Toronto Hats and Wedding Bridal Millinery Service

More Ideas

2011-11-21T11:13:00.001-05:00

Just updated our website gallery with more pictures. Or just view the slideshow in the sidebar.

Hats (of some type, at some location) are back!

2010-10-09T22:44:00.007-04:00

Hats (of some type, at some location) are back. You will hear this refrain over and over every year from some country and/or regional location. I call it pure hype. The fact is that hats (whatever type) have never left anywhere, anyone at anytime. Currently it is the bowler hat in England. Next it will be ??? at ???. What a consumer bore. My condolence to the British for the current state of psychological maneuvering of the hat making industry. I don't believe you. And I make hats for real women of many nationalities.

Edith's Store

2010-10-08T17:27:00.004-04:00

It has taken awhile to get our new store location fully functional. Click on the picture for larger photos.

Raymond Hudd

2010-08-26T22:45:00.002-04:00

Mason County native Raymond Hudd made his mark as high-fashion hat designer | MLive.com: "“In everything,” he likes to say, “I saw a hat.”

Through the years, Hudd created more than his share of traditional bonnets and hats, sophisticated in style and glorious with feathers, silk, chiffon and felt. Seven times, he won the Easter bonnet contest at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, so many times, in fact, he was forbidden to enter an eighth time."

Read this article if you have an interest in hats. Raymond is an inspiration for any future milliner. A joy for any customer. A legend of his time.

Rosh Hashanah Hats 2010

2010-08-23T22:38:00.006-04:00

With the Rosh Hashanah high holidays only 3 weeks away, we have brought in a very limited quantity of the latest in felt high fashion hats for our Toronto ladies.

Definitely less expensive than custom made hats. Come and see soon before they go.

Canadian Derby 2010 Hat

2010-08-22T20:04:00.002-04:00

As promised, this is the photograph of the hat we made for the " Horses, Hats and Hope " charity night to support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

For a gallery view of the hats modelled on that Friday night, click on the the title link above.

Congratulations to Barb Side, owner of " No Hesitation ", the horse who won the Canadian Derby at Northlands Racetrack in Edmonton, Alberta on August 21, 2010.

We are delighted that she was wearing our hat in the Winner's Circle ... the punter's odds of a longshot despite the horse being a favourite. For photos of the racing day and Barb's memorable moment, click here.

Thank you to all who came out and supported this event. Our world is a better place because of your spirit of generosity.

Horses, Hats and Hope

2010-08-03T17:21:00.006-04:00

Horses, Hats and Hope is a gala evening at Northland Park, Edmonton on Friday, August 13th to support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

As one of the Event and Silent Auction Sponsors, we invite you to attend the evening event and maybe find your hat for the Canadian Derby on Saturday, August 21st.

Designer Kelsey McIntyre may show our hat in the fashion show. It was created to complement one of the dresses in her Serendipity fall line. Sorry, no glitz, no chutzpah; just feminine chic to harmonize with her style. It's her artistic decision to make at that moment in time. We wait, breathless.

Click on the title link for more information and see which milliners and hat vendors are supporting this worthy cause.

Come and have a smashing evening! Will post a picture of the hat after the Derby is run.

The Move Is Complete

2010-07-08T08:43:00.002-04:00

Edith's Fashions has moved from Wilmington Avenue to it's new location at 1113 Finch Avenue West ... just 2 stoplights west of Dufferin Street.

Come and see our new store. Make sure you stop by our hat boutique and say hello to Gail. Smiles are always welcome!

Millinery Art Slide Show

2010-02-28T13:59:00.004-05:00

Have added our Millinery Art pictures to the sidebar in the form of a slide show. Click on the article title to see the photos with more detail if you are interested.

Are Fascinators Just Whimsies By Another Name?

2010-01-02T11:55:00.002-05:00

Found a new competitor in Toronto who is specializing in Fascinators!

Abigail will come to your home just the way Gail did 22 years ago when she first started into business.

Click on the title link above to visit Abigail's web site for great photos.

Toronto Milliner Blogs Away!

2010-01-01T23:17:00.002-05:00

What an exciting way to start the New Year! Discovered that another Toronto milliner has taken up the challenge to blog about the art form.

Click on the title above to visit Blair's blog. Visit her web site and let me know what you think.

Hat Making Courses - Australia

2009-07-10T11:36:00.004-04:00

Jane Stoddart of Sydney, Australia NSW teaches weekend and other courses for those who may be interested.

Jane is a couture milliner who designs by private appointment ... just like us. She tells me that she taught Catherine Kelly, a creative student who has come into her own and recently featured here.

Find out more about Jane and her classes .

Hats Off To Kenny

2009-07-03T10:46:00.005-04:00

With the Toronto Jazz Festival in full swing, I was reminded by Alexander Green that the death of Jazz singer Kenny Rankin preceded that of Michael Jackson by only a couple of weeks.

While I only listened to Kenny's music, Alex knew him better and had this to say about him:

"As far as I could tell, the man didn’t have a pretentious bone in his body. Not that he didn’t have the talent and more than a few high profile fans…

Johnny Carson was bowled over by Kenny. He booked him on the Tonight Show more than 20 times, even writing the liner notes for his debut album.

Paul McCartney was another fan. “No one can sing ‘Blackbird’ like Kenny Rankin,” he said. McCartney even asked him to perform it when he and John Lennon were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Saxophone great Stan Getz admired him, too. He described Kenny’s pristine tenor as “a horn with a heart.”

Kenny was a fine guitarist, incidentally. (He played on Bob Dylan’s landmark 1965 album “Bringing It All Back Home.”) He wrote beautiful compositions performed by Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Georgie Fame, Carmen McRae and many others.

But he was best known for his interpretations of others’ songs.

He rarely changed the lyrics. But, like most jazz artists, he would often radically rework a song. Those who felt he strayed too far from the melody missed the point entirely.

“My interpretation of the song is purely emotional,” he once said. “We’ve all experienced disappointment and heartache, and that’s what I draw on… I’m really hurting for the people in the song. When I sing I’m feeling, not thinking.”

Despite his tremendous talents, Kenny spent most of his career in relative obscurity, garnering attention primarily from jazz aficionados and fellow musicians.

But while Kenny never won the widespread acclaim or financial rewards of more commercial artists, he experienced one important success: He spent his life exercising his talents, doing exactly what he wanted to do.

“I just feel privileged that I’ve been allowed to continue in my craft,” he said. “When someone tells you a song changed their life, or inspired them to look at things in a slightly different way, well, you can’t ask for a better reward than that.” "

As someone who practises a craft, I can relate to that last quote.

Read everything that Alex said about Kenny . Just like Kenny's music, it has soul.

Royal Ascot 2009

2009-07-01T15:14:00.006-04:00

Being the Canada Day holiday, took some time to look for photos of the recent Royal Ascot event in England. The best images I could find are published at the Telegraph. View the different galleries before they are gone.

Look at their video selection, too. Get a glimpse of which designers are featuring millinery on the catwalk.

Next, there were some films available and the one below had a lot of head wear / headgear. At the end of the film are choices to view other productions. Watch them.

Hat Making Courses - Australia

2009-06-21T21:13:00.005-04:00

Today, Catherine Kelly of Sydney NSW Australia was added to our listing of millinery teachers.
She teaches an 8 week Millinery Essentials class at Sydney Community College and offers private workshops at her studio, Embellish atelier. Contact her through her web site at http://www.embellish-hats.com .

In addition to her teaching, Catherine sells stylish millinery on her web site and is a must see for fashionistas.

For Your Convenience

2009-06-21T16:37:00.004-04:00

Today the Onlywire button was added to the site for bookmarking and sharing. I'm not knowledgeable about Web 2.0 and not certain how all this works but others tell me it's really useful for bloggers. So here it is!

UV Buff headwear

2007-03-02T16:23:00.000-05:00

UV Buff headwear | Outside Online:

"Every once in a while, we come across a piece of gear that makes us laugh for its—well, let's call it—ingenuity. We've seen it all: a battery-operated, air-conditioned t-shirt, a fleece bra and underwear set, a snot wipe rag (not kidding). When a box of Buffs—tube-top-shaped headwear garments—arrived at our office, the initial reaction was a blend of skepticism and curiosity.

"Is that a mini skirt?" one intern asked me. "Or a baggy arm warmer?"

First, a description: A Buff is a tube of fabric about 20 inches long, eight inches wide, roughly the size of two license plates sewn together. It's headgear that can be worn in a whopping 12 different styles, from the traditional (beanie, scarf, head band, balaclava) to the creative (bonnet, pirate).

These crafty headpieces were first made in Barcelona over a decade ago, were imported to the US in 2003, and now sold in 40 different countries. If you've heard of them before, it's probably because you've seen contestants on Survivor wearing them in bright, tropical-inspired patterns. When I first saw the Buff, I immediately lumped it into the same category as the snot rag—an eccentric piece of gear that I'd never actually need.

Now, a true confession: Not only do I use the Buff on a semi-regular basis, but I actually like the Buff. I'd almost go as far to say that I am somewhat dependent on the Buff, or at least I rely on them the same way I rely on the socks I got for Christmas last year that have pockets for your toes.

On chilly morning runs, I wear the Buff (in the beanie or ear-muff style). It's made from a breathable, Coolmax fabric that blocks 95 percent of UV rays. Occasionally, I sport the Buff under my ski helmet (again, in the beanie style), and it keeps me warm without overheating. It also doubles as a goggle cleaner when stored in the pocket of your jacket, and, believe it or not, a machine washable, quick-drying hanky for blowing your nose.

The Buff isn't exactly a necessary item, but I dare you to bring it on your next long drive or camping trip and try to find at least five purposes for it. Whether you wear it as a bonnet or clean your windows or dishware with it, I guarantee you'll put it to use.

I even wore the Buff as a headband while cleaning my house, because I wanted to keep my hair out of my face. I haven't tried it in the pirate style yet, but maybe I'll wait for next Halloween to do that.

"

From New York to Tokyo, hats make a quiet comeback

2007-03-02T08:20:00.000-05:00

From New York to Tokyo, hats make a quiet comeback - International Herald Tribune:

"LONDON: Berets, wide-brimmed hats and cloches popping up on the runways, plus an increase in the number of students signing up to be schooled in the subject, seem to indicate that another millinery moment is imminent.

But look around on Paris or London streets and it appears that hats are not yet quite the "happening" accessories that shoes and bags are.

"It's very interesting. You don't see many hats on people's heads. However, many of the designers that show here have a good business," said Patricia Lerat, organizer of the French accessories exhibition Première Classe. Brands like Philip Treacy, Stephen Jones and Muhlbauer will be among the 25 labels exhibiting at the event March 2 through 5.

"The market used to be about formal occasion wear, but in the past couple of years there has been a move towards urban and sports," Lerat said. "There are a lot of designers from England because hats are part of the culture there, you just have to look at the success of designers" like Treacy, Jones and a newcomer, Misa Harada.

The British designer Karen Henriksen will introduce her fall hat collection at the exhibition. Henriksen, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, is showing her Windswept collection of asymmetric caps, which come in tweeds, leather or waxed cotton and lend a modern twist to the old-fashioned working man's flat cap.

Like Henriksen, there are many in Britain eager to follow in Treacy's footsteps. "At Central Saint Martens there used to be only one hat making course per year and now there are between four and five a year which are all over booked," said the hat designer Ian Bennett, who also teaches the Millinery Masters program at the Royal College of Art and at Kensington & Chelsea College.

In addition to selling from his eponymous store in The Oxo Building, which he opened last November, Bennett makes one-offs for designers like Hamish Morrow and Boudicca and for films, including the acclaimed "United 93."

But aspiring milliners, even those in Britain, know the business has its problems. "When I started out, I got into a bit of a panic as I realized that I was entering an industry that on the whole was in decline," said Noel Stewart who also studied millinery at the Royal College, worked for Jones at Christian Dior Haute Couture and has since started his own namesake label.

"Since then I have come to understand that it is not in decline, just reverting to an older mode," he said.

"While the heart of the English hat trade in Luton will never be what it was — China has seen to that — the U.K. still has the most formidable history of producing world-class milliners. The department stores have largely closed or reduced their hat departments but every milliner I know is worked off their feet," Stewart added.

Treacy, Britain's leading milliner, has helped keep the profile of hats high ever since he graduated from the Royal Colleg in 1990. Today, he makes more than 10,000 hats a year that sell in some of the world's leading stores: Harrods, Saks Fifth Avenue, Elena Benaroch in Madrid and Maria-Luisa in Paris.

"The market has expanded enormously, with growth centered on designer and celebrity-led streetwear and many unisex designs," Treacy said, contrasting opportunities of today with those available when he graduated.

A report from Mintel, the consumer marketing group, agrees that "most growth has been in casual headgear, as opposed to formal hats. Special occasion wear is in general decline, and formal hats have fallen victim to the pervasive trend for casual styling, and declining numbers of social occasions such as weddings and christenings."

The Fashion Accessories Retailing report from March 2006 also identified an upturn in sales. "Hats accounted for 18 percent of total accessories expenditure in 2005, with sales of around £102 million, representing a rise of 21 percent since 2000," it said.

Beyond Britain, Treacy said, "trends are country specific. In the U.K., occasion hats are very strong, inspired by the royal family and the season such as Ascot and Henley. Streetwear is led by sporting icons, the music world and celebrities. There is a strong religious market for occasion hats."

"In Japan there has been a massive increase in the young trendier market," he said, "while in Russia there has been a massive increase in spending across the market due to a massive increase in spending power."

One of Treacy's colleagues echoed his observations. "The hat business is definitely getting better. However we all need the Japanese because they probably wear the most hats," said Klaus Muhlbauer of Vienna, whose fashion-forward hats recently appeared in Alice Temperley's show in New York. "Of all the countries, Japan has the longest tradition of wearing hats in winter and in summer to shade women's skin because their idea of beauty is to keep faces pale."

Muhlbauer's family company dates from 1903. He has helped take a hip collection of berets, cloches and fur caps in bright colors with edgy detailing to stores like Le Bon Marché in Paris, Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Isetan in Tokyo.

While the United States rarely is mentioned as a major consumer of hats, the millinery trade also is growing there.

The New York-based designer Eugenia Kim started her hat business in 1998 after graduating from the millinery program at Parson's School of Design. She added shoes to her repertoire in 2004 and subsequently won the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Perry Ellis award for accessories design.

But her heart is still very much in hat making. In December 2006, she published "Saturday Night Hat: Quick Easy Hat Making For The Downtown Girl."

"There are a lot of young people doing hats at this moment so competition to get into department stores is fierce compared to when I started," Kim said. "Although it isn't a volume business it is a good platform from which to start an accessories business. I am selling other product categories because Barneys New York nurtured my talent and asked me to design hair accessories and belts — both big volume businesses."

"

Cold-weather, cool fashions

2007-02-25T16:26:00.000-05:00

Times Leader | 02/25/2007 | Cold-weather, cool fashions:

"Your mom can guess again. No way are you wearing some hideous hat or hood and standing at the bus stop where everyone can see you. You’d rather freeze.

Wearing cold-weather gear can seem uncool, but hats, scarves, mittens and gloves are staples in the wardrobes of many stylish people. Chicago fashion designer Palesa Nicolini says she always bundles up on cold days.

“I don’t go anywhere without a scarf. I wear a fur hat, leather gloves. It ends up being fashionable, but it’s very eclectic,” says Nicolini, an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Kids also can look cool while staying warm. Nicolini says this year the “in” colors are navy blue, marigold yellow and merlot red.

Both boys and girls can wrap their scarves in several stylish ways. Nicolini prefers to loop her scarf loosely around her neck and continue wearing it after she’s removed her coat. Another way to wear your scarf is to wrap it around your neck and loop it in the front, she says.

Hats can be cool, too. For girls, Nicolini says fake fur hats are very of the moment, as are bright-colored stocking caps with big pompoms on top.

Boys also can wear the pompom hat or opt for a cool knit hat to stay warm. “Even adults like wearing these fun knit hats,” Nicolini says.

Even during relatively mild winter weather, it’s still cold out, and kids have to use some sense and dress appropriately when outside. Cold weather can cause frostbite, says emergency-room physician Elizabeth Powell.

Frostbite is a freezing of the body tissues. “You have fluid in your tissue. Just as an ice cube can freeze, your nose can freeze, your fingers can freeze and your ears can freeze,” says Powell, who works at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Frostbite can be avoided by bundling up or going inside when it’s extremely cold. Powell says because most Americans understand how to avoid frostbite, she’s only seen a few cases in her career.

So don’t use the cold weather or fear of frostbite as an excuse to stay inside. Powell says kids should bundle up and go out to play. “It’s very important kids get out and play; the snow is fun,” she says.

"

Winter weather makes hats a necessity, but not a stylish one

2007-02-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

Winter weather makes hats a necessity, but not a stylish one | Chicago Tribune:

"The end of another winter is approaching, which in my view offers many reasons for joy but one for regret. It is a reminder that despite the opportunity presented every year, I have yet to solve the perennial problem of the hat.

Anyone in an intemperate clime who has good sense knows better than to step outside on a January day without some sort of covering for the noggin. When the temperature is struggling to reach double digits, the snow is falling horizontally and ice coats every visible surface, going bareheaded is about as sensible as going barefoot.

I found out the hard way shortly after moving to Chicago one winter many years ago. Like other Baby Boomers, I grew up in the years after President John F. Kennedy made hats deeply unfashionable by refusing to wear one. The only ones I owned were caps advertising fishing tackle or farm machinery, suitable only on a boat or a softball diamond. I thought I needed a real hat like I needed a pocket watch and a monocle.

One frigid February afternoon, though, I set out across the Michigan Avenue bridge on an errand. Halfway over, as the wind drilled icicles into my skull, I had an epiphany: JFK would have worn a hat if it was the difference between life and death. Having barely avoided a fatal bout of brain freeze, I resolved to buy a hat and wear it.

I did, and it warded off hypothermia until the arrival of spring. But I wasn't happy about it, for the simple reason that in our time, it is impossible to wear a hat without looking like a dork.

This is one of those problems that rouse my conservative instincts. In the old days, when we paid heed to centuries of accumulated wisdom, Americans understood the value of hats. But in the liberated atmosphere of the '60s, people jettisoned many traditional customs simply because they were traditional customs. Hats were seen as a suffocating imposition on our freedom to uncover our heads.

