goorin hat and you can tell your story without ever having to say a word…

They have been in the hat business since 1895. Like they say Vive la Revolucion! Indeed! The time is come and is at hand or shall we say head!

Goorins’ hats are not only for men, there are hats for women but there is a  heavy masculine influence in their offerings The trilby for women is quite popular now as you probably know.

The hats are not all masculine. I do like their Cloche the Ginger R, it is very reminiscent of the twenties.(The description refers to forties style – I think it is more a twenties style with forties influence – what do you think?)

The hat chosen for Obama by their clients is a cool looking fedora/trilby called the Blake. It has a black and white jazz influenced hat band – very cool. It is quite unisex. They say We think it is only fitting that our next great President wears a hat that evokes his style and mark on the world.

I agree with their thoughts exactly. I am hoping that Michelle and Barack wear hats. Let’s create thousands of jobs to make hats for the world (both in the USA and elsewhere). By wearing a hat let’s say I am sick of all this negative talk and I am not standing it any more. By wearing a hat you say let’s celebrate life!

They have a sign a petition promotion please go to their site and check it out. In fact support all the milliners and hat designers everywhere in the world. You know that I wear a hat everyday. Please join me and the cause of hat wearing everywhere!

Oh I forgot to mention the Minna design group referred to on the Goorin site.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I have encountered a few men lately with top hat envy. Of course I tell them about my blog. I great way to chat up men eh?

A few weeks ago I was presenting a workshop on pension accounting. I spoke with one of the other presenters and asked about his “top hat” plans (pension plans for senior executives). He said “What happened to this hat wearing thing anyway? Perfect I gave him my card for this blog. Any opportunity to promote hat wearing. Please support the cause and tell others about this blog.

This morning I was having my usual breakfast across the road from where I live and I ran into a young man I see wearing hats a lot – usually a Trilby – very cool. I had previously given him my card. I gave him my new card that has the new profile picture of me wearing the Aretha Franklin hat. He promised to take it and share it with his office colleagues. We got talking about Lincoln (his birthday was yesterday) and his Stove Pipe Top Hat. we were discussing how difficult it is to come by really good quality top hats. I said that he should check out the Baron’s Hats website. They show the replica of Lincoln’s hat. Hey it’s expensive but what the heck – it’s good to stimulate top hat envy. You may recall my telling you about how Barons has meticulously recreated Abe’s hat from careful measurements of the real thing on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

Well perhaps you readers an tell us where to get quality top hats by leaving your comments here. It’s not only for men. Britney Spears wears one as Ring Mistress in her new Video “Circus“.

In the meantime I acquired another picture for my collection. Here is a man wearing a light coloured top hat with a high crown. It’s likely from the Civil War period but could be up to twenty years after I think? He has a smart top hat but his suit looks like he slept in it? Too bad we do not have a name or occupation,

It would be great to have your dreamboat guy take you out wearing his smart top hat. And you wearing your best tea party hat. By the way do not forget your hat at your Valentines High Tea Parties!

(All Rights Reserved)

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Check out the latest styles reported at Bloomacious. Here is the report on the Spring styles from Marc Jacobs.

The little straw hat is in vogue in gray, red and Yellow. The hats are pictured worn at a slant – wonderful!

Check out the Cloche on the Liz Claiborne collection also. Again brought to you by Bloomacious.

It’s wonderful that hats are coming back into style and that young women in particular are embracing them. Keep it up ladies!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Here are more Edwardians for your enjoyment. Check out the Big Hat – a source of inspiration. I was at our Antique Market today and found some great items. I have been working on site maintenance and setting up a new site for my IFRS blog. Please let me know if you experience any disturbances in the force (from Star Wars). This Internet stuff gets hairy. BTW I notice subscriptions are increasing. Please subscribe (see icon in the corner of the blog). You can subscribe by email – click on the link at the end of this post.

Subscribe to Many Hatty Returns by Email

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Check out the new character that the Royal Bank of Canada is using to promote the bank. It’s a little man in a bowler hat. Very Coooooooool!

If you are Canadian and want to carry the torch in an Olympic Rally in 2010 check it out.

The site says:

Be part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay by making a personal pledge to do something in your daily life to make Canada an even better place to live.

For over 100 days leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, 12,000 Canadians will be helping the Olympic Flame make its way across Canada. And you could be one of them.

