P.S.-Pooh Says...

"What day is it? - 'It's today' - squeaked Piglet. 'My favourite day' - said Pooh."- A.A. Milne

19 January 2014

A Case of the Mad Hatters

  Anne Sainte-Marie via

Did you know that this week we celebrated National Hat Day!??  Who knew! Maybe it is too much Downton viewing that has given me a case of the Mad Hatters, but I have hats on the head!



I am fascinated with how hats were a staple for every woman's wardrobe no matter her status.  Hats and gloves and a good bag and off she would go...but I will never figure out no matter how many hat pins were involved how she dealt with her hair? 

 Jean Shrimpton via
 I cannot imagine there was enough hair spray in the world to deal with putting on and taking off a hat several times in each day.  
 Yet in every classic film I have ever watched it is done with grace and never a hair out of place--could be a wardrobe mistress and hair and makeup artists standing by, but hats were as common in real life as jeans are today. 

Tania Mallet in a Madame Paulette stiffened net picture hat, photo John French. London, UK, 1963 via
 Hats defined the elegance and glamour of an age that so many of us look to for our fashion muses. Fashion photographers and editors rarely portrayed style without one.  A hat simply finished the look...

 Grace via
 ...and in some cases created an icon.


 In the UK, hats remain a must for special occasions. Here we don them for Derby and the occasional wedding, a straw hat for the beach, and of course a baseball hat for a bad hair day...but we have yet to go back to everyday hat glam.


Honestly, I have yet to find a hat that sits well on my head and even when it is cold and snowy I hesitate to put on a hat because of what taking it off would do to even the most basic ponytail.  Yet, this winter I am craving a yummy knit hat--
...OK, maybe not as stunning as the hats photographed by Cecil Beaton nor as eye catching as a Royal Ascot topper, but warm and fuzzy and cute as anything!  Hair?  Who cares!  I have to have one!!    I think I hear the needles calling!