Today, we find ourselves with a far more oppressive constraint--the chilly grip of fashion, which gives scant weight to considerations such as comfort and health. In a world in which hardly anyone wears hats except for reasons of necessity, they radiate homely, unhip practicality. Even Brad Pitt, who recently did a photo shoot wearing various hats, couldn't make them work. So someone living in a wintry clime can look stupid and be warm, or look good and suffer.

If you're a grown man who wants to protect his skull from the elements, your choices are like the dining options at a maximum security prison: all so bad that you may prefer to do without.

There is the old reliable knit stocking cap. It looked good on you when you were 10 years old, and it still looks good--on 10-year-olds. If you wear it as an adult, people will assume you just got back from a lengthy ice-fishing trip in northern Minnesota. There is the baseball cap. Nothing can beat it for conveying maturity and professionalism except maybe flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt.

There is the fur hat once favored by members of the Soviet Politburo as they reviewed parades of missiles in Red Square. It once had a certain cachet, suggesting you were a formidable person with the means to invade Hungary if provoked. But when the Berlin Wall fell, this headgear became as obsolete as Lenin's corpse.

There is the beret. It's fine if you're French, or if you're taking a painting class at the Art Institute of Chicago. Otherwise, you might as well wear a sign around your neck with the words, "Beware of pretentious twit." Equally lame are cowboy hats, which are permissible only for someone riding a horse, watching a rodeo or going to a Halloween party.

There is the driving cap, which brings to mind a New York City cabbie, circa 1955--something even New York City cabbies don't want to emulate. A fedora looks great on Humphrey Bogart in the old movies, but these days, it's the fashion equivalent of your father's Oldsmobile or maybe Packard. If you're a rabbi, you can get away with it. Otherwise, not.

I've tried most of these options only to feel deep embarrassment in every one. So from now on, I'm wearing a ski mask. Sure, I'll look ridiculous, but no one will know it's me.
"

Looking stunning for the races Never Came so Easy!

2007-02-21T06:39:00.000-05:00

Cybernoon.com:

"Strap your most fashionable hat on and take everyone’s attention away from the horses this Sunday!

The Poonawala Multi-Million is probably the most glamorous race day of the season after the Derby. With fashion designer Delna Poonawala in the family, the Poonawalas are pulling out all the stops to turn the event into an Indian Ascot.
“Being the year of the butterfly in fashion, I have added this element to my collection of hats,” said Delna Poonawala. “I hope it encourages everyone to dress well.”
A fashion show where top models will walk the ramp and show off Delna’s hats will give a taste of what’s in and what’s out. Delna Poonawala, Narendra Kumar, Kadambari and other eminent personalities will judge the crowd for the Best Turned-Out Lady, Best Turned-Out Gentleman and the Best Hat. Yana Gupta will join the judges in giving out the prizes.
Meanwhile, WEX brings you Delna Poonawala’s tips on adding that sizzle to your Multi-Million outfit this Sunday.
Suits are a must for men, though they can’t go wrong even on women
For the more flirty and relaxed woman, dresses of any kind – wrap dresses, sun dresses –
Corsets teamed with pencil skirts and trousers are dressy yet retain that formal touch
A touch of bling is acceptable with a diamante brooch or a horseshoe belt
Metallic colours like gold and bronze are trendy

Hats are a must!
The right personality is required to be able to carry off a big hat, but there is always one to suit every face shape
Hair-bands and combs with feathers, butterflies and a dash of bling have also become popular and are almost always best on petite frames.
Colour themes for hats are monotones – white, beige, grey and black – the only colours thrown in are red and pink.
A hat need not match your outfit: a white and black dress can be off-set with a pink hat.
Hats can be elegant and classic; hats can be fun to the point of bizarre and dramatic in size and colour – to each her own!
The main objective of this event is to live it up on the race course Ascot-style and have fun! So don’t take fashion too seriously, ladies, and just whip up a storm on Sunday with your headgear and – oh yes! Don’t forget to add that butterfly to your outfit!
"

Hats off to Indianapolis

2007-02-19T09:47:00.000-05:00

Hats off to Indianapolis - gainesvilletimes.com:

"As retailers opened their doors in the Indianapolis area, 20,000 caps produced overnight in Gainesville were there to meet them.

For the past 10 years, Chattahoochee Marketing Group of Gainesville has been one of the vendors producing the 'locker room' cap identical to those worn by the Super Bowl champions.

Rick Boyd, president of the firm, said the caps, which are identical to those seen immediately after the game, were being made in Gainesville by 10 p.m., just eight minutes after the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI.

The official cap, which is sold by Reebok, carries an embroidered emblem that is heat-sealed to the front. Chattahoochee was one of four firms around the country producing the caps.

Boyd's company was shipped two emblems, one for Chicago and the other for Indianapolis. The Chicago emblems were returned to Reebok, Boyd said.

"We produced hats all Sunday night and early Monday morning," Boyd said. "Then, a courier picks them up and takes them to the airport, and they were in the Indiana market by the time the stores opened."

Boyd and a crew of 19 watched the game at his plant on Georgia Avenue in Gainesville.

Moments later, production started and continued until 4 a.m.

This is not new territory for Boyd, who has produced championship hats for other Super Bowls, as well as NBA championships, World Series and the Stanley Cup.

Just two weeks ago, his crews worked into the night producing caps for the NFL's conference championships.

"Last year, one of the store chains chartered a plane and waited at the Gwinnett airport until we were done," he said. "It's pretty competitive as to who can have the hats in their store and sell them out."

The workers were able to complete 3,000 caps per hour.

"The design was favorable to our production," he said. "We've had some in the past where it was slow."

Chattahoochee Marketing Group was founded in 1992 in Boyd's hometown of Charleston, S.C. A year later, he moved the company, which was then known as Stitch Tech, to Gainesville.

In 1997, Boyd took a group of college students to the NBA finals in Chicago to be the on-site producer for hats.

"We actually stayed in Chicago a week doing hats," he said. "When we finished in Chicago, we went over to Detroit and did the Stanley Cup. We were gone for about 10 days."

Among his production feats was the 1999 NFC championship hats for the Atlanta Falcons.

"Sometimes, I see people wearing those hats at a game and I think, 'We probably made that hat,'" he said.

Boyd, 49, said the late-night hours are not as fun as they used to be.

"The problem is I'm 10 years older than when I started this, and staying up all night is not as appealing," he said. "

Hats off to Stormy Kromer - American Profile

2007-02-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

Hats off to Stormy Kromer - American Profile:

"by Steve Lange

In 2001, Bob Jacquart was drinking his morning coffee at a restaurant in Ironwood, Mich. (pop. 6,293), when he heard that the Kromer Cap Co., after more than a century, had stopped producing its classic winter hat.

Upon hearing the news, some restaurant patrons decided to buy the last of the remaining hats at nearby stores. Jacquart, however, decided to buy the company.

“I knew I had to do something to keep that hat alive,” says Jacquart, 54, who owns a sewing company in his hometown of Ironwood. “The Stormy Kromer cap is part of our history.

“I called the company that day,” he says. “I bought what would become Stormy Kromer Mercantile two months later.”

The iconic, short-brimmed, ear-flapped hat long has been standard headwear in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where January temperatures average in the teens and annual snowfall nears 200 inches.

In 1903, Wisconsin locomotive engineer George “Stormy” Kromer, a former semi-pro baseball player, asked his wife, Ida, to modify one of his baseball hats for protection against the bitter winds on his wintertime railroad runs. Ida created an all-wool cap with a short brim and an insulated flap that could be pulled down over the ears. The cap was a hit with Kromer’s co-workers, and it gained popularity as railroad crews traveled across the Midwest. The Kromers made and sold the hats out of their home until 1919, when they opened a cap manufacturing plant in Milwaukee.

Richard Grossman bought the company in 1965, and reluctantly discontinued production of the winter cap in 2001 to concentrate on more profitable products. “We were so glad to have someone like Bob to keep the Stormy Kromer going,” Grossman says. “He understood how important it was.”

Today, a dozen of Jacquart’s employees create each Kromer from the original 13-piece pattern designed by George and Ida more than a century ago. The caps, which cost from $27 to $39, come in a dozen colors and sizes ranging from infant to a custom-made 16-and-1/4-inch hat for Wildcat Willy, the mascot for nearby Northern Michigan University.

Stormy Kromer Mercantile, which produced 6,000 hats in 2002, manufactured 75,000 hats—and added jobs—last year.

“It means a lot to me to make a difference in this community,” Jacquart says. “My great-grandfather was a wheelwright here. Both of my grandfathers were grocers here. My dad and my uncles ran businesses here.”

Though he knew the hat’s history, Jacquart didn’t realize how much the Kromer cap meant to people until he began hearing their sentimental stories.

“I was 7 when my dad bought me my first Kromer, and I remember it like it was yesterday,” says Ted Erspamer, now 75. “It’s the perfect hat. In the 1950s, we wore them as part of our uniform on the police department. We wore our badges right on the front of our Kromers.”

Ironwood teacher Dave Kangas wore his old red Kromer on every fishing trip for as long as anyone could remember. So when Kangas died in 1983, his friends and family traveled by boat to the middle of Lake Superior, placed a rock inside the hat and dropped it overboard near his favorite island.

“David loved wearing his Kromers,” says his widow, Nancy Kangas. “He wore his good black Kromer to school and church and special events, and he wore his red one in the outdoors. The tribute was very moving for me—tears still come when I tell people about it.”

Jacquart has his own fond Kromer story. “We only have two existing photographs of my late grandfather, Lopez,” Jacquart says, “and in both of them he’s wearing a Stormy Kromer. So I know he’d be glad we’re keeping this tradition alive.”

Visit www.stormykromer.com or call (888) 455-2253 for more information."

Hat designer to showcase work

2007-02-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

Community Press - Hat designer to showcase work:

"'Hats by Penny,' couture-hat designer Penny Rieck will be premiering her hats in Cincinnati at the Laurel House Shops in Madeira, during a two-day event, 'Hats Are Happening' on Tuesday, March 6 and Wednesday, March 7.

The Laurel House historically holds a two-day spring event that benefits Kindervelt.

The 'Hats Are Happening' event evolved into also helping the Taft Art Museum.

Rieck, who is from Washington, D.C., will be donating a one-of-a-kind hat to The Taft Art Museum.

The Taft will be displaying the hat to promote their third annual Mad Hatter Tea Party on Sunday, April 29.

The couture hat will be silent-auctioned at the Taft's "Day in the Garden" event.

Rieck makes all hats by hand. Each hat is exclusive, hand-blocked, hand-stitched and hand-adorned.

A collection of her couture hats will be available for purchase at the Laurel House during the two-day event. Commissioned hats are also available and will be ready in time for the Kentucky Derby.

A percentage of the sales from the event will be going to Kindervelt. Kindervelt is a volunteer auxiliary of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center."

Once The Rage, Hats Make Little Headway In Today's Fashions

2007-02-17T08:56:00.000-05:00

The Newtown Bee:

"At the peak of the hatting industry in the early-to-mid-1800s, Newtown was home to seven hat factories, four of which were located in what is now the Historic Hattertown District. These hatters turned out 30,400 hats in 1845 alone, according to town historian Dan Cruson in his book, A Mosaic of Newtown History. Other hat makers were scattered throughout the town as well, and a hatbox factory complimented the Newtown industry in the mid-1800s.

Newtown's neighboring city, Danbury, was nicknamed "Hat City" at this time, due to its numerous hat factories. A prolific producer of headwear, Danbury once produced 25 percent of the nation's hats.

Everyone wore hats. From bonnets to Stetsons, heads were covered from January to December. Elaborate Victorian hats for women flaunted ostrich feathers and velvet flowers. Broad-brimmed hats made-to-order were de rigueur for social events, and an outfit was not finished until the proper cap topped it off.

Pillbox hats, veil hats, or glittery caps fit snugly to the head matched the style of the day and a well-dressed woman would not set foot in public without one. No longer a utilitarian piece of the costume, men who marched off to office jobs in the 1940s and 50s donned felt fedoras as part of the new, city look. Hats were not just practical protection from the weather. They were a sought-after accessory, right through the 1940s.

Wearing a head covering in winter can reduce the amount of body heat lost by 50 percent, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control. In summer, hats protect the scalp from harmful sunrays and shield the eyes from too bright light that can irritate the eye. So where are the hats now? Even as winter's chill settles in, other than children at play or sports enthusiasts, heads are largely uncovered in 2007.

"I would love to sell more hats. We see a lot of cute hats and would like to order them, but it's not worth it," said Joan Zaccaro, co-owner, along with Karen Bauer, of Style on South Main Street in Newtown. "They don't move. With people concerned about the sun, I thought floppy, broad-brimmed hats would sell, but they don't," she said.

Ms Zaccaro suspects it is the casual lifestyle of this area that does not lend itself to elegant headwear.

"In urban areas, where people dress up more and in the South, then you see more hats and head scarves," she observed. Winter caps and ski bands sell at the small shop, she said, and a line of designer baseball caps was somewhat popular.

"Dressy hats are a tough call, though," said Ms Zaccaro. "I think you have to have a strong sense of fashion."

And a strong sense of fashion, indeed, is what Janet Falkenthal, owner of The Fashion Exchange just down the road from Style, has nurtured. Ms Falkenthal's love affair with hats began when she was just 16 years old.

"I was born and raised in England, and when we moved to Toronto when I was a teenager, my aunt there was into wearing hats. She would take me to the milliner and let me pick out a hat. I have always loved hats," she said.

Her customers barely recognize her without a hat, said Ms Falkenthal, and it is no wonder. Her personal collection of hats numbers more than 120, and most of them are quite unmistakable. Her hats are not made up of logo-touting baseball caps and artificial straw sunhats, but a fine collection of vintage and handmade hats that compliment her outfits. Many of the hats that are stored in the dozens of hatboxes at her home were gifts, but she does buy new hats, as well.

"It is difficult to find a decorative hat," said Ms Falkenthal. "There are few milliners left who still make hats. Suzanne Daché is one New York/Paris milliner who does custom work." Other favorite milliners include Californians Langston Bourguin and Lois Green. "They make beautiful hats. Most hats in a department store are machine made. The felt is hard and not the quality you find in a handmade hat or even in the older hats."

When Ms Falkenthal orders hats for herself, she also orders for her store, which she believes is one of very few in the area that carries dress hats.

"I actually sell an amazing number of hats. But the funny thing is, I never see anybody wearing them," she said. "Today's way of life and clothing don't accommodate wearing hats, so people don't wear them on a daily basis." What hats people do buy from her, are usually for special occasions, such as weddings, religious ceremonies, or gala events.

Hats adorn the shelves and peek out from every corner in The Fashion Exchange. They are tempting bits of fabric, bows and flowers that women try on, but the timid customer leaves the pretty hat behind when the purchase is complete, said Ms Falkenthal.

Knowing how to wear a hat properly might encourage more women to discard the notion that they are "not hat people," said Ms Falkenthal.

"Most women put a hat on the back of their head and you do end up looking rather Polly Annish like that. Tilt the hat a little, bring it a little forward. That can make a difference," suggested the hat aficionado. People perceive a woman in a hat differently, said Ms Falkenthal. "I get great service when I wear a hat. Men love women in hats. I love the way it ends an outfit. It's the last accessory you put on and it finishes the outfit."

Hats For Men

For modern day men, a hat functions primarily as a source of warmth, to keep a bald pate free of sunburn, or in the case of local bluegrass folk musician Roger Sprung, as a trademark. Mr Sprung has sported a John Dillinger-like homburg fedora since the mid-50s.

"My father liked a homburg," explained Mr Sprung, "and it's a good-looking hat. A lot of people who play my kind of music wear those hats."

Students who ride Joe Borst's bus number 34 to school have probably seen a few of his baseball caps, but the Newtown resident's hat collection is actually a bit more extensive.

"I have 20 baseball caps, one straw skimmer that I wear every year in the Labor Day Parade, and a small-brimmed wool cap from England. My head was feeling a little chilly when we were over there, so I picked up the wool cap," said Mr Borst, who also owns a broad-brim Panama hat for hot summer days and a camping hat made of denim with a longer brim on one side to protect him from the sun.

Several of his caps serve as testaments to who he is and where he has been. Logos from The Newtown High School Band, The Pasadena Rose Bowl, New York Mets, General Electric, the space telescope, The 8th Air Force WWII Veterans, The 8th Air Force Museum, the US Air Force Retired Veterans, and the World Ware II Memorial in Washington, D.C., are all proudly displayed on baseball caps that make up his collection.

His dressiest hat is a Luden bought in Europe years ago, said Mr Borst. "Instead of buying more caps, I just bought souvenir pins to put on it from all over Europe."

Hat Head

There are reasons that people avoid hats, and one of them is "hat head." This phenomenon, when perfectly coiffed hair ends up perfectly flat and full of static, is a problem for women, Ms Falkenthal admits. Her advice? "Keep the hat on. That's perfectly acceptable for women."

But for men, as through the years, there are rules of etiquette to follow when a hat is part of the wardrobe. Teri LaRocque teaches etiquette classes to young people through Newtown Parks and Recreation, and hat etiquette is something she has noticed has fallen by the roadside.

"I see young people wearing baseball caps in restaurants. Not fancy places, but places like [T.G.I.] Friday's and such. I know it is just a fashion, but I think overall our manners are a little lax," said Ms LaRocque.

As a teacher, Ms LaRocque requires her students, boys and girls, to remove any head gear when they are indoors. It is a rule she feels should extend to the population in general.

"Boys should remove their hats at a table, at prayer, indoors, at formal events, and in restaurants," advised Ms LaRocque. Hats should never remain on the head during the playing of the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance, either, said this manners expert. While hat etiquette rules are generally aimed at the male population, Ms LaRocque sees no reason that they should not apply to women, as well.

"The one exception might be when a hat is part of an outfit, like at a wedding or formal affair," said Ms LaRocque.

So if hats are on, it looks like it is "hats off" to pay respect.

Hats may never regain the position they once held in fashion, but for those who wish to make a statement, think beyond the ubiquitous baseball cap. Dress hats are still out there to top off a good look.

"

New Era takes lid off women's collection

2007-02-14T20:28:00.000-05:00

New Era takes lid off women's collection - Business First of Buffalo::

"The EK by New Era brand will feature Gatsby, Newsboy and Military styles that honor New Era's founder, Ehrhardt Koch, and the company's roots in fashion caps during its founding years.

