"My one and only fur splurge occurred two years ago, at the Holt Renfrew spring sale in Montreal. I was clumping around the elegant department store in my schlubby parka and itchy tuque when I saw it: a leather trapper hat lined with sheared beaver. Despite my fur reservations, I tried it on. Looking in the hat bar mirror, I fell in lust. The hat was warm as a hearth, light as air and, best of all, didn't make me look like a grumpy winter camper. I had to have it.
Two winters and innumerable headgear compliments later, trapper hats are now the must-have topper for cold-weather fashion vics. Nothing is toasty warmer, and boys like them too. Nothing like a bit of fur around the face to bring out your inner Scandi Bond girl.
Classic woodsman trapper hats reportedly sold out at Toronto's flagship location of Holt Renfrew this week. And Jennifer Dares, trend director for the Bay, reports that the trapper has done 'very well and is definitely trending.'
And while Style.com recently instructed its readers to 'lose last season's Davy Crockett cap,' here in Canada we have more practical concerns on the brain, like keeping our earlobes from freezing off without looking like an extra on the set of The Thing. Hence, we predict: The trapper trend has legs.
Are trapper hats the quintessential Canadian headwear? Mariouche Gagne, designer and owner of Montreal's Harricana label, certainly thinks so. She has done a huge international run on her recycled fur chapeaux, made from a selection of repurposed pelts including raccoon, beaver, fox and mink.
"We called it the Robin Hood hat in English," she said in a phone interview from Paris, where she was dashing around in preparation for her fall ready-to-wear show. "And it's the coureur de bois hat in French. The Europeans over here call it the 'Canadian chapka' or the RCMP. That's why my hats do so well in Europe -- retailers feel they are getting something more real than if it was a Chinese or U.S. manufacturer."
In fact, Gagne's hats are selling well in France, Italy, German, Austria, Japan and even Dubai (home to the world's largest indoor ski hill).
"The trapper was a great iconic hat for us," says Barbara Atkin, fashion director for Holt Renfrew. "More than ever today we're looking at authentic cultural trends from northern climates. Fur is still tied to luxury and status, but it's also about our heritage. Don't forget, Holt's started as a hat store in Quebec."
HBC's Signature hat might be the most iconic trapper on the market today, if only because it's made by the original Canuck mass market fur trader -- the company that literally clothed the original coureurs de bois. Available in ivory and red, the hat is made of a wool exterior and lined with luxurious sheared beaver. For $350, it's an investment too.
Dares, who has a bunny fur trapper hat of her own, says HBC believes that the trapper trend will last well into next year. "It's really a classic and it's extra nice that it's so Canadian."
"
Tags:
Bookmarks:
0 comments:
Post a Comment