What is it about wearing a hat that boosts your ego, makes you feel great, and makes you stand taller? Is it the fact that it makes you stand out, or the connotations of real elegance and the need to show off the oldest, and most delightful, erogenous zone- the neck?
It seems the bigger the hat, the better we feel. The wider the brim, the more mysterious and alluring we appear.
Perhaps the joy we gain from wearing a hat comes from it's year-round appeal: come rain or shine, an accessory that is placed atop your head will prepare you for the day ahead.
Yesterday I met the man who first supplied the milliner Philip Treacy with his luscious materials, and has continued to do so ever since. In our conversation, he told me that their business relationship grew out of Mr Treacy's search to find the perfect white tissue paper to add to his creations. It seems that what we place on our heads, whether for decorative purposes or practical, there will always be someone at the root of production who gives a damn about the difference between pure white and off-white. It surely goes to show, then, that hats are, always have been, and always will be important.
Only recently have I, myself, started wearing hats. Never before did I consider myself a 'hat person', that infamous fashionista that wouldn't dream of leaving the house without finishing the polished look with a hat of some sort. Yet, here I stand, the conforming creature that only ever reserved hat appearances for weddings, now breaking free into a new territory of the chapeau type. Now, as far as I'm concerned, every day is Ascot.
Here are some looks to get us all in the headspace of the haute hat-wearer.
Photo credits: Goody Two-Choos, Purple, Rex, Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Brigitte Bardot, Harper's Bazaar
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