'We created the New Era Women's line because we believe women deserve caps that are fit and styled just for them,' said Gina Valenti, lead designer for the New Era Women's Division. 'And in a society of mass production headwear, collections like our new Women's EK line give women the opportunity to be unique and express themselves. We all know that trends come and go, so creating updated versions of timeless pieces that we see on the runways each year is key to keeping our brand fresh.'

New Era produces more than 30 million caps per year and is the exclusive provider of on-field caps for Major League Baseball as well as other professional, amateur and collegiate sports teams and leagues."

World-Class Milliners Showcase Their Latest Collections at BurJuman

2007-02-14T20:16:00.000-05:00

albawaba.com middle east news information::World-Class Milliners Showcase Their Latest Collections at BurJuman:

"As the city gears up for another Dubai World Cup, BurJuman is hosting a 10-day millinery exhibition, the biggest of its kind in the region, prior to the world’s richest horserace.

A stunning collection of exquisite couture hats, headpieces and accessories will be on display at the mall, from 20-30 March 2007, giving race-goers the opportunity to find the perfect accessory to match their race day outfit.

Six milliners and a world-class accessories designer will be exhibiting at BurJuman during mall working hours, offering fashion headwear advice, displaying their latest collections for sale and also creating custom-made headpieces, fascinators and other headwear accessories for race-goers using a variety of materials.

Serena Lindeman, Marilena Romeo, Louise MacDonald, Sabine Pedder, Julie Mitcheson, and Karen Hamilton are all scheduled to showcase their fabulous headwear along with Louise Harrison, a famous accessories designer, and her exquisite scarves.

“These milliners are famous in the world of fashion for their chic, stylish and trendy designs and for their high quality work and we are delighted to be playing host to them prior to the Dubai World Cup. These women can create a unique and fashionable look to suit every taste, making sure that those who visit BurJuman’s Millinery Exhibition are guaranteed to step out in style on race day,” said Sabina Khandwani, head of PR and marketing, BurJuman.

Renowned Australian milliner Serena Lindeman, who specializes in making fine millinery suitable for race wear, weddings and other formal occasions, is a key participant in this year’s exhibition. Serena, the recipient of the Myer ‘Fashions on the Field 2006’ Millinery Award at the Melbourne Cup last year, uses the finest materials available to design a wide range of head wear that suit a variety of tastes, making her a firm favourite with a number of celebrity race-goers.

A milliner for 17 years, Louise McDonald began her career in England, making hats for film and television productions. Working in one of London’s best costume houses she has produced headwear for world-famous actors including Minnie Driver, Tom Cruise, Jerry Hall, William Hurt, Helena Bonham Carter and Vanessa Redgrave to name a few.

Karen Hamilton specializes in headwear for ladies for both the Melbourne Racing Carnival and the Dubai World Cup. From her workshop in Jumeirah, she has also recently teamed up with a locally-based UK fashion designer and produces bridal headpieces for numerous society weddings in Dubai.

British designer Louise Harrison, who’s stockists include Harrods, Liberty, Fenwick of Bond Street and various other exclusive retailers throughout the United Kingdom, will also be displaying her ‘Couture Collection’ of luxury hand-made scarves at the mall during this time.

Using silk, chiffon and velour in a wide range of colours, textures and fabrics, Harrison employs a unique blend of techniques such as embroidery, beading and appliqué to create unique one-of-a-kind pieces for stylish women of all ages to wear on special occasions such as the Dubai World Cup.

Fondly described as the “Mad Hatter” of Australia, Marilena Romeo has experienced an unprecedented level of success since her inauguration into the hat world, bagging a top prize at the Milliner Design Awards in 1992 after only one year of production. Leaving a successful career in Public Relations behind, Romeo has since pursued her true vocation and now utilises the traditional skills of hat design to create a glamorous and theatrically-inspired range. Her specialties include racewear, evening and bridal ware.

“The Dubai World Cup is undoubtedly the most glamorous event on the city’s sports and social calendar and BurJuman is committed to adding further sparkle to this occasion by providing shoppers with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to enhance their World Cup outfit in the run up to race day,” added Khandwani.

BurJuman is also sponsoring Fillies and Fashion on March 8 2007. One of the main fashion events of the Dubai World Cup, the mall will use this occasion as a platform to showcase the latest collections from world-renowned designers to a captivated and fashionable audience.

On March 31, the 2007 BurJuman Style Stakes will give race-goers a chance to compete and win fabulous prizes, in a number of categories including Best Dressed Lady, Runner Up and Best Dressed Couple and the Milliner's Award for the Best Hat.

The exhibition, taking place from 20th March – 30th March 2007, will be located at the mall observatory in BurJuman and is open daily from 10 am to 10 pm.

Topping It All Off

2007-02-12T22:07:00.000-05:00

WWD.com Article:

"The New York shows always come through with great American sportswear, and this season was no exception. But in a bit of a surprise, there was a major revival of millinery.

Marc Jacobs, 3.1 Phillip Lim and Temperley all showed formal toppings, from wide-brimmed styles to top hats and fedoras. Proenza Schouler A Erin Fetherston did versions with crystals and cloches with other monochromatic embellishments. DKNY and Ralph Lauren brought back the beret in an urban way, and Rodarte and Michael Kors had the frigid winter temperatures in mind in showing their big knit and mink toppers, respectively.

Hats have long been a hard sell in the U.S., but Ed Burstell, Bergdorf Goodman's senior vice president and general merchandise manager of beauty, jewelry and accessories, said, 'I think that after several seasons, we are due for a hat revival. A big part of the new refinement in fashion is finishing an outfit, i.e., a hat or glove. Hats and caps will also be easier to wear this coming season, as the hair styles everywhere have all been pulled up and back, away from the face.'"

Muslim women 'don't have to wear veils'

2007-02-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

Gulf Daily News:

"ROME: Islam does not require women to wear veils, Queen Rania of Jordan said yesterday. In an interview, she also called on moderates to 'make their voices be heard'.

'Islam neither requires one to be practising, nor to dress in one way or another,' the stylish 36-year-old queen told the Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper during a visit to Rome.

'So imposing the veil on a woman is contrary to the principles of Islam,' said Queen Rania, who is in Rome for the launch of a Group of Seven programme to develop vaccines against diseases endemic in poor countries.

'Unfortunately, after all the suspicion weighing on Islam, many people have begun to consider the veil as a political problem, but this is not the case. Wearing the veil is a free personal choice.'

Many in the Arab world give in to the anger because they are accused of violence. 'But instead we should get up, explain who we are and what we believe in,' she said.

'What is important is not to live in fear. The most dangerous (thing to do) is to give up and lose hope. The main enemy is not terrorism or extremism, but ignorance.'
"

Fur flies at fashion week

2007-02-11T08:52:00.000-05:00

Fur flies at fashion week | Metro.co.uk:

"Real fur was one of the hottest trends at New York fashion week, leaving animal rights activists PETA furious.

The Michael Kors show sparked the trend for Russian-style fur hats, a look that was immediately picked up in New York's sub-zero temperatures by celebrities including Melania Trump.

Fashion insiders such as the Telegraph's Hilary Alexander, also praised the look, saying: 'I have very fine hair, so when I wear one, I feel like I've got really big hair.'

But, big hair comes at a cost says PETA.

'[The hats] are so obnoxious-looking, they only appeal to the most desperate attention-starved fashion victims,' said PETA representative Michael McGraw. 'For most people, they remain about as popular as a cold sore.'

He also extended his criticism to the many designers, including Badgley Mischka, Carlos Miele, Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass, who all used real fur in their collections and the swarms of fashionistas, including Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, who braved the cold in an array of animal skins

'It's an ugly look and an ugly statement that every person who wears them is making, that they have zero regard for the millions of animals.'
"

Where Some See Fashion, Others See Politics

2007-02-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

Where Some See Fashion, Others See Politics - New York Times:

"THREE months ago, Jay Hukahori, a 24-year-old fashion design student at Parsons, went to a party at Guesthouse, a club in Chelsea, in an outfit topped off by a kaffiyeh, a scarf with a black and white chain-link pattern and knotted tassels that is typically worn in Arab countries.

“I knew that with the doormen, it’d be easily identifiable as a hip accessory,” Ms. Hukahori said.

Once the trademark headwear of Yasir Arafat, and long associated with his Palestinian countrymen, the kaffiyeh has lately shown up on the shelves of adventurous boutiques in the United States and even mainstream retailers like Urban Outfitters.

Its newest wearers, who wrap it around the neck like a scarf, say they are less Fatah sympathizers than fashion party crashers. The kaffiyeh appears to be the dubious successor to last year’s Che Guevara T-shirts, a symbol denuded of any potent political associations by pop culture.

But not everyone finds it so simple a fashion statement. A blogger named Mobius, posting Jan. 16 on Jewschool, a Jewish blog that targets a young audience, blasted Urban Outfitters for selling kaffiyehs. Taking issue with the retailer’s decision to label the item an “anti-war woven scarf,” Mobius posted pictures of terrorists adorned in kaffiyehs.

The same day Urban Outfitters, which had offered the scarves in several color combinations for $20, pulled them from stores. Its Web site posted this explanation: “Due to the sensitive nature of this item, we will no longer offer it for sale. We apologize if we offended anyone, this was by no means our intention.” A spokeswoman for the store, which has 95 branches nationwide, declined to comment further.

Hanyi Lee, a graphic designer in New York, who had bought a kaffiyeh at Urban Outfitters and now owns three, didn’t intend anything provocative when she wore hers. “I didn’t think it was anything that heavy,” Ms. Lee said, noting that she takes fashion cues from a variety of cultures.

Ms. Hukahori thought it strange that Urban Outfitters would call the kaffiyeh (pronounced kuh-FEE-yeh) an antiwar scarf.

“That’s so cheap of Urban, a PR gambit,” she said. “But I think it’s great that this controversy will get kids to start learning about it.”

Clearly, many wearers have not considered the kaffiyeh’s political import. “I’m not too up to speed in what’s going on in the Middle East,” said Liz Chernett, a strategic consultant in branding and a youth trends expert who bought a kaffiyeh from a vendor on St. Mark’s Place three months ago. “It’s an aesthetic thing.”

Perhaps what is most telling about the mainstreaming of the kaffiyeh is what it says about the country’s political mood. The scarf’s popularity seems to have less to do with solidarity with Arabs than it has to do with the war in Iraq. Marketing it as an antiwar statement, as Urban Outfitters attempted, would probably have been even more controversial a few years ago, when the country was more divided about Iraq, said Ted Swedenburg, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, who blogs about pop culture, music and the Middle East.

In Britain, where voters are even more united against the war than Americans, the kaffiyeh’s fashionability has been taken a step farther. TopShop, the high-street juggernaut, is selling kaffiyehs stamped with skull prints, conflating two hot looks of the recent past.

Dr. Swedenburg said he thinks that the exotic element of the scarf becomes more important, and the political aspect less so, as it becomes mainstream. “It’s chic because it’s different,” he said. “It’s Eastern.”

According to Professor Swedenburg and others who have studied the history of the kaffiyeh, it was originally the headwear of Palestinian peasants, worn around the head and fastened in place by a band called an agal. In the insurrection against the British occupation from 1936 to 1939, the kaffiyeh became a symbol of Palestinian nationalism as well as an expression of class struggle. The insurgents forced upper-class Palestinians, who typically wore the Ottoman fez, to don the kaffiyeh to show sympathy with the fighters. The kaffiyeh rose in prominence again in the 1960s when the Palestinian resistance movement started and Arafat famously adopted it. “Above all, it’s important to remember a kaffiyeh is something to wear like a hat, to keep out the cold, keep out the sun,” said Rochelle Davis, an assistant professor of culture and society at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.

But if an older generation of Arabs still wears it as utilitarian headwear, the younger generation in the Middle East may wear it expressly to show support of the Palestinian cause, and it is also used by militants to disguise their faces. The black and white kaffiyeh is often associated with Fatah; the red and white with Hamas.

Many in the Jewish community, in particular, object to people wearing the scarf as a fashion statement. “Because there are people who wear the kaffiyeh as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians, some people view it as an endorsement of terrorism,” said Mik Moore, chairman of the board of directors for the Jewish Student Press Service, an independent nonprofit organization.

Dr. Swedenburg doesn’t think it should be viewed this way. “I think to associate it directly with terrorism is to tar all Palestinians with the brush of terrorism,” he said. “That’s a mischaracterization.”

Dr. Davis shares this opinion. “I think it diminishes its meaning and its value to just say ‘it’s been used by terrorists,’ ” he said. “I think it has a much richer history and a much richer meaning system than that.”

For those with a long memory, the current kaffiyeh craze may seem familiar. The scarves became a fashion statement in the United States at the start of the first intifada in 1987. In 1988, CBS News and Time magazine chronicled the trend. In a 1992 Michigan Quarterly Review article about the kaffiyeh’s modern history, Dr. Swedenburg wrote about how a “sign of Palestinian struggle suddenly appeared in the ensembles of ‘downtown’ U.S.A., together with black turtlenecks, ripped Levi’s, high-top sneakers and eight-zippered black leather jackets.”

In its 2007 revival, the kaffiyeh has similar sidekicks. “It’s hipster 101: I need my skinny jeans, some sort of scarf and a beat up T-shirt,” Ms. Hukahori said. “O.K., I’m a hipster now.”

Whether the scarf is seen as a political statement is usually in the eye of the beholder. “I think the meaning is given to it as much by the viewer as the wearer,” Dr. Davis said. “I see it and immediately think, ‘Is that person wearing it for a reason or just as a fashion accessory?’ ”

Ms. Chernett has not encountered any reactions to her kaffiyeh in New York but she has in cities like Philadelphia.

“I’ve gotten a lot of comments about it, like, ‘Doesn’t that support terrorists?’ ” she said. “ ‘Aren’t you Jewish?’ ” (Ms. Chernett said she is half-Jewish.)

Ms. Hukahori doesn’t have to answer any such questions; she hasn’t worn her kaffiyeh in public in months. It would never make her stand out with a club doorman today, she feels. The kaffiyeh, she said, is “dead.”

Top it off

2007-02-11T08:31:00.000-05:00

TorontoSun.com - Lifestyle - Top it off:

"It's not too late to top up your winter hat collection.

'This is a great time to invest in warm and classic, felt and velvet hats, as they're on sale now,' says Helene Hemel, general merchandise manager and buyer for La Cache.

'And with spring just around the corner, it's also a good time to look ahead to what's on the way for warmer weather,' says Hemel.

WINTER STYLE

Winter hats with lots of texture make strong style statements. Small to medium brimmed styles made of mock Persian lamb, boucle, and tweed can help to give winter coats and jackets a new look.

Winter hat colours include wine, navy, red, purple, olive green, brown and mustard, along with black.

Popular accents include metal bits and buckles, as well as flat and gathered velvet trim. Cloches and berets are current, along with variations on newsboy and golf caps.

"We call our variation on the golf cap the driver cap. One of my designs, the Mao Now cap, is a crossover between a cloche and a military-inspired cap," says Liz Cohoe, designer for the Nelson, B.C.-based company Lillie & Cohoe.

"Today's hats are a wearable art form. I design my hats to invite interaction with the wearer. Put a hat on. Shift it around on your head and observe what features you notice most. When you find your hat, it becomes a form of self-expression," says Cohoe.

If you're looking for a hat to help you through the upcoming shift of season, some materials work better than others.

"Tweed and fleece are good transitional fabrics that offer protection from spring showers," says Hemel.

Cotton and crochet knit cloches, caps and berets, are among the many styles that will materialize in the new spring collections.

Other spring hat styles include woven cotton, denim and linen variations on newsboy caps, boaters and Sou'westerns.

A SOFT SPRING

Spring and summer hats typically feature lots of bright colour, but this year there's a trend toward neutral tones. Black, charcoal grey and white are among neutrals that spring forward.

Fashion shades for the upcoming season include powder blue, pale pink, dusty rose, green, aqua, butter yellow, coral and red.

Solid colours are most prevalent, but whimsical polka dot, jungle inspired, and floral prints also dot the landscape.

Leather and grosgrain ribbon bands, top stitching, buckles and bits, flowers and bows are popular spring trimmings. "

Best lid wins topless Sebring

2007-02-10T13:18:00.000-05:00

Best lid wins topless Sebring - Autoblog:

"Do you design hats? You do? Then what the hell are you doing reading Autoblog? However you got here, it's your lucky day. Because perhaps for the first time in Autoblog history, we have a post on headwear design. All you dedicated readers stop your groaning, it's not totally off-topic. Chrysler's giving away not only a trip to the 133rd Kentucky Derby, but a new Sebring convertible as well. (See, we brought it back on topic.)

You have a month to design a Kentucky Derby-worthy hat inspired by (and utilizing parts of) Chrysler's 2008 Sebring soft top. Get your best sketch along with a 100-word essay to Chrysler by March 5 to qualify. Complete rules and other important notices, disclaimers and promotional verbiage are all in the official press release after the jump.

[Source: Chrysler]

And They're Off...Chrysler Brand Announces the "Sebring Hats Off to the Derby" National Design Competition

Chance to Win an all-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible and weekend trip including tickets to the 133rd Kentucky Derby

* Hats to be inspired by the elegant design and exhilarating performance of the all-new Chrysler Sebring Convertible
* Enter contest at www.ChryslerSebringHatsOfftotheDerby.com by March 5
* Public helps decide favorite designs

Auburn Hills, Mich. –

In honor of a long-standing tradition of the Kentucky Derby, a sophisticated horse racing event often known for its fan's fashionable hats, the Chrysler brand announces today a nationwide hat design competition inspired by the brand's all-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible launching in spring 2007.

"Chrysler Sebring Hats Off to the Derby" brings together the elegant design and exhilarating performance of the all-new Chrysler Sebring Convertible with the high fashion and style associated with the Kentucky Derby in a fun contest where the top three finalists win tickets to the derby to wear their winning designs. One grand prize winner will be named in Louisville, Ky., Kentucky Derby weekend and will receive an all-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible.