Check out my new profile picture on the “About”page on this site. More on that and the Aretha Franklin Hat tomorrow.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Recently I acquired a bound volume of the Girl’s Own Paper from 1895 – 1896. It contains a lot of reference to young women’s fashions in that period and is an inspiration to us as we suffer from “hat envy”and wish hat wearing will return. The graphic above comes from one of the articles.

The accompanying description states that these hats “take in all the principal styles we are wearing”.

The large hat is of beaver, with a velvet lining. It is white in colour, with black velvet, and black feathers, and black satin ribbon bows. Interestingly, ribbons and bows are all the rage right now.

The French “sailor hat”at the back is of dark blue felt with trimmings of white lace, blue feathers and blue velvet.

The hat with the waved brim has fur or jet to line the fronts and black and white feathers white lace being used for the band around the crown.

The article goes on to note that there are some very pretty felt hats  with high crowns , and two or three quill feathers at the side, which are displayed in some of the larger West End Shops. From our current fashions as exhibited on the runways high crowns are in style now except they might be a bit exaggerated in our current fashions. What does everyone think? What have you observed?

Elsewhere the article notes that for travelling, cycling and ordinary rough wear there is the “Tam o’ Shanter”. I discussed this type of hat in a previous post.

The Girls Own Paper was published from 1880 to 1956. It was originally published by the Religious Tract Society. It has interesting articles about the society and culture relating to women over the period The articles are written as advice to young women and girls. You can pretty much guess at the type of advice and the attitude to women in general during that period. I will be posting some interesting articles related to hats and millinery. They are very interesting and throw a lot of light on the life of young women in the 1895 period. I love learning history from contemporary writings.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Here is a fun list of headgear around the alphabet. It is not comprehensive and it shows how vast is the topic of headgear. We will be dealing with many of these topics in future editions of the blog.

A.  Amish, Akubra, Ascot

B.  Beret, Bowler, Boater, Baseball cap, Billy Jack Hat, Bell Boy, Bucket, Bonnet, Bicorne

C.  Cap, Cloche, Crown, Clown Hat, Chef, Cocktail, Captain, Cavalry, Church Hat, Collapsible Hat, Cocked

D.  Dunce Cap, Derby, Deerstalker, Davy Crockey, Du-Rag

E.   Edwardian Hats, Engineer Cap, Easter Bonnet

F.   Fedora, Fez, Fisherman, Fascinator

G.  Gatsby Cap, Gaucho, Greek Fisherman, Ghutrah

H.  Homburg, Helmet, High Topper, Hard Hat, Hijab

I.   Indian Headdress

J.  James Top Hat, John Bull, Jester

K.  Kepi, Kings Crown

L.  Low Topper

M.  Mexican Sombrero, Morterboard, Mod Cap, Matador, Mushroom

N.  Newsboy Cap, Nightcap

O.  Old Navy

P.  Pork Pie, Panama Hat, Priest Hat, Pirate, Phygian, Pill Box

Q.  Quaker, Queen’s Crown, Quigley

R.  Round Top Derby, Robin Hood, RCMP

S.  Straw Hat, Ski Hat, Stove Pipe, Salem, Sir Walter, Santa, Slouch, Snood, Southwester rain hat, Sailor, Snowy River Hat, Smoking Hat, Smurf Hat

T.  Top Hat, Tam o’ Shanter, Trilby, Tricorn, Tiara, Tuque, Turban, Tyrolean, Tilley, Trucker,Trapper, Ten Gallon Hat

U.  Ushanka, U.K. Bobby Helmet

V.  Victorian Hats, Vaquero, Vuelto, Visor, Viking Helmet

W.  Wizard Hat, Witches Hat, Watch Cap, Wrap Hat, Western, Wimple, Whimsey

X.  Xmas Hats, Xian (Straw Hat)

Y.  Yarmulke, Yacht Cap

Z.  Zulu Headdress, Zuchetto, Zowie

Please send me additions to this list and I will update it from time to time.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I recently received my copy of the Hat Life Newsletter. I wrote a piece on it a while ago.

It is a good reference and I encourage you to sign up.  I am following up on an article in the current edition.

Check out the wonderful yellow top hat from Australia in the current edition. You will also note on that particular page that hats with high brim seem to be IN – wow what a statement!

By the way:

Happy Australia day to you Aussies!

Sorry it’s a bit belated.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Do you like your police men and women to wear Stetsons or peaked caps? There has been quite a lot of debate here in Canada about the decision of one of our Police Forces in Canada to change their hats from Stetsons to a peaked cap. This was reported recently in the Toronto Star. There is a lovely full colour picture of the new hat in the Star article.

