Stephen Jones Hat Competition

Thanks so much to everybody who voted for me in the Stephen Jones hat competition! I truly appreciated all your support and kind words. I came in at 23rd place out of about 550 entries, with about 350 votes (they've taken the vote counts down now so I can't check the exact number). I'm completely thrilled and so grateful. Also, my entry received 4695 page views, an amazing amount of exposure. What a fun project and a fantastic opportunity.

The voting is over now. It's been a great experience and I'm really happy with the results. Stephen Jones, and Dolly Jones of British Vogue, will be making their final choice of winner and runner-ups to be announced on August 26th. Whatever happens, I'm planning to attend the opening of Jones' museum exhibition 'Hats, an Anthology' in mid-September. I'm busily working on a new outfit for the party in my free time (such as it is), part of which will be made by Dark Garden Corsetry, and I'll make the rest and a hat to match (of course). See you there?

House of Nines Design in Bill Cunningham's 'On The Street' Easter 2011

A few weeks ago, I went with my friend Jason to see the fantastic, sweet, inspiring documentary 'Bill Cunningham New York'. Since the 1960s, Cunningham has been working as a street fashion and society photographer, publishing a weekly fashion spread in the New York Times, among others. He is very influential and well-respected in the international fashion community for his ability to spot trends, his eye for fun and beauty, and his encyclopedic knowledge of fashion history. And, he's a lovely person. You just HAVE to see it. During the movie and afterward, I had a sad little wish that someday he would see my work (his previous career was as a milliner), although I doubted this was ever likely to happen. Little did I know, by that time he had already seen my work and liked it enough to photograph it, include it in the spread and slideshow, and even use it as the thumbnail representing the slideshow on the NYT website. I'm beyond thrilled!!!

Here's the spread.

And here's the photo. This is a Belle Epoch mini top hat in 'mink' long-nap felt, with matching veiling, a large gray/green cockade, and pheasant feathers. I remember this hat very well, it was a joy to make, the colors are really subtle and were fun to work with. I love how happy the lady looks wearing it!

Here's a link to the full slideshow.

The hat was purchased earlier this year, perhaps specially to wear to the parade, from ADS Hats in San Francisco.