Aspiring fashion designers, horse racing enthusiasts, car aficionados and all those interested are invited to enter the contest by going to www.chryslersebringhatsofftothederby.com. Entrants must submit a sketch by March 5 of an original hat design that captures the essence of the Chrysler Sebring Convertible and the sophistication of the Kentucky Derby. The design must utilize some material from the Sebring Convertible's soft top and be accompanied by a 100-word essay on how the styling and features of the all-new Chrysler Sebring Convertible inspired the hat design.

"The Chrysler brand reinforces its leadership position as America's favorite convertible company with the all-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, now with a retractable hard top and the only one to offer three convertible top options," said David Rooney, Director – Chrysler Marketing and Global Communications. "The convertible's elegant design is a showcase for those who are expressive, athletic and passionate – traits shared by derby fans – and make it the perfect vehicle to show off great hat designs that are synonymous with the Kentucky Derby, one of America's premiere events."
Entries will also be accepted by mail at:

Chrysler Sebring Hats Off to the Derby Contest
Department 4764
P.O. Box 6650
Stacy, MN 55078-6650

Mailed entries must be post marked no later than March 5, 2007 and received no later than March 9, 2007. Additional details are provided on the contest Web site.
Public Helps Pick Finalists

The public will vote on the top 15 hat design submissions to determine their favorite sketches. The 15 quarter-finalist designs will be posted on the contest Web site, www.chryslersebringhatsofftothederby.com, from March 20 - 26 for public voting.

The top five vote getters will be provided seed money and convertible top fabric to produce their hat. After viewing the completed hats, judges will select the top three finalists, who will receive a trip for two to the Kentucky Derby and a chance to win an all-new 2008 Chrysler Sebring Convertible. The grand prize winner will be decided by a panel of judges and announced in Louisville, Ky., Kentucky Derby weekend.
"

The new hoser hat

2007-02-10T13:10:00.000-05:00

globeandmail.com: The new hoser hat:

"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."
"

A heady business venture

2007-02-10T13:04:00.000-05:00

State-Journal.com:

"The mens restroom was out of order at the Shell Gas Station on Versailles Road.
It was 2005 and Eric Lynes was frustrated with his situation and unsure of the future. As if that werent enough, hed stopped for gas and needed to visit the restroom.
Station workers directed Lynes to the womens restroom in lieu of the out-of-service mens. Inside the restroom Lynes spotted a poster with the message, 'Never give up.'
Call it a sign. Lynes does. In fact, he can pinpoint various signs throughout his life.
His road started with a love of hats. Theres a picture of Lynes and his brother, Percy, posing in suits each wearing a hat when they were teens at his grandmothers home.
'Ive always had a passion for hats,' Lynes said.
Lynes, who grew up in Louisville, said he didnt know his attraction to hats would lead to ownership of historic Biltmore Hats in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
After a rough childhood, and ill-advised decisions as a teenager, Lynes came to Frankfort in 1983 and studied accounting at Kentucky State University before accepting a job in the state auditors office and later Toyota.
In 2002, at a friends urging, Lynes opened Stingy Brim Hat Company in Frankfort.
On a trip to a large hat manufacturer in Massachusetts, Lynes found himself searching for a small-brimmed hat like one he saw Malcolm X wearing in a photo.
The Massachusetts shop owner said he could recreate the hat, but it would be lower quality.
'He said, 'if you want that quality, youll have to go to Canada,' Lynes recalled.
Lynes went to Canada.
Thats when he landed at Biltmore Hats, the nations most prominent hat maker. Since 1917 Biltmore has provided headwear for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Augusta Golf Tournament, among others.
Lynes knew his Kentucky-based hat company could profit from a partnership with Biltmore Hats.
"What we needed to do is form an alliance with this company," he said.
The then-president of Biltmore agreed to a partnership. However, shortly after making the deal, the U.S. vendor went bankrupt.
Lynes didnt let that stop him.
"I had decided Im making hats no matter what," he said.
By September 2004 Biltmore in Canada was up for sale, so Lynes bid it, losing to a Toronto businessman.
The Toronto man was given five months to close the deal. When he couldnt complete the transaction within the allotted time, Lynes was offered the business. So he closed his Frankfort shop and bought Biltmore Hats in February 2005.
"It was an incredible experience, just praying and agonizing, "Lynes said. "I used everything I had to buy the company."
For the past two years hes been the sole owner of Biltmore Hats. Seventy-five percent of the companys business is in the U.S. All hats are made to order. The company serves men and women, although Lynes said 90 percent of his customers are black men.
"Everything we do is custom," he said. "No other hat company is making hats like this."
He said the company still has financial struggles, but he sees great potential because serious hat enthusiasts know the Biltmore brand and quality.
"Even though were struggling the brand is still strong," Lynes said. "These hats are so well-known."
The company is small, with 25 employees, but the minimal staff allows Lynes to be involved in all operations of the business including modeling for the catalog.
Lynes splits his time among Canada, Frankfort, and his travels to apparel shows such as MAGIC International in Las Vegas. At shows like MAGIC, Lynes finds himself in the presence of top fashion lines such as Sean John, owned by the entertainment mogul "Diddy," and fashion icons such as Ralph Lauren.
The popularity of Biltmore Hats is catching on in Hollywood too. One of the hats was featured in the 2006 movie, "The Good Shepherd. " Singer Alicia Keys and professional basketball player Allen Iverson sport Biltmores.
Lynes is hoping to get his hats on the heads of another pro basketball player, Shaquille ONeal, and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
At 50, Lynes said hes learned to follow the signs along his path in life. He credits positive influences such as Dr. Doug Howell, a Frankfort chiropractor, his family, including wife, Tezeta, and three children, as well as God, for leading him down the right road.
He said hes in an awesome position now and encourages others to not let distractions get in the way of pursuing dreams.
"There is something for everybody, everybody was put here for a purpose," he said.
Lynes purpose is to share Biltmore Hats with the world.
"There really is a hat for every head," he said.
"

Briefs: Hats to make comeback next fall

2007-02-10T12:51:00.000-05:00

Briefs: Hats to make comeback next fall - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

"Hat lovers, rejoice. Next fall and winter, headgear will make its big comeback. If it doesn't, I'll eat my new knit cap with earflaps.

Designers have topped off their fall/winter collections with a range of hat styles to suit anyone's head. Marc Jacobs' show became a virtual hat-a-palooza with everything from fetching fedoras to cozy cloches. DKNY updated the classic beret for 2007's That Girl. Betsey Johnson's pom-pom hats were playful and sexy. Michael Kors added to the warmth of his cool collection with fur and knit headwear.

So far, though, I tip my hat the most to designer Alice Temperley. Jeweled headpieces by Dickon O'Hagan were crowning moments at the Temperley London show."

Panama hat makers face new challenge to the iconic headwear

2007-02-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

The Scotsman - International - Panama hat makers face new challenge to the iconic headwear:

"ECUADOREANS have long swallowed their pride and accepted that their most famous export will for evermore be known as the "Panama hat".

The hats used to be shipped east from Panama and were worn by labourers hewing out the canal across the isthmus there, opened in 1914. Since then, they have been misleadingly known as Panama hats.

But there are now more serious concerns than the misnomer. Cheap Chinese copies are devouring the market and only a few nimble-fingered villagers still know the art of weaving the iconic white hat with a black silk band.

"Obviously we would like to change the name to 'Ecuador hat' or 'Cuenca hat,' but the brand name has been established over such a long time," said Graciela Paredes, deputy-manager of a milliner in the stately Andean city of Cuenca.

'The problem is the next generation. It is just not attractive for them,' she added. Low wages in gruelling rural jobs have played a key role in the mass emigration of Ecuadoreans to Spain and the United States.

Over the years her firm Rafael Paredes and Sons, its boxes stamped with a trademark toad, has supplied venerable hat-maker Christy's of London and Marks & Spencer.

Cuenca, perched at about 8,200ft in the Andes is the capital of the Panama hat industry.

Palms hacked down by machete in the Manabi region of Ecuador's Pacific coast are treated and taken to Azuay province around Cuenca to be woven into dapper headwear.

Middlemen buy from the weavers and sell on to factories, a business that sparks charges of exploitation and profiteering.

'People say that we buy hats for $5 and sell them on for $100, it just does not work like that,' said Gladys Ortega, company lawyer for Homero Ortega and Sons, supplier to customers such as Sir Ian McKellen and Jeff Goldblum.

Average Panama hats cost $25 to $50 but fetch more than three times that price in western markets.

'But now there are these Chinese Panama hats costing $8. That is a vicious level of competition,' she complained.

Hatmakers in Cuenca agreed the industry was in sharp decline.

'We have to keep up the fight,' said Ortega, discussing with her sister Alicia the switch to Internet sales and the idea of putting patent protection on the name.

'But my father said one day all this would disappear,' she continued, referring to Homero Ortega's work in the Pacific coast towns of Montecristi and Jipijapa, where the finest type of Panama hat, the superfino, is made.

The superfino can fetch thousands of dollars: one of the specimens in the Ortega workshops was so finely woven its fabric looked as smooth as a cotton sheet. The story goes you can fill a superfino with water and not a drop will pass through. Rolled up, it should pass through a wedding ring.

'But they say there are only six or seven people who still know how to make the real superfinos,' she said.

Up in the mountains north of Cuenca, an 81-year-old called Rosa was working on a simple hat, moistening it with a maize cob as she worked on it.

'There was a woman round here who could make the superfinos, but she is dead now,' she said. 'The young people do not want to go into this kind of work. The girls have more opportunity for schooling and university.'"

A tip of the hat to Wagga Wagga, millinery mecca

2007-02-10T12:30:00.000-05:00

A tip of the hat to Wagga Wagga, millinery mecca | Features | The Australian:

"WHILE the likes of Marc Jacobs and Carolina Herrera were captivating the fashion press in New York this week, the inaugural Australian International Millinery Forum was turning heads in rural NSW.

More than 140 people gathered in Wagga Wagga for five days of workshops such as Wicked Wire, Creating with Crinoline and Ruche, Gather 'n Roll. 'This is our way of putting our city on the map,' says organiser Linda Tillman. 'I think we have a chance of becoming the capital of hat-making.'

No representatives from Vogue or Harper's Bazaar were on hand to see the 12 tutors from Australia, Germany, Austria and the US test the millinery mettle of participants, but Tillman is adamant that hats engage a wide community in the creative aspects of fashion.

"The forum grew out of the courses in millinery we have been running at Charles Sturt University," Tillman says. "Through these courses we have developed quite a strong millinery community in town and they were eager to take their skills to the next level."

Tillman went straight to Australia's top hatters, engaging Melbourne Cup favourite Peter Jago, Neil Grigg, theatrical designer Jean Carroll and Richard Nylon to take part in the forum. Germany's Constance Willems, Austrian Christine Rohr-Bernard, and Americans Eia Radosavljevic and Jan Wutkowski were enlisted to introduce international techniques.

"It's a pretty courageous thing they're doing here," says Wutkowski, a former research librarian. "In the US the profile of milliners is much lower. In the south people wear hats for shade and in the north they wear them for warmth, so our designs tend to be more functional.

"People here like a touch of glamour that will stand out at a wedding or function. There is certainly a 'look at me' factor to the Australian hats, which suits the personality of the people. I mean everyone here is having fun with something on their head."

Armed with hat blocks, metres of felt, sinamay and bags of fabric flowers the forum's participants kept a closer eye on their teachers and classmates than the new trends trotted out on the New York catwalk.

"Fashion obviously does impact on what we create," says Wutkowski. "Trends filter through but hat-makers are their own designers. They find inspiration in what's around, how they're feeling and the materials they use."

Tillman says that most participants in the workshops were hobbyists eager to make an impression at the Murrumbidgee Turf Club's Fashions on the Field in May, or simply to satisfy a creative itch. "Hats are an easy way to embrace fashion," she says. "You don't have to be young, thin and rich to look good in a hat." It helps, however, if you're a woman. Only six men braved the forum.

Joining the locals were enthusiasts from around the country as well as 20 international visitors who responded to advertisements in the millinery bible, The Hat magazine.

"I left home on Saturday and arrived here on Monday," says Bimbo Sofeso, who has been making hats in Nigeria for 20 years. "It's a long way to come but the workshops here are particularly interesting and in this business it's important to keep learning. I would never have thought of making a hat from crinoline before."

Sofeso's clientele at her business, Bimby Lads, in Lagos, would reach for their rosary beads at the thought of wearing hats to a racing carnival, preferring to parade their purchases at church. "For us Sunday is a big affair," Sofeso says. "Going to church is a special occasion and that's when we wear our hats."

As well as impressing fellow parishioners, hats in Nigeria often signify social allegiances. "You might belong to a ladies society who all wear fuschia hats. It's a part of your uniform."

Sofeso was surprised at the Australian approach to millinery. "It really is amazing to come to the end of the earth and discover such creativity. People are fearless with what they make. At home we always thought England was the home of creativity but what's happening in Wagga Wagga is certainly impressive."

Plans for the forum to become an annual event are being considered and Tillman is waiting for feedback from locals who attended Grigg's Fascinator or Fantasiser class and Wutkowski's demonstration of the holiday packable hat.

"Starting a festival is a lot like hat-making itself," Tillman says. "You begin with baby steps by taking some feathers or ribbon and making a fascinator. But before too long you've caught the bug and you're wearing a wide-brimmed masterpiece."

"

Hat attack: Fashion makes a cloche call

2007-02-10T12:12:00.000-05:00

Greater Paramus News and Lifestyle Magazine - Hat attack: Fashion makes a cloche call:

"Got a big party to go to tonight? Why not whip up a Parisian-style cloche, circa 1920s Coco Chanel? In less than an hour, according to millinery designer Eugenia Kim, you can look like some of the world's most glamorous celebrities, including her customers Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna or Beyonce.

'The women who wear my designs are confident and have a certain sense of humor,' Kim says. 'They are not afraid to be the center of attention.'

And now Kim has translated her millinery know-how to a new book, 'Saturday Night Hat' (Potter, $20). This guidebook contains 15 hat how-tos and covers the basics of hat-making, and the patterns are easy enough that you can start the project Saturday morning and wear it out Saturday night.

Kim's love of hat-making began when she shaved her head after a bad haircut and wore a cloche she had made of red feathers at Parsons School of Design to go shopping in downtown Manhattan. The rest is history.

"Several store owners immediately took notice of my unique chapeau," she recalls. "By the end of the day, I had appointments with three boutiques to show my collection."

The cloche is still one of Kim's favorite "Saturday Night" designs - a hat put on the fashion map in the 1920s by Paris designer Coco Chanel, who accessorized her menswear-inspired clothes with the close-fitting "bell" hat. The jazzy fitted hat is once again making a statement in fashion head wear.

After college and the corporate world, Kim's cloche hats signaled her fun-loving side; she identified with those party-girl flappers. "The 1920s were the original girl-power decade," she says, "and my absolute favorite era. After women won the right to vote in 1920, it was so time to party."

Cloche-wearing women of the Jazz Age - such as Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker and Anais Nin - inspired the New York milliner, who has made the bell shape popular once again.

"My mother bought me a Singer sewing machine that stayed unused for years," Kim admits, "until the day David LaChapelle, the world-famous fashion photographer and my personal favorite shutterbug, commissioned my cloches in primary-colored, rainproof vinyls for a photo shoot only two days away."

Kim's book includes not only the pattern for this reversible six-panel tailored cloche, but patterns for many more fun hats, including berets, beanies, pillboxes, fedoras and newsboy caps. She also includes useful resources and tips from how to care for your hats to a glossary of sewing and hat terminology.

If you're never sure exactly where to wear your hat and where to take it off, here are a few of Kim's rules:

WHEN TO TAKE IT OFF

Hat etiquette for ladies has been a bit more lax, since some hats were pinned securely to one's new "do" or tied with ribbons and would have been awkward to remove in public. There was a time when every man wore a hat and had to tip it when he saw a lovely lady. After John F. Kennedy stopped wearing hats to major events as president, men followed his lead. Nowadays, you're lucky to find a man with enough taste to wear a nice hat.

KIM'S RULE NO. 1

Take off your hat when you're eating. It's totally gross to see cock feathers swimming in your soup because you were too lazy to take if off pre-chow.

KIM'S RULE NO. 2

When attending a movie, a concert, or a Broadway show, take off your hat as a courtesy to the people who don't have front-row tickets. The only exception to this rule is if you happen to have a bald head.

KIM'S RULE NO. 3

When attending a funeral, or when your pet dies, or even if you lose your iPod, show some respect and take off your hat. The perfect accessory - a moment of silence.

KIM'S RULE NO. 4

If you're on a Roman holiday and have a hankering to see the pope, visit the Vatican and leave your chapeau unchaperoned (that is, show some respect and take off your hat).

KIM'S RULE NO. 5

When you're on your way to court - and let's hope it's for jury duty or just a parking ticket - be sure to remove your hat as a sign of deference."

Fashionistas, take your marks

2007-02-10T12:05:00.000-05:00

Fashionistas, take your marks:

"The fashionable are an honest lot. While some people try to pretend that looks don't matter, the fashionable fully embrace their superficiality.

And there's nothing quite as deliciously shallow as fashion week in New York.

This is when thousands of people -- from big-name apparel presidents to no-name friends-of-friends-of-a-stylist's cousin -- gather in the name of clothes. And fight over seats. (For a business based on beauty, things can turn ugly quickly.)

American designers unveil their fall 2007-08 collections Feb. 2-9 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Almost 90 formal runway shows are scheduled in a giant tent pitched in a midtown Manhattan park. The tent has two venues that seat 420 and 970 but actually pack in far more with standing room. In addition, scores of smaller shows and events take place throughout the, city hosted by companies hoping to cash in on the cachet of fashion week.

This season, Portland designer Dayna Pinkham (www.pinkhammillinery.com) brings her Pinkham Millinery to New York for an informal trunk show. It can be a challenge for a small company to get people to leave the tents' back-to-back runway shows to take in yet more fashion.

"This is my second year of it," Pinkham said. "I've been going about trying to figure the right way to do it. Last year one of my clients sponsored me, and we had a show in one of her apartments," across from the Museum of Modern Art. The event drew a respectable 30 people. "Now we wanted to try more of a commercial location."

Pinkham will display her hats on the third floor of a trendy restaurant Thursday afternoon. She already has a few appointments booked with buyers and media, and is hopeful they will lead to sales and publicity in the months to come.