Outside of Canada many believe that the RCMP (the Mounties) are our Police force in Canada. This is true in some parts of Canada but in most places Provinces (similar to States in the USA and Australia for example) have their own Province-wide and often their own city forces. It’s a romantic notion that the RCMP wear the famous red uniform but it is only used for ceremonial purposes.

Here in the Province of Ontario our Provincial Force until recently wore the famous Stetson hats as worn by many US police forces. It’s visions of Highway patrol cops on the roads “Down South”.

The Stetson was around for the force’s birth over 100 years ago it was replaced with a peaked cap in 1997. It was back to the wide brimmed Stetson in 1997. Now it’s back to the peaked cap.

Apparently practical considerations outweighed the sun protection of the famous wide-brimmed hat. There were many accidents with the “fibreglass sombrero”blowing off and being crushed by trucks. It was just too difficult to get in and out of your squad car with your Stetson on. Quite a tight squeeze eh!

The police force in Ontario reportedly like their new caps and they are being phased in. After over 10 recent years some cowboy hat nostalgia still exists.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Where has style gone in Hospitals?  Perhaps style has no place in Hospital?  The above is a picture I acquired last summer at the Antique Market here in Toronto. Most of the nurses are actually closing their eyes. It was Christmas but I doubt that they were drunk. The flash was too strong perhaps? I did a lot of searching on the Internet to see if I could identify the style of the hats on the Internet. This is a big job since each School of Nursing had its own style. I was not successful in the identification. Some of the styles were clearly based on the Catholic Nun’s Habit others a style of their own. I found it difficult to guess the period here. One of the ladies in the back row is in civilian clothes that could be from the twenties, it’s pure guesswork. The period could be the First World War or immediately prior to that date. Can anyone help me?
Nurses uniforms in North American have evolved to “scrubs” similar to those worn by doctors. This appears to be a revolution that took place in the 1970s/1980s. In other countries nurses have kept to tradition. Why the change? Here are some reasons given:

• The hats were not unisex and the profession wanted to attract men – they can do heavy lifting that is a real problem for nurses. A lot of injuries from the strain of lifting.
• The hats were not professional and marginalize women.
• The hats were not practical and could harbour germs (?)

It seems a pity that a tradition died. Can we at least bring them back for special occasions? If you want to read some background on nursing history go to the Canadian Museum of Civilization and read the discussion there.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Want to make a smoking cap but you were afraid to ask?

I just discovered a great blog by a person who describes herself as a Mad Hatter Wannabe.

My link is to an article on making a smoking hat.

The author’s name is Cristina and she lives in Barcelona.  She thought it would be a good idea to share  hat making frustrations by posting her projects and their progress. They are very lovely Cristina. Well done!

Cristina has a brother, Jose, who works at home. She thought it a great idea for Jose to wear a smoking cap when he is working. How grand and European!  Wonderful! You all know I am a history buff – it is all shades of Victorian times when many men wore smoking caps. Well there was a lot of smoking going on – usually pipes and cigars. I did hear tell of other types of “smoking” but that is of course a different story. You know that in Victorian times the sleeping cap was also popular. It’s kind of a light weight toque for indoors. Well you get the picture. You can see illustrations of Ebeneezer Scrooge of Christmas Carol fame wearing one. Homes were very drafty then – no central heating. Well there are some homes like that today and smoking caps and sleeping caps could come in handy.

Cristina referenced a site with some pictures of old smoking caps.

I just love hat lovers and admire hat makers. Cristina’s site is well worth bookmarking. If you are interested in hat making she has a lot of projects to share – thanks for sharing!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

A lot has been said about hats worn by guests to a wedding but very little recently about hats worn by the wedding party, the bridesmaids. Here are some pictures of bridesmaids wearing hats. They look like they are from the 1950s. They were obtained from our Toronto Antique Market – all rights reserved. Open the link in a new window for a close up view.

Enjoy!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the USA is coming soon on January 20, 2009. Obama truly has a lot of things on his plate and people of all political stripes around the world wish him well. Who are his mentors? It has been widely reported in CNN and elsewhere that Obama has a great admiration for Abraham Lincoln. Indeed he has modelled many of his activities on the iconic president.

There is serendipity here. It will soon be the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday coming soon on February 12, (It was in1809). The Smithsonian has published an anniversary commemorative magazine about Lincoln  and have devoted a page to Lincoln on their website. There is a special exhibit going on now at the Smithsonian .Check ot the pen and ink drawing of Lincoln in his stove pipe hat! I am a history buff as you may have gathered by now. We can learn a lot about the present by studying history and we can make what is old new again – for example the renaissance of hat wearing that I strive to achieve. But I digress. You can pick up the Smithsonian Magazine special edition at your local bookstore/newsagent. I picked up my copy. It has a lot of discussion of facts and myths about the great man.

