Never Seen - Hats!

Today, I'm featuring hats! I adore hats and I've collected a lot in the last 30 years. I have gotten rid of some of my hats and I do regret it. Ah well.

Non-Vintage

Okay, first the non-vintage ones - these are all hats that I've either bought new or acquired within the last 15 years that aren't vintage hats. My Holly Hobbie hat. I last wore this to the pub one Friday night about 15 years ago, when L and I were first dating. As we drove home, he was admiring the hat and rear-ended a car at a mid-block crosswalk. I had to go to hospital and get my knee stitched up and his car was a write-off (no one but me was hurt). I sued his insurance company and got enough money to pay off some debt and send us on a trip to Scotland a year later. Thanks for admiring my hat, love!This isn't really my style anymore, but I like to keep it stored away.

I bought this hat on our trip to Scotland, the summer before we got married. L loved it on me, so I bought it. I don't think I've ever worn it - but L has! He went as the Joker from Batman one year for Hallowe'en and this was part of his costume.

I keep it because it's lovely, but it's stored away in a box.I got nothing on my search for Gail Hek, so I guess she's stopped making hats.

It occured to me after I photographed this hat, that I don't actually like it very much. I should get rid of it.
Yeah, that's a big pile of blah.

I got it at Roberta's Hats about 6 years ago. I don't know, I wanted a red hat. I bought this hat in a shop in Vancouver when I was over for the Granville Island Writers' Conference about 8 years ago. I like the maribou feathers:And that's my feather boa. I wear that with my glamourous outfits - it's really warm!

I hadn't heard of the Red Hat Society when I bought this hat:I bought it at Eatons about 5 or 6 years ago for my friend Stay-C's wedding shower. Yes, I wore this out to a bar and danced my ass off in it. Heh.I'm just waiting for an excuse to wear it again.

And because I can't resist a straw hat, I picked this one up about 5 years ago: It's an awesome summer hat. I should wear it more. It was sold with the brim flipped up, but I prefer it down. Much more Audrey.

The UK chain Accessorize used to have a store here. I got this at a promo-night there about 4 years ago.Another one with the down-turned brim. I like that I can see through the brim and watch people.I see you! I wore this last summer for a baby shower: click here for a picture of me in it.
Goodness, I love all that flouffy business going on!

I got this hat last winter, but the weather is not quite here for me to wear it yet:It's fabric with wires - totally squishable and shape-able.

Home-Grown Vintage and a Trip to the 80s

These are hats that are squarely 80s, so are verging into vintage territory. I'm with Wendy Brandes on Growing Your Own Vintage: keep quality pieces!

I got this hat for Christmas, along with a matching scarf (long since gone), in 1985 or 86. It's from Fairweather, and it's wool.
I feel like I should be wearing some mondo shoulder pads with this!

The sides are a thick foam inside and the top is soft. I never wore this much but I always liked it. The last time I wore it was for our Lame Superhero party (you had to be a made-up superhero with some sort of goofy powers):
I was The Full Minty (my lame superpower was that I gave fresh breath). As you can tell, this was before I lost weight - that was about 4-5 years ago.

This is my 1980s top hat. L grabbed this for himself (ha!) out of his boss's wife's car trunk - she was on the way to donate it.Since he already had a top hat (a real one, very expensive) from the hat store, I claimed this - I'm sure it's a ladies' style anyway. I like that it flares out a bit at the crown and the brim curves up.

It's a Le Chateau piece:
I've loved Le Chateau since I was a teenager. It's always been "the" store to get the trendy items. I remember so many great Le Chateau items that I had in the 80s and 90s (and now! click here to see some of my Le Chateau new and second-hand items).

Here's a picture of me from about 10 years ago, getting ready to go out: Hee, I've got my long black gloves on. And those were my go-to shoes for years - an awesome pair of Nine West pumps (and that was a really pointy toe for the late 90s, I'll have you know!)

I've never worn this hat:

And I'm not really sure why I've kept it. L's colleague, Pauline, gave it to him to give to me. I like that it still has the thrift tag in it from the store she got it in:
It looks very Lady Di era, doesn't it?

Vintage

These are real vintage hats. I don't know how old they are (I'd guess 40s to 60s), but I didn't pay very much for any of them.

First up is a hat I have actually worn on the blog before, but I'm including it anyway, because the dark picture didn't do it justice:It's my flower pot hat! I spotted this in a consignment store, way up on a shelf. It was $24 and the elastic was broken (the elastic goes behind your ears and holds it on your head).I love the spike of feathers shooting out the top. I have worn this many, many times over the years, with all kinds of dresses. Unfortunately, no old pictures.
That's just a magnificent hat.

I call this one my flying saucer hat. I found it in a thrift store for a couple of dollars:Just looks kind of boring, doesn't it? But it's also got an elastic (which I also had to replace, like with the flower pot hat), and the edge inside is angled so it sits off to the side on your head:
It even still has the label!
I was on a hats-with-veils kick for a few years back in the late 90s, and found a couple of awesome vintage ones:
The netting has little velvet poufs. It's in good condition, only slight tears. The material is straw, with a velvet bow.

This one fits weird. It's really broad across the head.
The veil is in rough shape on this one. The rim of it is velvet, and the little beads are like a cellophane material:This one also still has its label:Here's a picture of me in my party clothes from about 11 years ago:Recognize the skirt? It's the one I wore to see Alice Cooper! Again in my gloves...they were a favourite for a while (they allow you to wear sleeveless in winter and keep your hands warm, and they also keep you from chowing down on food at parties). My whole outfit there is from Fairweather - I worked there for a few years in the late 90s while I was back at university.

I found this hat in a thrift store for a couple of bucks.
The spider pin was a birthday gift about 15 years ago. I should really take that off so I can wear it!

This hat has the goofiest shape. I am never quite sure how to wear it.

Here's the last time I wore it out:

This is about 5-6 years ago (no, you haven't lost your mind, the picture's in black and white), and you can see how uncomfortable I am about my weight. I'm trying to cover myself up...sad. I just want to give old me a hug.

This hat also still has its label. It's wool, and it does have a velvety finish...not sure if I'd call it deerskin, but okay!

This last hat was bought specifically for a party. We had to dress as our favourite person from the 20th century (so the party must have been around the end of 1999). I went as Mae West:

Yowza! Blonde wig, velvet floral dress (just got rid of that a couple of years ago), the ubiquitous long gloves (velvet ones this time), and a velvet fluffy boa.It's a giant hat. Whenever I wear it, people have to make room!
It's pretty spectacular, though, isn't it?

Here's another party picture from around 1999:
I think I'm drunk in that picture, hee hee. Gloves again! That purse will be making an appearance in the Accessories post, since I still have it. I loved that dress...*sigh*

Anyway, those are my hats! Hope you enjoyed them.