Fashion week is, after all, a trade show. That fact often gets lost in the flash of the celebrity, the jumbling of groupies and the general fabulousness of the weeklong event. Image is, if not everything, pretty darn profitable. "

Esther's headwear rant drives top hatter mad

2007-02-10T11:49:00.000-05:00

Scotsman.com News - Opinion - Esther's headwear rant drives top hatter mad Time for a wind-up:

"HELL hath no fury like a hatter scorned. When Esther Rantzen came on strong recently about headwear for women (and the odd man), ranting and raving about hats and those who still deign to wear them, she fair got Yvette Jelfs' dander up.

Entirely predictable. Edinburgh's best-known milliner was bound to take up the nearest cudgel.

I found Ms Jelfs, 39, apoplectic, positively spitting and screaming at her Holyrood home where, nursing her two month-old daughter, she teaches millinery.

'I think Esther Rantzen should go - not the hat! That woman is so old-fashioned, how on earth can she advise today's woman what's fashionable?

'People will only be figure of fun wearing a hat if they go into a store and buy what they think matches their outfit rather than what suits them personally.

"A hat should only be bought from a milliner who can advise a client on what suits them.

"Jenners used to have a brilliant department. The ladies who ran it were passionate about teaching the purchaser on what to wear.

"Hats aren't only for weddings. They can add the finishing touch for various occasions. They can be carried off by shy as well as self-assured women. They're for every type of facial shape and colour, as well as height and personality.

"Think Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana and David Bowie's ever-youthful wife Iman. They've all been classic and elegant, never looking tired or dated in photos."

"Hats are still good winter wear. A third of your body heats escapes through your head, so keep it warm and you'll go around cosy and smiling."

If Rantzen is a ranter, Jelfs is something of raver. So tomorrow it's headwear at dawn. It's got to be steel helmets.

"

'Crowns' is a toe-tapping tale not to be missed

2007-02-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

'Crowns' is a toe-tapping tale not to be missed:

"Crowns, a gospel-infused musical, is nothing short of dazzling. It's one of the most joyful shows I've seen in a long while. I plan on spending the month of February urging people not to miss it. I guarantee afterwards you'll walk up the aisle feeling energized and uplifted. This wonderful Open Door Repertory production is an unforgettable experience.

Now I can only speak as a white guy, but I always sense that lots of white folks feel that celebrations of African American cultural heritage during Black History Month are not really for them. They're not racists, mind you. They just fail to connect. Well, here's a feel-good show about a half-dozen black women and their vibrant hats that's both inspirational and fun-a true toe-tapper-and it's for everyone. You certainly don't have to be black, female, or a fancy hat lover to be captivated by this dynamic evening.

Director McKinley Johnson achieves a combination revival meeting and fashion show with his engaging ensemble. Johnson's choreography is lively. The energy of his cast of six women and one man really raises the roof. Everyone has strong voices. I had to constantly keep reminding myself that I was seated in a grammar school auditorium in Oak Park (Hatch School) and not one of those slick Halsted Street theatres. The entire vivacious cast shines.

Crowns was adapted by playwright Regina Taylor from a best-selling coffeetable book featuring black-and-white photographs of African-American women wearing their church hats. During segregation when blacks had few opportunities to gather socially, their houses of worship were just about the only places where they could come together to express themselves through worship, song, or fashion.

"Adorning one's self for worship," one character explains, is an African tradition. This wonderful musical shows how black women would define themselves by the hats they wore.

Desla Epison wears a backwards baseball cap and raps her lines when the show begins. She's Yolanda, a streetwise homegirl from Brooklyn whose beloved brother has been shot and killed. Not knowing quite what to do with the angry, grieving girl, her mother sends her down South to live with her grandmother. So Yolanda arrives with a chip on both shoulders. Epison effectively conveys typical teenage body language.

Initially Yolanda is skeptical and resistant. She wants little to do with hats. They're itchy or hot or heavy or they mess up one's hairdo, she insists. But soon Yolanda begins to interact with her grandmother and her circle of other older church-lady friends-"Hat Queens," they call themselves-who proudly wear their elaborate headgear on Sundays.

Predictably, perhaps, Yolanda begins to turn her life around and find connections to black traditions and spirituality as she listens to the women's rich oral history monologues.

Their down-home stories, loosely strung together, are either touching or funny-and often are both. Each member of the ensemble takes on multiple roles. Monique Whittingham, playing a woman who sings in church even though "no one ever asked her to," does a chillingly beautiful rendition of "His Eye Is On The Sparrow."

Most of the soul-stirring music is well known. Some of the numbers used to be called spirituals, such as "Wade in the Water" and "We're Marching to Zion." The score also incorporates tribal rhythms, blues, old-time jazz ("When the Saints Go Marching In"), and even hip-hop music.

From the moment Deanna K. Reed comes on as wise Mama Shaw, a proud older woman, it's evident she possesses a commanding voice and perfect timing. She often brings down the house. Yet there are quiet, moving moments, too, like when Reed describes the experience of buying her first hat in a previously segregated department store in the '60s.

Renardo Robinson, the all-purpose male in the episodes, plays all the men's roles, from a rural preacher to an angry husband of a woman who keeps sneaking more and more hats into their tiny little house. Robinson tap dances and even performs a baptism in a river.

People generally don't wear hats like they used to. In earlier decades both men and women, white and black, seldom left home without a head covering. I remember my father's fedora and my mother and her sisters in the '50s wearing hats and gloves just to ride the el downtown to go shopping. In the winter, of course, hats are still worn for utilitarian reasons-for warmth. But many in the African-American community continue to embrace the tradition of wearing stylish hats to church. A hat, many say, makes the wearer a queen and the hat, her crown.

"Sometimes under these hats," one character explains, "there's a lot of joy and a lot of sorrow."

Sherita Lyles, as a preacher's wife, lays down the millinery "Hat Queen Rules": "Don't let people knock the hat; don't let people touch the hat; don't hug too close."

The set by Steven Saliny features a large tree bearing dozens of hats.

Clifford Dubose is music director, Oscar Brown is the percussionist. Their two-man band is terrific.

Crowns, deeply rooted in the African-American experience, is proud and powerful yet never preachy or dull. So if you are looking to acquire some "hattitude," a word coined in the show, this magical, hand-clapping, foot-stomping 90-some minute celebration is just the ticket.
"

Cancer victim's hat 'banned'

2007-01-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

The Sun Online - News: Cancer victim's hat 'banned':

"A BREAST cancer sufferer whose hair has dropped out was told to take her hat off in a trendy bar — because it breached the dress code.

Pam Nielson, 50, removed her brown corduroy cap so she would not spoil the night for pals.

But she fled after one drink, following stares and cruel comments from other customers.

The tearful mum-of-two, who has chemotherapy and radiotherapy, said: “I felt humiliated and as though all the young people were staring. It was so upsetting.”

Bar 11 in Frome, Somerset, has a “no headwear” rule to deter scruffy youths in caps and hoodies.

Owner Anthony Pang apologised to Pam and said new rules were in place to prevent anything similar happening."

Hats off to the beret

2007-01-14T22:21:00.000-05:00

Hats off to the beret - France - Europe - World - Travel - smh.com.au:

"THE BERET might just be the world's most useful hat. Far from a mere circle of felt clinging precariously to the head, it can be arranged to protect its wearer from sun, rain and cold. It also makes a handy dish.

Most importantly, when rolled up like a newspaper it becomes a formidable weapon (naughty French children are threatened not with the wooden spoon, but a caning from the chapeau).

The Musee du Beret is France's homage to this helpful headwear. Housed in the village of Nay in the Pyrenean region of Bearn, it provides a lovable and amusing history of the hat. Even before I enter the museum, I see two men clad in black berets, sitting in the village square sharing a joke. In between laughs they carefully adjust their hats.

Inside the museum, any doubts about the practicality of the beret are dispelled once visitors are shown the introductory film recounting its many functions. One cheerful farmer says: 'When you are young, your beret is perfect for collecting cherries. When you become old, it is perfect for belting those who steal your cherries!'

Legend has it that the very first beret was made from the wool of the lamb Noah housed in his ark. Around AD1280 a figure wearing a beret was carved into the church of Bellocq in Bearn, providing the first official recording of the hat. By the second half of the 19th century, large-scale beret factories operated in a handful of towns in Bearn, including in the building that now houses the museum. It is still in this region, and in the neighbouring French Basque country, that the beret is most commonly seen, proudly flaunted in paddocks and on footpaths alike.

It is ironic that a symbol so profoundly linked to French patriotism in the eyes of the world is actually used by the Basques and Bearnaise to assert their cultural individuality. Most Basques see themselves as culturally independent from France and Spain.

The Bearnaise, too, consider their culture unique, being a traditionally Protestant minority with a language related to Occitan, not French.

I pose this to the museum's curator, a tall Bearnaise woman with a black beret slung over her left ear.

She frowns on hearing my question, nodding. 'During World War II the beret was a symbol of the French Resistance, and I think for many foreigners this image has stuck. Sure, you do see berets on the streets of Paris and Bordeaux, but for the people of Bearn and the Basque country, it is different. It is a reminder of who we are.'"

Various materials enhance diversity

2007-01-14T22:12:00.000-05:00

Men's & women's winter headwear: Various materials enhance diversity:

"Winter headwear makers in mainland China and Taiwan are focusing on improving the warmth-retention features of products by using different types of fabric.

Among the popular materials are twill, corduroy, polyester and cotton-nylon blended fabric. These are being used on beret, bonnet, newsboy and bucket styles.

Wool is the choice material for high-end models. Aside from its excellent warmth-retention properties, the material also repels stains and has a soft feel.

For midrange and low-end models, acrylic is most often used. It has almost the same softness as wool but is less expensive and lightweight.

Makers are also developing models using bamboo-charcoal fiber. This environment-friendly material resists build-up of bacteria and odor, making it ideal for hats and caps.

Suppliers, however, are not putting comfort over fashion. Products come in a wide array of bright colors. Models also feature striped and checkered patterns and printed designs.

To increase variety, products are trimmed with faux fur and synthetic leather while other models feature knitted flowers, plastic beads and button and metal studs."

Past Hats

2007-01-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Star-Telegram | 01/13/2007 | PAST HATS:

"Nat Fleming's Cow Lot, a Western-wear store in Wichita Falls, wasn't exactly the kind of place where you'd hang your hat.

At The Cow Lot, you nailed it to the rafters.

And now, after 54 years in business, Fleming has closed his store and he's got more than 500 hats to pry off his walls and move to a downtown museum. "Nat's Hats," as they are now called, are destined for the Museum of North Texas.

They were wanted at other places; according to the Wichita Falls Times Record News, institutions from Oklahoma City to Lubbock "were hungry for his collection."

Nat and his wife, Tawana, decided to leave the collection at home in Wichita Falls.

"Oh, it's a wonderful story," said Bobbi Braun, with the Museum of North Texas. "We found out his store was closing when a story came out in the Wichita Falls paper, and I wrote to him immediately. We wanted those hats."

The Cow Lot was certainly an institution in the North Texas city. People could buy Western wear at other places, Braun said, but for those who were really particular about what they wore, only The Cow Lot would do.

It was as though Fleming's store motto was gospel. At the end of his local television ads, Fleming would always add, "You can tell by looking if it came from The Cow Lot."

But the tiny, crowded store on the city's south side was no more an institution that Fleming himself. His slow country drawl was well-known in the area. Fleming was also a local country-Western band leader who hosted his own afternoon variety program, The Nat Fleming Show, on local television from 1953 through the early 1960s. His program ended, but his TV commercials remained a mainstay of local color and lore.

Now The Cow Lot is closed. The doors were locked just before Christmas, and the hats still hang there in a lonely display.

The museum is working hard to get an exhibit area ready, but it is going to take a lot of money and there isn't much time. "We've been promised the hats and we're going to make space for them," Braun said, "but we've got other things going on at the same time. Our next exhibit is a quilt display and we're getting ready for that."

In the meantime, the museum has launched a campaign to raise $40,000 to build a large "Western Room," one entire wall of which will be devoted to the hats. "In the beginning, we just sent out letters to our members," she said of the museum's fundraising efforts. "Once we get the quilt display up and going, we'll start contacting some people with deeper pockets."

The hats, she says, are more than just a decorative display. Braun has counted 511 of them in all, and many are from prominent ranchers and businesspeople from North Texas. There are felt hats from ranch bosses, crushed straws from ranch hands. They represent a quirky Who's Who of Wichita Falls; they represent an important timeline in the area's development.

"It all started when Nat first opened his store 54 years ago," Braun said. "His brother sent him a big 10-gallon hat -- one of those great big ones with a big brim and tall crown -- to celebrate the opening. It was a joke, but it caught on. As time passed by, when someone bought a new hat, they nailed their old one to the rafters."

The hats will be a centerpiece of the new Western Room at the museum, but there will be other items as well. "We already have a Joe Bidwell saddle," Braun said. Bidwell is a well-known ranch family name in Wichita Falls. "We have a chuck box, and we've been promised a huge barbed-wire collection. We also have the 'Waggoner Horse Hoof.'"

The hoof is another part of Wichita Falls lore dating to the 1880s. Braun said the story is that a couple of bank robbers stole a horse from the Waggoner Ranch in Vernon on the way to rob a bank in Wichita Falls. When they came out of the bank, the sheriff saw them and opened fire. He missed the bank robbers but hit the horse. A Waggoner Ranch foreman kept one of the horse's hooves as a souvenir. The hoof will share space with the hats."

It’s milliner time

2007-01-05T21:22:00.000-05:00

It’s milliner time:

"GLADSTONE — With keen interest, I’ve been following news reports on global warming. Experts say that average temperatures could rise as much as two full degrees by the time I reach my 90s.

Frankly, I can hardly wait.

As someone with a deep need to be toasty, I yank on layers of outerwear these days just to carry out the trash. That, I can live with. Hats are quite a different matter.

My big beef is that they cause “helmet head,” a condition wherein your “do” is destroyed till the next shampoo. According to superstition, placing your hat on a bed leads to bad luck. Well, better that than bad hair.

Hats also cause serious vision impairment. By flattening my bangs, they force them halfway down my peepers. It’s like peering through carpet fringe unless I sweep them to the sides like a pair of drapes.

So I’m glad hats have declined in popularity. But they were all the rage in 1900, when ladies wore a variety of bonnets for different activities. They changed them at the drop of — well, you know.

At one time, feathered hats enjoyed the same status that Rolex watches do today. Imagine the fun hatmakers had coming up with ludicrous styles. Believe it or not, some even perched real, stuffed birds up there on occasion. The result, no doubt, of too much Milliner Time. (“Hey, let’s try a woodpecker next!”)

Today’s hats are more politically correct, and most women look attractive in them. Chic, even. Their bonnets make a fashion statement. If mine could talk, they’d say, “Good grief.”

No matter how classy they look on a hook, the image they lend me could best be described as Minnie Pearl.

That is, if they even fit. For a short person, I possess an enormous noggin. If I were a cowboy, I’d need a TWENTY-gallon hat. With an extra quart for good measure.

Like magicians, I could pull a rabbit from my hat. A Volkswagen.

Besides, I’m just not a “hat” person. Even as a child, I hated wearing something on my head. Especially that dunce cap.

Luckily, none of my numerous jobs required headgear. And though I’ve been assaulted by falling Tupperware more than once, I refuse to wear a hardhat in the kitchen.

So if I make it to my 90s, I plan to celebrate the bennies of global warming.

I’ll be the one with helmet head."

Fashion focus of speaker to Women's Network

2007-01-05T21:11:00.000-05:00

Fashion focus of speaker to Women's Network:

"Classic fashion kicks off the New Year for Brockville Women's Network at its next meeting, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 11 at the Brockville Country Club.

Guest speaker Leona Deter, of Determine Design in Merrickville, specializes in custom-made hats and evening apparel. She'll open her program by demonstrating the proper way to wear hats. Then she will present an in-house fashion show featuring her most beautiful and elaborate hats and clothing designs.

The Brockville Women's Network was started in 1981 to encourage both personal and career growth of its members. You need not be a businesswoman to join: all women are welcome. The BWN encourages and promotes networking among a diverse group of women from a wide range of backgrounds. New members are always welcome.

Monthly meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month at the Brockville Country Club, located on County Road 2, west of the city. A social hour begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. and then the speaker or other entertainment. The cost is $22 for members, $25 for guests.

For reservations and more information, call JoAnne Sytsma at 613-345-5202 or Angela MacGillivary at 613-345-4881 by January 9."

In thinning industry, hat company fights on

2007-01-05T20:56:00.000-05:00

Belleville News-Democrat | 01/05/2007 | In thinning industry, hat company fights on:

"PHILADELPHIA - The Bollman Hat Co. factory in Lancaster County, Pa., rumbles and shudders, churning and pounding wool into dense felt for headgear as if naked noggins all over the nation were in dire need of a covering, a fedora, a fez or a ten-gallon hat.

Of course, they are not.

Hats left high office with Eisenhower. And that -- along with cheap imports -- is part of the reason Bollman is one of just a handful of hat makers surviving out of the hundreds that once operated in the United States.

"When JFK was president, he didn't wear a hat, and that had an influence on men," said Bob DePasqua, a Bollman department head and 30-year employee at the factory.

Still, men's hats and millinery thrive as accessories, costumes, personal statements, safety wear, sunshades, rain deflectors, fish-hook storage racks and bald-spot concealment devices. And Bollman's 500 workers press and stamp to make available about 1.5 million lids per year.

Don Rongione, president and chief executive of the employee-owned company, declined to discuss revenue in detail, but said the company's best year was 2003, when sales reached about $100 million on the popularity of hats in hip-hop fashion. "We're down from there a bit," Rongione said.

Hat fortunes do come and go with fashion's whims. "Indiana Jones really helped our business for a long time," DePasqua said of the hard-boiled Harrison Ford movie character who treasured a battered outsized fedora through the 1980s.

Bollman has been making hats in Adamstown Borough (population 1,200) since 1868. The brick factory is a maze of machinery designed over the last century to turn tufts of bleached Texas wool into hats.

In the process, the wool is transformed, first into fluffy felt cones on "carding" machines that date from the 1930s.

The uniform woolen cones, stiffened with shellac, gradually take color and shape in a series of dye boilers, rolling, hardening and sanding machines, molds, presses and dryers -- ending up as floppy hats, high hats for doormen and bridegrooms, cowboy hats or virtually any conceivable headwear.