Back to Barack Obama! Recently the New York Post published an article dealing with connections between Obama and Lincoln. In the lead into the article the Post included a fake picture of Obama wearing a top hat. It’s a nice thought – I wish that he would actually wear a top hat at the inauguration. So I can dream can’t I? By all accounts Lincoln looked very dapper in his famous hat. He was a tall, slender, man who was very dramatic in his signature stove pipe top hat.

The New York Post article is worth checking out. Of course some of the connections between Lincoln and Obama are obvious. Lincoln, like Obama, was a Senator from Illinois (it is known as - The Land of Lincoln“- shown on licence plates – or at least it was at one time). Another important connection is that Lincoln has a strong connection with the African-American community. He was the president to declare the emancipation of slaves in the USA in 1963. It was an important cause over which the Civil War was fought. At the conclusion of the Civil War the slaves obtained their freedom. Of course it was to be over far more than 100 years that the African American people were able to obtain true “freedom”. We are there perhaps but many would still argue that freedom has not been fully achieved yet. The election of Barack Obama is a huge milestone to be celebrated. Let’s hope it leads to a better understanding all round.

It seems clear that Obama has read many of the more than 1000 books about Lincoln. He has shown his admiration of him in many different ways. Notably Obama has formed quite a notable, strong group of advisers and Cabinet members, many of whom were his former rivals. This was something for which Lincoln was well known for – the coalition of rivals. Lincoln made his chief presidential rival William Seward Secretary of State. Read Mr Lincoln and New York as a background to the rivalry between Seward and Lincoln. Seward was the Senator from New York and the original favorite for the presidential race for the old Republicans – the party of Lincoln. As well, Seward did not get the nod for the Vice Presidency – the process was different then – fascinating! You can see the strong sense of deja vu here as Hillary Clinton has accepted Obama’s invitation to the office of Secretary of State. It almost gives one the shivers!

There are many throwbacks to Lincoln and you can read about them in the Post article – things like using Lincoln replica china! It’s almost a fetish!

Let’s go back to the very important matter of the Stove Pipe Top Hat. It has always been very much a source of regret to me that the famous Lincoln Memorial does not depict the great man wearing his signature hat. These signature pieces are important – consider Bob Hope (for you youngsters out there Hope was a very famous vintage comedian who lived to be over 100 years old – Google him!). Hope had a famous song Thanks for the Memory . Well thank you Abraham Lincoln for the memory of wearing your top hat!

The most famous portrayal of Lincoln was in a classic movie called Abe Lincoln in Illinois released in 1940. It covers Lincoln’s early days as lawyer up to his election as president. The movie starred Raymond Massey, truly a master of Lincoln tribute. Massey reprised his Lincoln role for years after. Interestingly Massey was a Canadian. He was part of the Massey family who brought you farm tractors!

Perhaps I have got you excited enough to get your own stove pipe top hat? The starting point is for you to look at the original stove pipe top hat at the Smithsonian museum. Check out the famous hat at the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia site together with a number of other artifacts from Lincoln.

If you are suffering from a major case of stove pipe top hat envy you can visit Barons Hat site. Barons is the hat maker to Hollywood and has provided custom hats to movie stars and hats featured in many movies. It’s a wonderful site. One of the features involves the reproduction of Lincoln’s famous hat. Check the story out on the Barons site. The recreation was a meticulous and painstaking affair. The process included a visit to the Smithsonian to view one of the original hats worn by Lincoln up close and personal and to witness a very careful measurement taking process. What an awesome privilege! You can see the exact specifications at their site. The hats can be obtained for $498 and up to over $1000 depending on the materials used and whether you would like simulated aging. I stand in awe.

There are many other suppliers where you can obtain stove pipe hats but none as super as the Baron’s ones. (you can search reenactment sites if you wish).

Please Barack please wear a stove pipe hat someday. You would look really cool in it and you would do wonders for hat revival – it’s a worthy cause.

Please check out Obama hats on my previous post.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I very hot hat item according to the Hat Life Newsletter I recently read is the Mau Cap from Kangol.

Here is a picture courtesy of Aaron Hats.

Please go to the Aaron Hats site and search for Kangol Mau Cap or just Mau Cap. Even though it looks a little unpretentious it’s a hot item right now. Here is a discussion of the origin of the Mau Cap from the Aaron Hat site.