"You see those fibers, and you end up with a finished hat. It's fun," DePasqua said.

The U.S. Olympic team sported Bollman hats in the opening ceremonies at Nagano, Japan, in 1998. And the company makes about 12,000 scarlet fezzes each year for the Shriners fraternal order. "That's a neat little niche business we've done," DePasqua said.

The company battles to stay competitive in an environment where imports can sell "for less than half of what it costs us to produce" a hat domestically, said Rongione, the CEO. "It's a real challenge for domestic manufacturers."

On the East Coast, Bollman is one of the few remaining hat manufacturers -- a club that also includes F & M Hat Co. Inc. in Denver, Pa., and Kraft Hat Manufacturers Inc. of New York.

Bollman makes hats under brands -- some acquired in recent years -- that include Kangol, Bailey, Timberland, and Country Gentleman, as well as private labels, and its toppers are sold in stores that include Wal-Mart, as well as boutiques in New York and Europe, where hats can sell for hundreds of dollars.

In the early 1990s, Bollman made 98 percent of its hats in the U.S., Rongione said. But that figure has fallen to 35 percent, with the rest -- including knitted hats and unfinished straw-hat bodies -- manufactured in Asia, Mexico and Italy, Rongione said.

Even so, he said, by shifting workers to customer service, distribution, and other in-house jobs, domestic employment has remained steady at around 500.

Bollman has been employee-owned since 1985, when managers bought the company from the founding Bollman family. In addition to the 500,000-square-foot Adamstown factory, the company operates a 132,000-square-foot distribution center about three miles away, near a Pennsylvania Turnpike exit. It also has three showrooms in New York, and one in Fort Worth, Texas.
"

Langer caps career with passion

2007-01-01T10:04:00.000-05:00

Langer caps career with passion | | The Australian:

"BEFORE Justin Langer made it official that the Sydney Test would be his last he had something else to do.

He sat down at the table in a room beneath the Bradman Stand at the SCG and carefully folded his baggy green cap so that the Australian crest was facing towards the cameras.

Then he faced them himself.

It would be fair to say that no Australian player has ever worn that quaint and rather outmoded bit of woollen headgear with more pride than Justin Langer.

Of the modern players, Steve Waugh would probably come closest. He wore his on the battlefields of Gallipoli and while watching Pat Rafter play at Wimbledon.

You get the feeling Langer keeps his on while he brushes his teeth and only takes it off when it comes time to kiss his wife and four daughters goodnight.

Certainly it has been through some scrapes with its owner over the course of 14 years and 104 Tests.

Like Waugh's, it comes to the end of its working life looking less like an article of clothing than a battlefield artefact, held together by dirt, tears and sweat.

Langer loves his baggy green like Linus loves his comfort rag in the Peanuts strip, and there was no way he was going to risk separation anxiety while he made the biggest announcement of his sporting career.

The cap also provided him with a convenient shield to hide the scraps of paper torn from an exercise book on which he had jotted down some of his thoughts, just so he wouldn't forget anyone.

Langer said he had been very emotional earlier in the day when he sat in the dressing room talking things over with his captain Ricky Ponting, vice captain Adam Gilchrist and his great friend and opening partner Matthew Hayden.

"There's no doubt the thing I'll miss most about cricket is what I'll experience hopefully tomorrow morning ... walking over the white line with some music and being lifted out to the centre from the crowd and walking out with my big mate Haydos," he said.

"We've formed a great partnership and, like Ricky and Tugga (Waugh), he's going to be a friend for life and it's going to be hard in five days' time not walking out with him in a Test match"
Unlike Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, who are also retiring after this match and who knew unequivocally that their time was up, Langer, 36, has found it a difficult decision to make.

"The reason it's been so hard is because I don't want to let it go, mate," he said.

"If you love something you don't want to let it go, do you? I don't want to not play for Australia again.

"I feel sad about it, but my heart's telling me it's the right thing to do."

Langer scoffed at people who believe cricket is just a game.

"Just a game? You know what, it's not just a game to me. It's been the vehicle for me and taught me how to handle success, how to handle criticism, how to handle failure, how to fight back from adversity.

"I've learned about mateship, I've learned about leadership. I've learnt so many things. I've hopefully forged a strong character and it's all because of the baggy green cap."

The travelling English journalists, inured to the cliches trotted out by their own players during this so far unhappy summer, were impressed by the sincerity and obvious depth of Langer's feelings, and found themselves applauding him after his statement.

"I'd like to hear an England player talk with such passion about what it means to play for their country, and the history of the game, and the men who have gone before them," veteran Daily Express writer Colin Bateman said.

"Perhaps that is part of the difference between the two sides."
"

Setting the Style

2006-12-31T10:11:00.000-05:00

The Epoch Times | Setting the Style:

"One could talk about the many versatile reasons for wearing a hat – protection against cold, heat, rain, sun; a badge of office, social convention – but for occasions such as the horse races it is purely fashion and fun.

For milliner and exclusive hat designer Tracy Mac, big race days, such as January's Magic Millions Racing Carnival on the Gold Coast, are another opportunity to create some spectacular hats. Tracy prides herself in designing and creating original and flattering hats for each of her clients.

'I made a rule a long time ago that I would never copy anyone else's work. People who are spending that sort of money on a hat don't want to walk around at the races and say she's got my hat on.' says Tracy.

And a hat on race day is important – it is a highly versatile accessory that can offset and flatter an outfit, frame one's face in a becoming way and denote a sense of presence and style.

Wearing a hat certainly gets you noticed. Australians have always been a little more reserved when it comes to formal hat wearing; however, exciting contemporary designs in hat fashion today are changing that.

The 1960s and 1970s saw an end to formal dressing and there was less and less demand for "dress" hats; as a result, many milliners went out of business. However, Tracy says that at the recent Annual Millinery Collection show in Melbourne there were quite a number of younger milliners taking part in the show. Tracy believes: "Competition is good because it keeps you thinking of new things all the time instead of getting complacent in what you are doing and thinking that's good enough, you've always got to be thinking, well what could I be doing that's different now…so competition is a good thing."

I asked Tracy what the process was when someone comes to her for a hat. "There are a few ladies that have suggestions, there are some that have strong ideas about what they want and then there are some ladies who just say to do what I like, what I think suits them and they just let me go for it." Of course, the shape of the person's face determines what would suit best. If you have a square face wearing a hat at a slant or tilt or having the brim asymmetrical works best. For a narrow face, avoid tall narrow hats and for a wide face, off-the-face styles are best. These are important points to remember and this is also where it is handy to have a number of hat styles to try on to see what suits best. Often one is surprised about what type of hat really is the most flattering.

Hats can be made unique by using one of the many textile craft techniques – hand beading, feathers, ribbons, braids, paint or print on fabric, machine or hand embroidery, appliqué and any combination of these.

Tracy says she daydreams a lot and gets inspired by different things. She recalls one time seeing a billboard with sheets of paper fanning across the billboard, some of them were flipped up on the edges and she ended up making a hat that came from that idea. "You've always got to be looking for new bits and pieces and shop at unusual places, homewares, interior decorating shops and the like that have different knick-knacks, beaded napkin rings for instance – you can make a piece out of that."

She admits that she is very good at visualising things so she can make use of almost anything and turn it into a unique feature that becomes her style – from the "conservative" to "over the top", "subtle to flamboyant".

Tracy originally worked in the thoroughbred racing industry for one of Queensland's major stud farms where she met her husband, a successful racehorse trainer. This background gives her an insight into the racing world and what it takes to turn heads in the fashion stacks.

And will Tracy get to the races herself on Race Day? "Probably not," she says, "as I sometimes work right through to the morning to finish off the hats." As a result, she often ends up winning an award or two. "

Book Review: Hatless Jack - The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style

2006-12-31T10:03:00.000-05:00

Book Review: Hatless Jack - The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style by Neil Steinberg @ Blogcritics.org:

"John F. Kennedy was a president without precedent: the youngest man ever elected to the Oval Office, the first to be born in the twentieth century, and the first president-elect to become a father. Right from the start it was clear this was going to be a very different presidency.

And, for the most part, a bareheaded one. In striking contrast to his predecessors, JFK was rarely seen in any kind of headwear. It’s perhaps for this reason that Kennedy has been blamed for ending America’s longstanding love affair with the hat. But in Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style, author and Chicago Sun-Times journalist Neil Steinberg has gone to extraordinary lengths to nail that myth.

From our viewpoint, it’s almost impossible to imagine a time when a man could not appear in public without a hat. Yet Steinberg shows that hats were once regarded not merely as accessories, but as indispensable components of a man’s wardrobe. In George Gissing’s 1888 novel, A Life’s Morning, the loss of the protagonist’s hat impels him to steal from his employer to replace it. The theft has catastrophic consequences, but he is quite prepared to risk all rather than lose public respect. Such extreme cases, says Steinberg, may have been rare, but the very existence of the story and the fact that it could never have been written in our own times, is one measure of how society has changed in little over a century.

Similarly incredible is Steinberg’s account of how civil disorder on the streets of New York was provoked merely by the sight of straw hats. What had started as a publicity stunt by the hat trade turned into a widely observed canon that straw hats could only be worn between May and mid-September. President Calvin Coolidge actually made the front page of the New York Times just because he’d taken an autumn stroll in a straw boater. For those not accompanied by the secret service, the consequences of breaking with this sartorial custom would prove more serious. Steinberg describes how riots broke out in 1922 when mobs of boys roamed the streets of New York City, attacking any man daring enough to wear a straw hat.

Demonstrating the vulnerability of hats to fickle tastes, Steinberg devotes an entire chapter to the rise and fall of the top hat. Surprisingly, it emerged from the French Revolution as a substitute for the aristocracy’s cocked hat. But within a century and a half, the topper had become quite literally old hat, a symbol of wealth and avarice, confined to weddings and state occasions. By the middle of the twentieth century, the top hat was falling out of favour even at presidential inaugurations. Franklin Roosevelt dispensed with any type of headwear for his 1945 inauguration, and although Harry Truman briefly resurrected the topper, Dwight Eisenhower came to power wearing a fedora. More surprising still, as Steinberg points out, the last president to wear a top hat at his inauguration was none other than John F. Kennedy. He may have been hatless during his famous “Ask not...” speech, but for the rest of the day a top hat was planted firmly on the presidential head.

That he chose to wear a hat at all was largely due to pressure from America’s hat makers. During the entire Kennedy presidency, they used every opportunity to badger him into wearing a hat, and the more often he appeared bareheaded, the madder the hatters became. While visiting Texas, he was presented with a stetson, and after photographers pleaded with him to put it on, the president promised to wear it at the White House the following Monday. As things turned out, it was a Monday he was destined not to see.

In the years since his death, the myth has endured that JFK’s decision not to wear hats explains why so few men wear them today. But Kennedy wasn’t the only suspect. Steinberg reels off a list of potential culprits that include almost everything, from the movies to the motor car. And if all else failed, the finger could always be pointed at an easy target that’s been blamed for so much else — women. Once women started going hatless at the theatre and cinema, it was claimed, it was only a matter of time before men followed suit.

But, according to Steinberg, the decisive factor in the demise of the hat lies with the young generation. A hatless trend can be seen in motion as early as the 1920s when undergraduate men began to abandon the regimented fashions of their fathers. The fact that one of those college boys was John F. Kennedy adds weight to Steinberg’s assertion that, far from being a sartorial trailblazer, JFK was a dedicated follower of fashion.

Steinberg’s book is an absorbing read, full of enjoyable diversions through the highways and by-ways of hat history. A potentially pedestrian subject is rescued by a lively storytelling style and a constellation of famous names, from William Tell to William Shakespeare. There is, perhaps, too much for the reader to digest, but every one of the facts and footnotes bears witness to the author’s attention to detail. Countless hours of research are evident, not only in the body of the text but in the thirty pages of acknowledgements, notes, and bibliography.

The book’s only gaping omission is photographic proof that JFK ever wore a hat. The absence of such pictures is all the more frustrating because of Steinberg’s frequent references to their existence.

Almost half a century on, controversy still surrounds the case of the murdered president. But in the case of the disappearing hat, Neil Steinberg has finally got JFK off the hook.
"

Cap Maker Moves Unit Closer to Surf, Skate Hub

2006-12-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

Orange County Business Journal Online - Business news and information for Southern California:

"A maker of baseball and other caps is moving a division here to be part of the county’s surf and skate hub.

Buffalo, N.Y.-based New Era Cap Co. is opening a 5,000-square-foot office in Irvine next month, according to Wayne Best, the company’s action sports business unit director.

New Era’s been hiring workers for the local unit since the summer.

The company is moving its action sports division to Orange County from New York. It has 15 workers here with plans to add more, Best said.

“Eighty percent of our clients are within an hour and a half drive from our new location, making it easier and more convenient for them to do business with us,” Best said.

New Era already counts several OC surf and skate brands as clients, including Irvine-based Billabong USA, Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. and its Vista-based DC Shoes Inc., Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc. and Cypress-based Vans Inc.

The privately held company, which makes more than 30 million caps per year under different brands, makes “on-field” hats for every Major League Baseball team, including the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and their minor league affiliates.

Schools and kids sports teams also are clients.

Then there are musicians and movie stars. Celebs such as Denzel Washington and hip-hop singer Jay-Z are fans. That’s brought in more business from the “lifestyle” and entertainment sectors, Best said.

“The baseball cap isn’t specific to just baseball anymore,” Best said. “It’s found its way into other markets and, especially with the New Era brand, into the fashion and entertainment world.”

New Era’s caps range from a traditional baseball hat to “fitted” caps, which are sized to fit your head. Fitted caps sport different trappings, such as fabric with argyle diamonds or gold foiled graphics. Brands include 59Fifty Fitted, 49Forty, 39Thirty and 29Twenty.

The company also makes trucker caps, which typically have a foam front, wide brims and mesh sides. Trucker hats have been big with surfers and skaters for the past few years.

Two of the 15 workers at New Era’s OC office made moves from New York and Canada. Others were hired here, including in marketing, sales, customer service, production, sourcing and design, Best said.

The company plans to hire three to five more people, he said.

“We’re really excited about the location,” Best said. “The action sports market is growing and New Era is not only recognizing it as relevant but creating an opportunity to grow.”

For now, the company’s “main goal” is to “provide a greater service to our existing brand partners,” Best said.

“We absolutely do not want to saturate the market,” he said.

Family owned New Era, which was founded in 1920, employs about 1,700 people worldwide. It has several plants, with one in Buffalo, three in Alabama and a few overseas."

Top hats

2006-12-30T09:28:00.000-05:00

See the slideshow before it disappears.

The Columbus Dispatch - Life / Arts:

"Headgear with a Hawaiian vibe is the top hat in the fifth annual Holiday Art Project.

Shirley Bendau of Dublin wins the $75 first prize for Aloha New Year, a floral explosion.

A retired teacher, Bendau used drawings of tropical flowers and the word aloha (which means both "hello" and "goodbye" — appropriate for New Year’s Eve, she thought) on her entry.

The mystery surrounding her inspiration was revealed when The Dispatch tried to reach her: She was on her annual vacation in Hawaii.

More than 60 people entered the contest, which challenged entrants to decorate a blank party hat.

Judges chose Bendau’s hat because of its surprising theme and good execution.

"Not your typical New Year’s Eve type of thing," said Rod Harris, a Dispatch artist.

"It has a theme, and it’s festive," said Michelle Stitzlein, a Baltimore, Ohio, artist whose creations use recycled objects. "I can’t find any mistakes."

The second-place prize of $50 goes to Debi Imbrogno of Gahanna for Let’s Party, Deer,an illustration in felt. Her workmanship impressed the judges.

"It’s not easy to get detail in felt, but she did it," Stitzlein said.

A mother of four, Imbrogno said she honed her felt skills while serving as a Cub Scout den mother.

Third place — and $25 — is awarded to Puttin’ on the Ritz by Gahanna fabric artist Laura Koebel. She fashioned a sparkly creation with sequins from a thrift-store dress. The judges liked the intricate patterns.

"It has a festive rhythm," Harris said.

"If you had that hat on for an actual party, it would be a beacon," Stitzlein added.

The judges also selected four honorable mentions:

• Everything Is New Again by Jacquie Conley of Columbus. Her three-dimensional, telescoping hat reveals a New Year’s Eve scene. (Conley won last year’s contest by turning a pair of boxer shorts into a homage to the old Lazarus Christmas display window.)

• Party Like a Rock Star by Craig Canfield of Columbus. With a guitar, a skull, a snake and fire, the hat is a lid that any rowdy musician would be proud to wear.

• All Dressed Up and Noewhere To Go by Rick Amicon. His collage is inspired by the rise and fall of Tom Noe, the Toledo-area coin dealer. (Amicon won third place last year.)

• American Bullfrog by Connie Meizlish of Gahanna. Her hat is an elaborate collage that includes flower cutouts, gold ribbon and a frog postage stamp.

Although those creations rose to the top, many others deserve kudos for the effort that went into them. Here are a few unofficial awards:

Most sentimental: My Constant New Year’s Companion by Gena Moore of Westerville. Her collage honors Dick Clark, the entertainer synonymous with New Year’s Eve.

Most fun to read: Off the Top of My Head by Roanne Vlahos of Columbus, whose hat has words meant to answer the question "What’s on your mind? "

Best use of ribbon: Hat’s Off to the New Year by Brooke Norris of Lewis Center. She made an elegant hat that would look good at any New Year’s Eve bash.

Best Buckeye theme: Rootin’, Tootin’ Two-Fer by Marty Palmer of Powell. The hat is suitable both for New Year’s Eve and Ohio State’s appearance in the nationalchampionship game.

Best bells: Ritzy-Glitzy by Joyce Eicher of Sabina. Bells, ribbon and fabric make it a cap of distinction.

Most amusing: So To Speak, Feb. 21, 2006 by Madeline Hansen of Dublin. Hansen, also a past contest winner, has found a decorative use for the ubiquitous address labels that charities send.

Best package: The Family Hat by Susi Soler of Worthington, also a past prizewinner. Her threedimensional hat of felt and silver lame arrived in a hatbox. It salutes OSU, which counts her, her father and grandfather as alumni.