Close to Varanasi in Eastern India is the small but industrious district of Mau, formerly Mau Nath Bhanjan. The area is renowned for its textile weaving, and maybe just maybe that is why we named the Wool Mau Cap in its honor, hmm? Because what is fashion but a perpetual send-up to regionalist culture and pride? Well, whatever the region, the Wool Mau Cap’s shape suggests that there is revolution in the air. And there is a Kangolution.

There are versions of the Mau Cap that can be worn in summers as well, in a light weight fabric.

The cap is kind of sort of like the Greek Fisherman’s hat or a “Newsboy” type of hat.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Here is a great runway video featuring Russian designer Slava Zaitsev.

The large crowns on the hats are spectacular. One is very reminiscent of the top hat, only for women. It’s certainly popular and Britney Spears is working it in her new video “Circus”. Check out the video on You Tube at Britney TV.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=snHczq06qGc

If you are reading this on an RSS feed the link is

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snHczq06qGc

The video is brought to you by Fashion Stock. If you want a lot of fashion videos you can sign up for the video podcast on iTunes, Here is their pitch on the You Tube site.

New fashion video trailers daily! Fashion runway, top models, designers interviews, make-up and backstage beauty. What’s hot Spring/Summer 2009 season in New York, Milan, Paris, Moscow and Miami fashion weeks? For more info and full shows on DVD visit www.MobileFashion.TV

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

This is a guest post from Susan Beausang who sells headwear she has designed for women with medical hair loss. Thanks for the contribution Susan – Great work on this worthy cause. Please check out her site.

Think they’re just for grandmothers in the Polish countryside? Think again. Head scarves are not only one of fashion’s most versatile accessories, they have timeless appeal.

The headscarf is an intimate, personal accessory with which you can create your own unique fashion statement.  Whether you want a polished and elegant look, a casual bohemian flair, or a stay-in-place exercise accessory, 4Women.com has a head scarf for you.  Called “BeauBeaus,”   they were designed by Susan Beausang in a determined effort to be re-establish her sense of style and dignity after losing all her hair due to Alopecia Universalis. Having always been fashion-conscious, she wanted to be noticed for her unique style, not her bald head.  Not only were wigs hot and uncomfortable, she felt like she was hiding under them.  Rather than hide her head and changing identity, Susan designed a scarf with which she could make a fashion statement.  As a result, BeauBeaus are a perfect accessory for any fashion-conscious woman looking to create a style that is truly her own.

Many women shy away from head scarves, thinking they’re difficult to tie or not going to stay put.  The BeauBeau is designed to address both of those issues.  They’re “pre-tied” with an elastic band.  Once on your head, they look like they’ve been tied and styled by a pro, when in fact they’re as easy to put on as a baseball cap.  They’re also designed with long flowing tails, for a feminine look, or gathered with the elastic scrunchie.  For those who like to change their look often, these scarves come with options.  Gather the fabric at the back of the neck or slightly at the side, a la Parisiene.  The BeauBeau never slips, needs no readjustments, and comes in a wide array of fabrics and patterns.  From “Color Me Classy,” soft charmeuse printed in rich brown, lavender and burgundy, to Black and Bloom, a smart classic black and white print.  There is a fabric, style and color combination for everyone and every occasion.  How about the Pampered Headwarmer, a luscious combination of cotton jersey and cashmere?  Going running?  Try the Aqua Power exercise scarf, a stylish lycra-blend scarf with just the right amount of stretch when working out.  You may want to simply complement your hair style with a Transitional scarf, a headband with the same great pre-tied design and available in the same beautiful fabrics.

It’s no wonder that celebrities and fashion icons continue to promote head scarves as a timeless must-have accessory.  While head scarves are NOT just for women with medical hair loss, it’s nice to know that there are stylish and comfortable headwear options for those of us who refuse to surrender our style and dignity along with our hair.

Medical hair loss in women is often poorly understood and misdiagnosed.  Even when the true cause is known, there is little acknowledgment of the deep emotional impacts on women.  Fortunately, women with medical hair loss are reaching out to each other and creating resource and support groups.  Some especially helpful resources and advice can be found at:

National Alopecia Areata Foundation www.naaf.org
Alopecia World  www.alopeciaworld.com
Her Alopecia www.heralopecia.com
Bald Girls do Lunch www.baldgirlsdolunch.org

Susan M. Beausang, President
The BeauBeau: “Beautiful Scarves for Beautiful Heads”
www.4women.com

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I recently obtained a copy of Punch Magazine from February 9, 1921. I love it when I find vintage material that contains predictions for the future. I will get to the prediction in a minute.

The prediction concerns the humble swim cap, or bathing cap. Why do you wear a swim cap when swimming?

• It keeps your perm in.
• It prevents your hair getting too wet and pool chlorine out.
• It is hygienic and prevents hair from getting into a pool’s filtration systems.
• It is necessary as a competitive swimming accessory to add a more smooth body line for speed and reduces drag on speed.

You can read more about swim cap history, including the effects of rubber shortages on swim cap availability in the Second World War at this Wikipedia link. Swim caps got quite glamorous in the late 1940s and 1950s. They were embellished with petals and the like. The wearing of swim caps has largely passed into history except for competitive and distance swimming uses.

You can see an example of swim cap glamor on the Life.com site where you will find a picture of Claudette Colbert from 1941 wearing a swim cap and holding a surf board. Time Inc., the owner of the rights to Life Magazine (now defunct), and Google have partnered to make images from Life magazine available for purchase. There are many pictures of people wearing hats in the collection which is being added to over time (no pun intended).

I know a cross dresser who swears by swim caps; he uses them under wigs and attaches duct tape for a face lift – yes really. Another use of a swim cap is to portray bald headed guys at Halloween. Perhaps you want to be Dr. Evil from Austin Powers?

Here is the prediction, included in an advertisement for Greys, the big cigarette with the choice flavour. Yes it was a different time!

The caption read: One of the London City Baths, A.D. 2500

We have 500 years yet. It seems that we will be back to wearing swim caps as a style statement and looking like Cleopatra. As I say swim cap Egyptian style. Oh yes people will be smoking again in a healthy environment. It is interesting since I had originally believed that the 1920s Egyptian Revival that was part of the Art Deco period started after Howard Carter’s discovery of the Tutankhamen tomb in 1922/3 (after this advertisement was published).

I personally cannot wait for this but sadly none of us will be around to prove the prediction one way or another. Who knows what will happen? Five hundred years ago was the Tudor period (Elizabeth I and Henry VIII – a completely different period to be sure. I wonder what their prediction would have been of the world in the year 2000? The question is that with our weapons of mass destruction will the world be able to survive to 2500 A.D.?

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

Are you in the hat or accessories business and are looking for information on trends?  If you are a buyer for a retail business check out the accessories shows coming up this Winter in New York and Vegas.

This organization boasts that it has the only juried, all-accessories trade event in the fashion capital of the US – probably the whole country. It’s a good place for people in the industry to check out trends. Sorry vendors, other than exhibitors, and the general public cannot attend. Only qualified buyers and accredited media can attend. That’s a pity we will have to read the media reports from the shows. I’ll be looking for them. Perhaps next year I can go down to the shows as media? There is still time to go to Vegas. Is it true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Hope not when it comes to fashion trends.

You can get a few teasers from their site. These include “Lampshade Silhouettes” (I did see a video featuring a designer the other day showing the use of unusual over-sized visors – like lampshades), Pillbox styles (Shades of Jackie Kennedy Onassis) and down-turned brims.

They publish a trade magazine, The Accessories Magazine that reaches 22,000 buyers. Interesting. You can also check out scarf trends – hot – as well as other accessories.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

An interview with Ailie Miller from Dollie Vardin Millinery in Auckland City, Auckland, New Zealand.

Some highlights from the interview:

Ailie started as a milliner 30 years ago after reading a book on how to renovate old hats into cocktail hats.

A “great hat” embodies a simple style, not stiff, a good angle and colour blend.

The trends for Summer 2009 in New Zealand (the Winter time in the Northern Hemisphere) will be a softer brim, stronger crown and a continuation of a fondness for men’s styles, particularly the Trilby. Favoured colours will be cobalt blue, purple, orange, yellow and green. This information on colour trends came from Europe so likely we will see much of the same here in the Northern Hemisphere in our summer.

There were some other pieces of hat wisdom in the interview including advice to use dramatic eye make up when wearing your best hat. Enjoy the video! 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdWaRgBzDK4

Here is the URL if you are reading this on an RSS reader.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdWaRgBzDK4

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

While browsing through channels on You Tube I found this great Video from ITN in the UK. It is from Charles and Camilla’s wedding a few years ago. There was a strange mixture of people at the event, including show business personalities. The hats were delicious and not only the women’s hats. It was more of a day at Ascot than a day at a Royal Wedding. There were men in top hats there -- how good is that?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJMyv7BawQ

If you are viewing this by RSS feed or e-mail here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJMyv7BawQ&eurl=&feature=player_embedded

How do I get a feeling that the guests were looking to outdo the bride? Is this a social no-no. Can someone familiar with wedding etiquette weigh in with their opinion? Please add your comments below. I have heard that it’s not nice to outdo the bride. I have also heard that it’s a big party why not go all out and celebrate.