Most pettable: The Hat Like a Cat by Fran Alder of McArthur. The furry hat begs to be stroked.
"

GPA Helmets from Europe May Not Meet USEF Standards

2006-12-29T09:44:00.000-05:00

GPA Helmets from Europe May Not Meet USEF Standards:

"December 28, 2006 -- A number of exhibitors using the GPA brand of helmets while competing in U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) licensed events may be unaware that they are not wearing an ASTM/SEI certified model as required by USEF rules.

Helmets purchased in Europe, or that originally came from Europe, may not meet the ASTM/SEI standard as required by USEF GR318.2-GR318.7. Riders should check the buckles of their GPA helmets to see if there is an SEI logo on it and they should also check the inside of the helmet which should carry the SEI certification tag in it. If it does not appear there, then the helmet should not be used in USEF licensed competitions.

All riders are required to wear a certified helmet while competing in Hunter, Jumpers and Hunt Seat Equitation classes, and in Paso Fino classes, both open and breed restricted including Hunter Hack. Helmets are to be wore anywhere jumping is required and when jumping anywhere on the competition grounds. Helmets must be properly fastened and meet or exceed ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)/SEI (Safety Equipment Institute) standards for equestrian use and carries the SEI tag.

Except as mandated by local law, juniors in the above classes, and all sub-juniors riding in the Paso Fino division, must wear certified helmets while riding anywhere on the competition grounds. As stated in GR318.6, 'It is the responsibility of the rider, or the parent or guardian or trainer of the junior exhibitor to see to it that the headgear worn complies with appropriate safety standards for protective headgear intended for equestrian use, and is properly fitted and in good condition, and the Federation, the Show Committee, and Licensed Officials are not responsible for checking headgear worn for such compliance.'

The USEF strongly encourages all riders, while riding anywhere on competition grounds, to wear ASTM/SEI certified headgear"

Fashion courses must continue

2006-12-29T09:27:00.000-05:00

Sounds familiar, in many ways, to what is happening in the Canadian apparel trade.

The Border Mail - Fashion courses must continue:

"TWELVE years ago I took a redundancy from TAFE as a fashion teacher.

It was fairly obvious then that there was a “departmental push”, driven by a political motive, to downsize fashion in NSW.

This had begun years before when the Australian manufacturing industry was being turned upside down.

When I began teaching 48 years ago, fashion did have one of the highest enrolments of any course run by TAFE.

A very beneficial service was provided to the community, especially in the country.

All teachers had to travel to one or two circuit centres as part of a three-week timetable.

Culcairn, Henty, Walbundrie, Corowa and Oaklands were all serviced.

The statement that, “Fashion studies are not in vogue” is a view, not a fact.

People still need these courses and can earn an income from them, as is the case with the millinery certificate course that has just been completed by 26 students at Albury TAFE. At least half of this group is now retailing the hats they make.

This is also the case of many previous students of dressmaking certificates and commercial needlecraft who have gained employment or gone into business.

These courses have been discontinued not because they are no longer in vogue, or unpopular, but because of a departmental decision as a response to a political policy.

One may think that space and finance are needed to run the 10 new courses Ms Campbell promoted which may have a better scope for employment than the fashion courses provide.

Wagga TAFE director Ms Campbell feels, “the demand for the fashion skills is less these days because people can buy clothes for less than what it costs to make them.”

Except for everyday T-shirt and pants combinations, this may be correct.

But I can still make my clothes for much less than what it costs to buy them.

Having just returned from a trip to China and seen how the Chinese live and work, I feel somewhat unnerved at the thought of purchasing cheap clothing from China, while watching the destruction of TAFE fashion courses.

There is a place for boutique fashion; there is a client base of people who will pay more for quality, style, fit and individuality.

There is a need to train qualified dressmakers.

There is a need for a course that will teach these skills to many talented and creative people.

We do not want to lose the skills of pattern makers, graders, machinists, and designers.

If we do we may in future be importing them from overseas."

Chautauqua kids knit caps to give babies better chance

2006-12-28T09:07:00.000-05:00

BCNG Portals Page:

"Diane Brenno had balls of donated yarn, knitting looms purchased with a Partners in Education grant and an eager group of young knitters when she read an article about Caps to the Capitol, an effort to help save the lives of newborns overseas.

“It was like a flower blooming,” said Brenno, who runs the Lunch Club at Chautauqua Elementary. “I’ve got all these looms and yarn and here’s this program. Wouldn’t this be profound?”

Brenno showed the article to Samantha Philip. The fourth-grader read that four million newborns die each year within the first month of life and that three out of four of these deaths could be avoided with simple, low-cost tools, such as antibiotics, immunizations and knitted caps that help to keep babies warm.

Samantha was surprised that something as little as a hat could save a life.

“I thought it would be really fun to help somebody else,” she said.

So she knit a cap and then another, and soon other kids attending Chautauqua’s Lunch Club wanted to make caps as well. About 20 first to fifth-graders have been knitting caps during their recess.

They expected to have about 50 made by the holidays.

Caps to the Capitol, which is sponsored by the WarmUp America! Foundation and Save the Children, asks knitters to take three steps: “Make a Cap. Write the President. Unite for Newborns.” A number of the Chautauqua students wrote brief letters to the president asking that the administration support life-saving programs for children in developing countries.

The finished hats, along with letters to the president, will travel to Washington, D.C., and then on to newborns in need at Save the Children project sites around the world.

“I think life is a circle and that it’s important to teach kids to give back,” said Brenno, who the children call Grammie.

Running the popular Lunch Club is, in fact, Brenno’s “end-of-life” gift to Vashon. An Islander since 1962, she says giving school kids a welcoming and calm place to go during recess is her way of “paying back the community for all the good things that have happened to us here.”

“I really think that some of these kids are going to remember Grammie, Lunch Club and what they did here, because a lot of these kids need it. We laugh and have a good time. I try to put a few cents in once in awhile about caring and feelings, but mostly I’m here to be a soft spot.”

The students have only about 15 minutes to knit before they rush off to lunch, but clearly most of them understand the value of what they’re doing.

“We’re making little hats for babies in Third World countries so that three out of four babies get saved from premature death,” explained Marie Trudel, another fourth-grader.

“My hope is that it helps them survive,” added Samantha."

China hospital staff wearing helmets

2006-12-27T08:29:00.000-05:00

NewsDaily: Quirks -- China hospital staff wearing helmets:

"GUANGZHOU, China, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Staff members at China's Shanxia Hospital were given helmets to protect them from a group of people who have picked fights with doctors and nurses.

The measure stems from an incident when a traffic accident victim, who initially seemed to be responding positively to treatment, died after 17 days at the hospital, Xinhua, China's official government-run news agency, reported Tuesday.

The family refused to allow an autopsy to be performed, Xinhua said. The hospital objected to being made to pay compensation to the victim's family without an autopsy to confirm cause of death.

Since then, hospital staff said a group of people visit the hospital every day to put up offensive signs, insult doctors and nurses and sometimes pick fights with them.

"It's kind of weird but we have no other choice. For our safety, our hospital decided to give everyone a helmet, including doctors, nurses, accountants and even utility men," a hospital official told Xinhua.
"

HATTY XMAS

2006-12-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

Mirror.co.uk - News - HATTY XMAS:

"ZARA Phillips' purple trilby heads the royal hat parade during the traditional Christmas church service at Sandringham yesterday.

The equestrian champ, 25, was joined by Princesses Eugenie, 16, and Beatrice, 18, in side-of-the-head hats and Sophie Wessex in a sculpted creation as the royals crowned the day with a stunning display of headwear.

One surprise was Camilla's daring leopardskin hat with pheasant feathers. One onlooker joked: 'Its a good thing Prince Philip didn't have his gun. Dressed like that he might have shot her by mistake!'"

Inmates crochet for charity

2006-12-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

The Marietta Times: Inmates crochet for charity:

"Christmas can be a particularly difficult time of year for inmates at the Noble County Correctional Institution, but some have found a way to make a meaningful connection with life outside the prison walls and razor wire.

On Wednesday inmate Mike Wolak, 53, who’s serving five to 25 years for involuntary manslaughter, proudly displayed a bright red hat, one of 91 he’s crocheted this year, including many for the Coats for Kids program in Washington County.

“It takes three to four hours to do one, depending on the size of the hat,” he said.

Since November, 15 inmates have crocheted 109 hats as well as a few scarves donated to Coats for Kids this year.

“Never in my life did I think I would be crocheting,” said Mark Doll, 44, serving four years and six months for aggravated vehicular homicide.

“But after I completed a two-year college program I had a lot of time on my hands, so I learned to crochet from some of these guys,” he said.

Inmate Roger Migliaccio, 38, learned to crochet from his sisters when he was 10 or 12 years old. He said crocheting hats and scarves also has a therapeutic effect, especially during the holidays spent away from family and friends.

“I find that I don’t have the stress I sometimes feel during family times like Christmas,” said Migliaccio who’s serving a five-year term for robbery.

Chuck Smith, 40, said making hats for people in need is a way he can make a positive contribution to society.

“I’ve been a taker all my life, now I’m giving something back,” he said.

Smith is serving a five-year term for felonious assault and robbery.

The inmates became involved in the Coats for Kids program through a chance meeting between NCI business administrator Craig Rich and Judy Grize with the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP) in Marietta.

“We were visiting the O’Neill Senior Center, basically letting people know that we could provide community services, when I met Mrs. Grize, Rich said.

She told him about Coats for Kids and said there was a need for knitted hats that could be distributed along with the coats.

Rich said several inmates were skilled in crochet, so manpower was no problem.

“Our biggest issue was getting the material to work with,” he said.

Skeins of yarn were donated by RSVP and others, including RSVP member Ruth Reeves, who knitted 23 hats for the program on her own.

Reeves accompanied Grize on a visit to NCI on Wednesday to meet the inmates and pick up the final bags of hats and scarves that will be distributed through the Coats for Kids program this year.

“This is a way for the inmates to look back at the negative of being in prison and see a positive experience,” said Joel Burris, public information officer with NCI.

“The inmates volunteer for the program and they learn a skill,” he said. “Most have never even seen a crochet hook before.

“It’s also a great way for them to give back to the community.”

Burris noted that the inmates have also crocheted blankets and toys for various schools and non-profit agencies during the six years that the crochet program has been in effect at NCI.

He said the blankets are sometimes auctioned off by schools and non-profits as a fundraising activity.

“It doesn’t cost a lot of money for the inmates to crochet blankets or hats, and the requesting agencies provide the yarn,” Burris said. “But one boosters group made $200 by auctioning off one of the blankets.”

Rich said more than 250 inmates have participated in the crochet program over the last six years.

“We hope to continue our partnership with RSVP and Coats for Kids next year,” Rich added. “If we get enough yarn, we can keep them in hats and scarves.”"

Lessen holiday waste this season

2006-12-24T21:28:00.000-05:00

The Messenger - Fort Dodge, Iowa:

"Discarded ribbons, wrinkled wrappings and bent cards containing good tidings pile up during this season of giving.

However, people can contain that waste while occupying their children running free from the classroom for the holiday by transforming the materials otherwise destined for the garbage bin into creative crafts.

‘‘They are just neat ideas,’’ said Erin Meehan, shared naturalist with Webster County Conservation and Iowa Department of Natural Resources. ‘‘It’s a great way to cut back and reuse. There’s so much waste during the holidays.’’

Waste management specialists estimate 25 million tons more waste will be created during the holidays than what’s generated during an average 10-week period. The bulk of garbage comes from ribbons, wrapping paper, packing paper, envelopes and packaging materials.

All are items that can be recycled, Meehan said, and used for creative crafts that can keep children busy during cold winter days.

The best part about the projects, she added, is they are a very affordable means of entertainment.

‘‘Everything you can do is available and at hand,’’ Meehan said. ‘‘You don’t have to go out and buy anything. It’s all very inexpensive.’’

Paper

A paper snowman is one creative way to use up junk-mail envelopes. It’s estimated around 418,000 tons of bulk mail gets thrown away unopened each year. That’s an entire civilization of snow people.

To make a snowman, cut three strips of paper out of white scrap paper or envelopes. The strip for the head should be 1 inch wide by 4 inches long. Cut the middle piece 1.25 inches wide by 5 inches long; and cut the bottom piece to measure 1.5 inches wide by 6 inches long.

Take each strip, roll it into a circle and glue where it meets. Then glue all the circles together. To make the eyes and buttons, either glue on scrap pieces of black paper or use a black marker.

For the nose, cut a small narrow strip of paper, fold over the base and glue it to the face. To make a scarf, cut a narrow strip of paper and cut fringe at the ends. Decorate it with markers, scraps of paper or paint then glue it around the neck.

A top hat can be made by cutting a circle for the brim 1.5 inches in diameter out of scrap paper. Cut a strip of matching paper 1.25 inches wide by 3.5 inches long. Make a cylinder and glue it where the edges meet. Glue the cylinder to the circle and glue the hat to the snowman’s head. Arms can be crafted by gluing two small twigs to the front of the body’s middle circle.

Snow can be added by gluing a piece of cotton from medicine bottles to the bottom.

"

Sanitation-worker caps are a branding gold mine for N.Y.C.

2006-12-24T21:14:00.000-05:00

North Jersey Media Group providing local news, sports & classifieds for Northern New Jersey!:

"NEW YORK -- When city officials here decided to roll out a line of merchandise featuring insignias of municipal agencies, they had no doubt that there would be a strong demand for items emblazoned with the logos of the Police and Fire departments.

But the Department of Sanitation?

After several months on the market, the bestselling item from the official New York City line is a distressed brown cap with a frayed bill and light blue DSNY patch -- a fact that startled John J. Doherty, the city's sanitation commissioner, who didn't initially think much of the design.

"I was taken back a little," he said. "I thought, 'Why are we using this beat-up hat?' When I go out, I put on a decent baseball hat. But everybody said, 'That's what they love out there.' "

The popular cap -- available in city souvenir stores and carried nationally by Target since July -- exemplifies how New York has sought to harness the power of its brand through a canny marriage of promotion and fashion.

Sales from the merchandise line, which can be purchased at a new online store, at officialnycshop.com, are expected to top more than $20 million annually. Royalty fees will go to fund city departments.

Up next: a photo campaign featuring city workers modeling the apparel.

"We want to give people who are already in love with New York the chance to show that pride," said Kimberly Spell, spokeswoman for NYC Marketing, the local development corporation charged with promoting the city's image. "Our hope is that if we get enough people like James Gandolfini and Sarah Jessica Parker wearing our stuff, it will catch on with the rest of the country."

The idea grew out of New York's failed efforts to persuade Olympic officials to choose the city as the site of the 2012 Games. In the process, city officials discussed the global appeal of the New York name and realized that they had a ready-made label.

"We started thinking about it, that we do have this wonderful brand," said Lloyd Haymes, vice president of licensing for NYC Marketing. "If there's so much popularity for the city, there's probably a demand for the markings and logos most closely associated with the city."

Several departments, including the NYPD, had already licensed products with their logos, which proved especially popular after the Sept. 11 attacks. But there was no centralized city licensing office, which led to inconsistent quality and a flood of counterfeit items on the market.

"It's safe to say there were millions of dollars that the city never saw," Haymes said.

Last year, NYC Marketing announced that it was consolidating the city's intellectual property under one authority and developing a new line of casual apparel and souvenirs, each with an official hang tag or holographic decal to indicate its authenticity, much like those found on sports apparel.

Manufacturers submitted bids to develop merchandise for seven agencies that city marketers believed would have the broadest appeal. (The Department of Transportation made the cut, but as of now, there are no plans for gear from the Affordable Housing Resource Center or the Mayor's Office of Contract Services.)

The goal: to create a unique look for each department.

For Parks and Recreation, that meant a "green, athletic" theme to appeal to environmentalists and outdoor enthusiasts. Apparel includes a grass-green Central Park T-shirt, which depicts the park's famed fountain, for $19.99, and a simple green baseball cap emblazoned with the department's leaf insignia for $14.99.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission line aimed for a nostalgic, old-time New York look by incorporating the traditional black-and-yellow check design on its T-shirts and mugs. "We were looking for a bit of a retro feel," said Commissioner Matthew W. Daus.

Over at the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, Commissioner Katherine Oliver came up with the idea of applying the agency's "Made in NY" logo to a line of fashionable hoodies and black baby tees.

"If we have an upscale line, this is it," Haymes said.

The Department of Sanitation offered a different opportunity -- to tap into the hipster trend. One denim-blue T-shirt features the image of a garbage truck and the line: "Clanging Your Cans Since 1929."

"We thought there could be a unique way to spin it as a hip, grunge feel, a little bit edgy," Haymes said.

Jerry Koske, division manager for brands at Drew Pearson Marketing, the headwear company that developed the top-selling Sanitation cap, said a big part of its success was its color.

"Brown has been really strong in the market," he said. "And it's the whole dirty, grungy look, sort of oil-stained. It's a new technique in headwear."

Whatever the reason, the city's sanitation commissioner said he was thrilled.

"In New York City, we really don't get too much coverage unless there's a big snowstorm -- then we're darlings of the city," Doherty said. "Just to hear that the hat was outselling some police and fire items, I was ecstatic. To me, that means people like Sanitation."
"

Santa dons hardhat after mince pie attack�

2006-12-23T11:41:00.000-05:00

Santa dons hardhat after mince pie attack�|�Oddly Enough�|�Reuters.com:

"LONDON (Reuters) - Father Christmas was forced to swap his traditional red and white hat for protective headgear after children pelted him with mince pies in Scotland.

Santa was hit on the head by pastries thrown from a balcony as he handed out gold chocolate coins at a shopping center in the town of Paisley, near Glasgow, at the weekend.

'Health and safety is paramount,' center manager Andrew MacKinnon said Wednesday. 'We issued him with a yellow hardhat equipped with a pair of reindeer antlers to make it look more festive.'

He said a gang of local 'neds,' or yobs, threw the pies before running off. Last year, the centre's Father Christmas was set upon by youths calling a him a 'fraud and a fake.'"

Fashion Trend: Men’s Hats

2006-12-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

Fashion Trends - Fashion Trend: Men’s Hats:

"It is not often fashion trends keep you warm and look cool, but men’s hats are a key trend this winter.

Celebrities including Kate Moss, Sadie Frost and Keira Knightley show how the right headgear can look ultra stylish.