Just for fun here is a fun Edwardian Wedding Picture I picked up this weekend. Almost everyone seemed to want to outdo the bride?

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

The cloche hat is a fitted bell shaped hat. It is normally made of felt. “Cloche” is the French word for bell.

They were very popular in the 1920s and early 1930s. Quite a change from the very large flamboyant hats of the pre war Edwardian era.

Here are some fun period photographs from my local Antique market showing cloches.

Even the young children are wearing cloches. The men’s hats are stylish too but we will get to them another time. I spot the straw boater and the Homburg – very elegant.

The cloche was usually (an still is) worn low on the head but there is a variant style where the brim flares out. It is, of course, the signature flapper hat.

Caroline Reboux has been attributed as the designer of the cloche hat. By all accounts she was a well known and well respected milliner in the late 19 th century and early 20th century. Apparently she would measure the size of the felt hat on a custom basis to a customer’s head.

Madame Reboux was attributed as the first milliner to add a veil to a hat in the 1920s. I would have liked to have met her. A very stylish lady! One of her famous clients was a complete role model of mine – the one and only Marlene Dietrich. She apparently had her trade mark berets designed and made by the house of Reboux.

Cloches are very popular today. They actually flatter the faces of many people who feel that they cannot cannot wear hats generally since wide brims do not flatter their head shape. Here is a Betmar cloche, kind courtesy of Aaron Hats.

This is described in their catalogue as::

Elegant and chic Betmar’s newest Italian cloche trimmed with a thin patent band and patent covered buckle. The brim is a bit longer on one side adding to the allure. Easy to wear and perfect to flirt from beneath. Made in Italy.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

New Year’s Day is coming!

If you want to get a head start you can make your own party hat. This video is from Expert Village. The site contains free how to videos on all kinds of subjects including different types of paper hats. Have fun!

This hat involves construction paper, glitter and curly ribbon. It’s like being a kid again. Hey perhaps you can get your kids to make the hats?

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/77270_party-hats-new-years.htm

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

There is nothing better than to watch the Queen (the Queen of England of course) sport her stylish hats. She is old school and has never given up on her elegant hat wearing. You can see this in her recent visit to Google.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDTZMYfa6g

It’s a lovely green number with a coordinated green suit. She sure sets an example for us all. Oh that we had her clothes budget. We can only drool over her wonderful hats. You can visit the fashion era site for a page dealing with the Queen’s hats and some lovely examples.

Tomorrow the Queen will be presenting her annual Christmas Day Message. I was born in Britain and I moved to Canada where the Queen is our head of state. She is the face on our currency. I look forward to the message and it is intended for all races, creeds and religions. Originally it was a message for “British Subjects” but now it is watched by millions around the world by “Brit-o-philes” everywhere. You know the British TV programs, especially the period pieces, are very popular. The nostalgia of it all. You can catch the Queen’s speech at around 11.15 EST in North America (16.15 GMT). It runs for about 10 minutes. Please check your TV schedules. Last year the speech was posted on the “Royal Channel” on You Tube. I am not sure if there are plans to do that again this year but I would not be surprised

Talking about nostalgia -- we can view the first Christmas broadcast by Queen Elizabeth on the You Tube Royal Channel.Please visit this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s

The Channel has requested that embedding be disabled for this item.

Don’t forget to tune into the Royal Channel on You Tube for more hat style from H.M. The Queen -- very inspiring!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

This is an advertisement for Dupont Automobiles from Country Life, July 1920. ( The company was not related to Dupont – the chemicals company). This was the year after the Dupont Automobile Company was formed. (Right click and view in a new window for better viewing – low res image is deliberately provided).

The couple in the foreground were wearing their hats to go out in style. It was important to look good. Why let the automobile upstage you – appearances are everything! How they kept their hats on in the open cars I don’t know. Perhaps they were not going too fast?