Moss prefers to step out in a man’s fedora, while Knightley has been photographed in a bowler hat. Lindsay Lohan has also been snapped in a funky grey Fedora, while Frost looked ultra chic recently in a black trilby.

The trend for mannish headgear has been a hot seller in several boutiques. Brix Smith- Start owner of the London Boutique Start told Grazia magazine:

'We ordered in loads of top hats, fedoras and trilbies this season, and we have only one left.'

'When a woman puts on a guy’s hat she feels empowered and cheeky, and she looks intellectual and edgy.'"

Hat World's bid for rival helps it add 49 store

2006-12-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

Hat World's bid for rival helps it add 49 stores | IndyStar.com:

"Hat World is buying rival Hat Shack, furthering the Indianapolis company's plans to get ahead in the nearly $2 billion industry.

The deal, valued at $18 million, will add 49 stores to Hat World's existing chain of more than 700.

Its stores in malls and airports across North America operate under the Lids, Lids Kids, Hat Zone, Head Quarters and Cap Connection brand names.

Hat Shack, based in Marietta, Ga., has stores in 10 states, primarily in the Southeast.

Only 19 of the 49 Hat Shack stores are in the same malls where Hat World has stores.

'The acquisition is unlikely to have major infrastructure implications in Indianapolis,' wrote Ken Kocher, president of Hat World, in an e-mailed statement. 'We will be folding the Hat Shack business into our own, and any job reductions would be in cases where positions overlap.'

Hat World, a subsidiary of Nashville, Tenn.-based Genesco, is the largest sports headwear retailer in North America. It started in 1995 as a single store at Tippecanoe Mall in Lafayette, Ind.

Genesco, a publicly traded company that sells shoes through stores such as Journeys and Johnston & Murphy, bought Hat World in 2004.
"

Byrnie Utz Hats / Has a head for what we want

2006-12-10T13:01:00.000-05:00

The Seattle Times: Pacific NW 12/10/2006: Byrnie Utz Hats / Has a head for what we want:

"Jan. 20, 1961: John F. Kennedy's inauguration. A dark day for men's hats. He stepped up to the dais bareheaded. Jackie wore a smart little pillbox. That was it. Hats off for men, hats on for women. But milliners have always had help from the movies; 'Maltese Falcon' to 'Urban Cowboy' to 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' (The classic Stetson Temple, modeled after Indiana Jones' hat, is still the company's No. 1 seller.) Be it berets, boaters, bonnets, derbies . . . the hat has always had its staunch supporters: Magritte, Churchill, Lincoln, Wolfe. Mad hatters, all. And now? The nation's gone casual. Baseball caps, ski hats and their ilk. No matter. Since 1934 hats of all manner have been found, sitting 20,000 strong, at Byrnie Utz Hats in downtown Seattle. Shawn Ferry, Byrnie Utz vice president whose hat of preference is the derby, sizes up the chapeau.

Q: Who buys a quality hat these days?

A: We get a wide range of people. From the younger people it's all fashion, like with the Kangols, to the 80- to 90-year-old guys who've been wearing hats their whole life. And we're getting a lot more people who buy straw hats to keep out of the sun.

Q: What is the worst breach of hat etiquette?

A: There's not too much of the "when you step inside you have to take your hat off" anymore. Maybe in church or really nice restaurants.

Q: How many hats should a gentleman have?

A: A lot of the guys will have maybe two or three. One for summer, one for winter. I have somewhere around 60, but I've worked here on and off since I was 10.

Q: Most inexpensive to expensive?

A: From $6, a cotton bucket-shaped casual hat, to $675, a Panama hat handwoven from strands of Ecuadorean toquilla grass.

Q: How can one tell a fine hat?

A: Most of the nice felt ones are either going to be rabbit or beaver fur, and you can feel the difference between that and wool.

Q: How should one care for one's hat?

A: The main thing is to handle it by the brim rather than the crown. Don't dry it fast or leave it in the back window of the car. If they dry naturally at room temperature you don't get problems with shrinking.

Q: The baseball hat: The end of civilization as we know it?

A: It gives you a false sense of shade. Farmers who wear them were getting a lot of skin cancer on their noses and on their ears and the backs of their necks. It only shades your eyes, as opposed to the protection a brim all the way around your eyes gives you."

And a red time was had by all

2006-12-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

Rushville Republican - And a red time was had by all:

"Christmas colors were changed to red and purple Thursday evening as several chapters of the Red Hat Society gathered together for the annual holiday party.

Rush County chapters represented were the Red Revelers, Red Hot Flashes, Golden Grammies, Classy Lassies, Crimson Queens, Red Hat Mommas and Scarlet Biddies. Visiting from Okeechobee, Fla., was Sydney Snedegar of the Real Extra-ordinary Dames.

The delicious buffet-style meal at Center Christian Church was prepared and served by the Loyal Workers, a women’s group, and their “apprentices.” The latter nomenclature was decided upon since, “You won’t expect so much from us if we’re apprentices,” one of the well-dressed and gracious male servers said.

Grace for the scrumptious repast was given by Ramona Wilkinson.

The red and pink hatted gals then learned how to decorate their colorful chapeau. The evening’s program was put on by the Traveling Red Hat Boutique.

“You don’t have to come to me, I came to you,” the speaker, who wished to remain anonymous, said. She and her able assistant gave a demonstration of decorating a red gambler hat with a variety of items including a half-a-hackler, scarves, hat bands and boas.

A Red Hatter herself, she makes one-of-a-kind, custom decorated hats.

Among the Red Hat items available for purchase were flashing red glasses and teeth, lace gloves and shawls, T-shirts, umbrellas and many types of red or pink headgear.

Winners of the evening’s drawings were Alberta Adams (a purple tree) and Janice Burkett (a red tree).

The Red Hat Mommas’ lively rendition of Christmas songs provided the entertainment, then came the gift exchange. In an unexpected semblance of organization, all the Queen Mothers got grab-bag gifts from a central table to distribute to each table of celebrants.

Rosie Chance read a left-right Christmas story with the women passing the packages to their left or right as they heard these directions woven into the holiday tale. Eventually, after many a left and right reversal, each party-goer got to unwrap a parcel.

The festive holiday decorations for the evening were done by Ann Fenimore and Muriel Moore.

The Red Hat Society has had chapters in Rush County since 2001.

“When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple – with a red hat that doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.” That’s the first lines of a Jenny Joseph poem, which has been adopted by the Red Hat Society.

Referred to fondly by many as a “disorganization,” there are no rules for the various chapters. That’s part of its appeal for the 75 to 100 Red Hat Society members in seven chapters in Rush County. Members under age 50 are welcomed, but wear pink hats.

The Ditsie Chicks, the first local chapter, was “disorganized” in the fall of 2001 when a group of women realized they hadn’t laughed since Sept. 11. So the group got together to share frivolity, affection and enthusiasm for life.

Donning red hats and purple outfits, the Ditsie Chicks became an inspiration to others in the area.

According to the Red Hat Society’s Web site (www.redhatsociety.com) “there are no official rules, but we do have some rather strong suggestions.” Emphasis is placed on wearing a red hat and clashing purple ensemble to meetings, as well as the younger members wearing pink and lavender until “the birthday.” The main aim is to have fun and let out the “little girl inside.”"

Founder of Stratton Hats was known for his fedoras

2006-12-09T14:10:00.000-05:00

Founder of Stratton Hats was known for his fedoras:

"MANATEE COUNTY -- Steve Stratton never left his Bradenton home without wearing one of his fedoras.

The soft felt hats were his trademark -- perfect for a man who founded one of the nation's largest hat manufacturing companies.

Stratton, founder of Stratton Hats, was a well-known member of the local Greek community.

He died Wednesday at age 101.

Stratton came to the United States from a village near Sparta, Greece, with his mother when he was 17 years old. The family was poor and came to this country with very little.

After he arrived, Stratton took a job working for his uncle's dry cleaning shop in Illinois.

That was where he learned how to take care of hats, and got the idea to start a company to make them.

His company would become one of the country's largest makers of uniform hats.

Today, Stratton Hats makes mostly hats for law enforcement.

'I fell in love with the hats,' Stratton said in a 2005 interview with the Herald-Tribune. 'I felt like I was creating something with my own hands.'

The hat business enabled Stratton and his wife to support their three children during the Great Depression. Sometimes, that meant working 24-hour shifts to fill orders.

'He was a self-taught man,' said his daughter, Elaine Lampros of Sarasota. 'I'm so proud of the life that he laid for himself and his family.'

He came to Bradenton 35 years ago and became involved with St. Barbara's Greek Orthodox Church at Lockwood Ridge and Tallevast roads.

When he wasn't working, he enjoyed reading and keeping up with current events.

As he aged, he would listen to books on tape from the library about history and politics.

But around town, and at St. Barbara's, he was known as the man with the hats.

'He was in church every week, and always beautifully dressed,' said the Rev. Frank M. Kirlangitis.

'He always has a smile and a 'good morning.''

Stratton's family sent one of his hats to Chicago to be buried with him.

St. Barbara's will have a ceremony in about 40 days, which is the traditional Greek mourning period.

The family is still finalizing the plans. "

Crowning Glory

2006-12-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

The included photo gallery of 45 hats is not to be missed.

Crowning Glory:

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If you think you're not a "hat person," think again.

Click here for a gallery of this season's hottest hats, runway-style.
(Having problems? Check your pop-up blocker)

Hats dominated the fall runways, with styles ranging from the unexpected (we saw more than a few top hats), to the adorable (nothing beats a classic beret), to the more avant-garde (equestrian hats seemed to be the hat du jour). Everyone from Sonia Rykiel, John Galliano, Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui topped off their looks with hot hats, which made us wonder-can we really pull off a hat?

After all, wearing a hat takes some guts. First off, it's not like nobody will notice, so you have to be ready to make a statement when you walk in a room. Secondly, they're a tricky accessory; you have to find the right one for you and, most importantly, feel comfortable in it. There's no need to just jump on every trend. Believe it or not, there is a technique to wearing them. John Callanan, the head designer of the hat company Dorfman Pacific, explains how to wear a hat without looking...well...stupid.

ELLEgirl: How does a hat virgin go about finding the right hat?
John Callanan: Everyone is a hat person once she finds the right shape. Like any fashion or hairstyle, you have to find a style that enhances your natural beauty. Short statures should avoid large brims so that they don't look like a mushroom, and tall girls should keep away from small brims to avoid looking like a pin head. If you are short, look for a hat with an upturned brim as the admirer's eye will always go to the highest point, so it is a tricky way to add height. A girl who feels too tall should wear a downturn brim to illusionary subtract a few inches. Girls with beautiful oval faces should avoid baseball caps and rounded cloche (bell) shapes. A round cap on an oval shapes is just one big circle. An oval face should wear a fedora style as the creased brim and crown will help to break up the oval.

EG: What are the big hat trends for fall?
JC: Faux fur troopers are still hot, [as are] newsboys and small brimmed fedoras for clubbing.

EG: Any tricks to avoid 'hat hair'?
JC: If you are going to wear a hat, then let the hat become your hair. Slick your hair back in to a low pony tail at the nape of the neck. This will show your beautiful swan neck. The hat will frame you sparkling eyes.

EG: You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of hat she wears. What do some of the different styles say about a person?
JC: Fedoras have a mysterious look. Often worn at a jaunty angle so the viewer only see one eye, it says 'I am not revealing everything all at once.' The newsboy says 'I am casual, sporty and one of the boys.' The cloches say 'I am a diehard romantic.'

EG: Is there a universal hat that just looks good on everyone?
JC: Probably the newsboy. It has enough volume to allow the wearer to play with it until she finds the shape that works with her face or mood. The visor gives enough shadow for the mysterious look. Newsboys are really a stylized beret with a visor.

So you can wear a visor AND be stylish? Who knew... "

Yarmulkes, black hats and streimels

2006-12-01T08:09:00.000-05:00

Cleveland Jewish News.com -- News:

"In the 800 years from the 13th century to the present, Orthodox Jewish men have worn a bewildering array of some 40-odd types of headgear, ranging from turbans to cone-shaped hats. Many have been worn voluntarily, and others have been mandated by the counties where Jews resided. Today, three main types of headgear are prevalent in the Orthodox world in Israel and the Diaspora: yarmulkes, black hats and streimels.

Yarmulkes - Some authorities believe it is a Yiddish word derived directly from Polish; others, that it is a shortened form of two Aramaic words yarei meelokha (one who fears G-d). These head coverings are known in Hebrew as kipot and are further classified as kipot serugot (knit kipot); black kipot made of cloth or leather; and white, knitted kipot with a tassel, the last one worn under hats by some Chasidic sects.

Kipot serugot are often crocheted or knitted by girls for their boyfriends and decorated with the boy's name in Hebrew and/or English, with Magen Davids, or with an endless array of artistic patterns along the kipah's borders. Detailed instructions for crocheting kipot serugot are found in the First Jewish Catalog.

In Israel, if you wear a kipah serugah, you are classified as Modern Orthodox, serve in the Army, and usually support the Modern Orthodox political parties. In America, the kipah serugah generally classifies you as Modern Orthodox and usually a supporter of the Religious Zionist movement, but it does not indicate any specific political affiliation.

Ornate kipot are prevalent throughout the Jewish world, especially among Sephardic communities. Colorful kipot from Morocco, India, Persia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Turkey and Bukhara are often seen on display in Israeli museums or on the heads of men along the Western Wall. Americans are attracted to the large, ornate, Bukharan kipot, and these are often seen in local Orthodox and Conservative synagogues.

Probably the most ubiquitous kipah in America is the large black silk or polyester kipah found at entrance boxes to synagogues. Others are custom-made for weddings. They're inscribed with the names of the bride and groom and the date of the wedding. These kipot also can come in a wide range of colors and fabrics, including velvet and ultrasuede.

A smaller, plain black kipah, either knitted, solid heavy cloth, or leather, is the preferred head covering worn by many Jews both in Israel and America. It may be worn alone or under a black hat or streimel. Black kipah wearers are generally religiously to the right of kipah serugot wearers and have no strong political affiliations either in Israel or America, although they lean to Agudah Israel, Degel HaTorah, Shas, and similar rightwing parties. There are no set rules on kipah style, and many Modern Orthodox adherents may also wear black kipot.

A black, usually wide-brimmed fedora worn by itself, or over a kipah, is quite common in the yeshiva world, and many young boys acquire one as part of their bar mitzvah outfit. In Israel, a smaller, derby-style brim usually denotes a rosh yeshiva principal. Lubavitch Chasidim usually wear a black, smaller-brimmed black hat.

The streimel is an expensive, round fur hat made of mink, sable or fox fur tails. It is worn by many Chasidic sects stemming from Romania or Galicia; they include the Sanz, Satmar, Belz, Vishnitz and Klozenberg Chasidim. Streimels can cost between $500 to $2,000 each. Chasidim from Poland and Lithuania, such as the Gur and Amshenov sects, tend to wear a high-crowned fur hat called a spodik, which despite its size, is usually cheaper than the standard streimel since it incorporates all of the animal's fur, not just the tails. Because of costs, synthetic furs have begun to penetrate the streimel market.

A streimel or spodick is positive evidence that the wearer is an ultra-Orthodox Jew. Streimels are usually first worn by Chasidim at their bar mitzvah or wedding. Until then, they generally wear round-brimmed, low, black hats. Streimel wearers generally connote a visitor to Cleveland, since there are no local streimel or spodick-wearing sects.

With so much contemporary emphasis on headgear, one would think that the wearing of head coverings by males goes back to Biblical times. Not true. There are no Biblical commandments for men to wear headgear. The closest connection comes in a description of the priestly garb in Exodus 28:4, 37, 40 where the high priest was instructed to wear a mitre, and the lesser priests, turbans.

In Talmudic times, the covering of the head as an expression of the fear of G-d, yirat shamayim, was a practice of many Babylonian scholars, but according to Talmud (Nedarim 30b), it was optional. As late as the Middle Ages, French and Spanish rabbinical scholars followed this ruling and often prayed and studied bareheaded.
Streimels, above, and black fedora, below.

In the 17th century, Rabbi David Halevy of Ostrog argued that since Christians prayed bareheaded, Jews should cover their heads because of the injunction against following non-Jewish customs. Over the past three centuries, the custom of covering the head has become a cornerstone of Orthodox Jewish religiosity.

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U.S. troops doff hats to cap maker in Sebastian

2006-12-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

TCPalm: Lifestyle:

"If she's not sprucing up her home, out running the occasional errand or entertaining one of her multitude of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Sebastian resident June Helen Fey, encouraged by her husband, James, is likely in her favorite stuffed chair crocheting.

For sport? No. For pleasure? Well, perhaps.

What it's all about is showing the American soldiers in Iraq how much she, and by extension the American people back home, cares. She's making under-helmet caps to keep the troops' heads warm during the winter nights and sufficiently cushioned during the summer days. After all, even in combat, comfort counts.

Crocheting: 'That's my joy in life now,' said Fey.

Colors?

Shades of camouflage, whether it's an earth tone or other hue. Obviously, soldiers in combat do not want to stand out.

All she's asking in return is for those soldiers to do her a favor:

'Tip your caps for me,' she says.

A dozen soldiers in one unit repaid her kindness with a group photo and kept their hats on so they could better model the gifts.

Fey, 77, has been doing her thing, alone and unaided, since March at her own expense.

She picks up the yarn at a local store — usually Red Heart camouflage — and makes between two and four caps a day, which she takes to the post office for delivery. Isn't it about time she got a little help from veterans groups?

Representatives of both the Marine Corps League of Barefoot Bay and Sebastian's American Legion Post 189 said they would see what they could do about pitching in to help lighten the load on Fey.

For Fey, helping servicemen achieve a superior level of ease is apparently a family tradition.

'My mother made hats for sailors during World War II,' she said.

It was Fey's daughter, Helen Leo Fey, who got her started on the current project. The younger Fey, whom her mother describes as 'the best crocheter in the world,' is a member of a crochet club in New York.

The elder Fey was already making hats for her grandchildren in New York, which is a full-time job on its own since she has more than two dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren combined, when her daughter suggested Fey ship similar hats to the soldiers. Fey did so, first through her daughter and then on her own.

'I just love making them for the soldiers, and hope to keep them safe and warm,' she said. 'I say prayers while I make them, and I hope that helps. I can't wait to finish my work — chores and shopping — to get to making the hats.'
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