Only 516 Dupont automobiles were made in the 12 year history of the company – less than one per week. The company merged with the Indian Motorcycle Company in 1932. Perhaps the advertisement itself is quite rare? In any case the on set of the Depression was a major factor in the demise of that company. This is a good lesson as we weigh the pros and cons of automobile bailouts. Who says any of the big three have to survive maybe they could be replaced with other companies that are environmentally friendly? (Sorry for the politics – let me know what you think).

This site has a good history of the Dupont Automobile Company:
I used the article as a reference for this post.

These cars were upscale and the clothing style reflects this. Of course they advertised in Country Life, an upscale magazine. The first edition of the Dupont automobile in 1919 cost between $4,000 and $5,600, a large sum of money in those days. In 1920 a four bedroom bungalow in Green Bay Wisconsin cost $3,100 see the following interesting web page -
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/20s-homes.html

The important thing is that the wearing of hats was a requirement to be in style for motoring. See the Eaton’s of Canada Calatogue for 1915 – 1916 from Canada’s Museum of Civilization where they show a hat designed for motoring.http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/cmc/009002-119.01-e.php?&page_ecopy=nlc003947.79&&PHPSESSID=2b94qh74tbem93ku6ead4fkic6
Please be patient you may have to click on the view without plug-in link on the page – patience will be rewarded!

(re-posted from the “Hat Nostalgia” blog with some edits and changes as per transition plan)

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

The Tam o’ Shanter is a Scottish bonnet  originally worn by men. However, women have adopted a form of this hat and it is often known as a “Tam” or a “Tammy”.

The hat is named after the Robbie Burns poem Tam o’  Shanter, written in 1790 and six pages long; this is regarded as a classic like many things by Burns. The poem is often illustrated by a character wearing a hat in this style. You can read the original and a translation on the Robert Burns UK site.

The hat is usually made of wool and has a pompon ( known as a toorie) in the centre. It is quite a floppy type of hat with the crown sometimes twice the diameter of the head. They are available in many colours and tartans. Originally they were dyed blue ( the famous “blue bonnets”), owing to the limitation of available dyes.

The Tam is referred to as a “bonnet” from old French ( and not as a “beret”) although it does not look like the very fashionable bonnet worn by ladies in the late 18th. and early 19th. centuries (reminiscent of Marie Antoinette) . A beret on the other hand refers to a rounder more tighter fitting hat. This is confusing – just call it a “Tam”.

The Scottish Tam o’Shanter is sometimes worn with a feather plume that is known as a “hackle”. This plume adornment is now mostly worn by bandsmen (or perhaps women as well?).

Here is a charming photograph of a baby wearing a Tam complete with hackle. It was originally a cabinet card from late Victorian vintage. The baby is posing in a lovely wicker baby carriage (“pram” as we called them in Britain). It’s a great image. Probably the baby carriage was a prop in the photographer’s studio. Of course, babies did not generally wear Tams complete with plume – that would be a bit unsafe don’t you think?

The Tam is very popular  in Scottish Regiments and was worn as battle dress in World War II. Of course, don’t confuse this with the beret made famous by Field Marshal (Monty) Montgomery. During the War they were plain khaki but now the dress Tams are more stylish.

I am obliged to various pages of the Wikipedia for some of the information in this posting. Their articles are interesting but vary in quality.

Women wear a form of Tam This one is made by Betmar, picture courtesy of Aaron hats.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

You have heard this song. Did you know that it was written in the latter half of the 19th Century and rewritten in 1901?

Here is the chorus:

Where did you get that hat,Where did you get that tile,
And isn’t it a nobby one,
And what a proper style.
I should like to have one
Just the same as that;
Where’er I go they shout, Hulloa,Where did you get that hat?

Translations:
Tile = Hat and in particular a tall silk hat
Nobby = Stylish

Yes they spoke funny then but I suppose they would think we speak funny too. Don’t forget that “gay” was happy and in a party mood then (as in Gay Paris) now it’s completely different. (Well perhaps not that different).

Although the words are taken to refer to a gentleman’s hat one can take it as referring to any hat without gender.

There is more information about the song (including a copy of an old broadsheet of the words) on the National Library of Scotland site.
http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/15063/transcript/1

There looks to be a great deal of historical information for history buffs like me on that site.

Re-posted from Hat Nostalgia as per transition plan.

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.

I thought that you would be delighted with this very unusual image from the Canadian Countryman issue of April 4 1936. The kid is wearing a cute little hat. She sits in a little cart being pulled by a very large black sheep. I have never seen a sheep cart like this. Has anyone seen anything like it?

This truly is “Unique Transportation”as the caption says!

©2012 Many Hatty Returns. All Rights Reserved.