New Colors for the 'Drake' Fedora

Those who have seen me out and about know that the 'Drake' is my favorite go-to everyday hat. Its balance of curvaceous lines and geometric trim always make me feel sharp when wearing one. I couldn't resist making several of them in a range of gorgeous colors from our new luxury felt supplier.

Butternut. Rich gold with matching trim.

Tomato red. 'Tomato' is a lovely bright scarlet halfway between red and orange. I have a favorite vintage leather jacket from the 1960s in just the same color, and wear one of these with it often.

Apple green. I'm crazy about yellow-greens and olive, and this color fits right in. You may have seen me wearing one of these in the photos in this San Francisco Chronicle article.

Brandy brown with evergreen ribbon. When I purchased a big bag of the gorgeous vintage mother of pearl buttons used in the trim on the 'Drake' a while back, I was surprised and pleased to find how much variation there is in the color of the natural shells the buttons are made from. Some of the buttons are white with diamond-like multi-colors inside, others are a mellow tan-gold color, others are smoky gray with blue, purple and pink iridescence within.  For each color of 'Drake', I choose buttons that best match each other and the hat. 

Camel with spice-brown ribbon.

The 'Drake' fedora is available in all of these colors, plus basic black, in our Etsy store now.

New Mini Top Hat Styles for Fall / Winter 2013

Here are all of our *new* mini top hat styles for Fall / Winter 2013.

While designing new hats for this season, I decided to approach one of the new styles a little bit differently than usual- rather than beginning to design from some idea for ribbonwork I'd like to try, or some other aspect of trim as the jumping-off point for design, I decided to think about feathers as my primary source of inspiration. I really enjoy working with and manipulating feathers, each type has different properties and behaves differently (depending on the part of the body and the bird it comes from), so it's fun to experiment and see what each type will do under the various forms of stress I put them through. After countless hours spent curling, stripping, ironing, dyeing, bleaching, cutting, and steaming feathers to create different effects, it's still a lot of fun! I think of each of the hats in 'The Bird Series' as a little song of thanks and admiration for the material and its source.

The 'Peacock' mini top hat is made with lush, high-quality fur felt in navy blue, with royal blue and apple green silk veiling, and a ribbon cockade in blue and green tones, all to coordinate with the colors and natural markings of the feathers. A special arrangement of hand-curled Peacock eye and sword feathers sprays out from behind the cockade.

The 'Golden Pheasant' mini top hat is made with lush, velvet-finish black fur felt, copper-colored silk veiling, and a ribbon cockade in camel and chocolate finished with a brass button center, all to coordinate with the colors and natural markings of the feathers. Two long hand-curled Golden Pheasant tail feathers complete the composition.

Another hat shaped using the same blocks as the hats shown above, saucy 'Simone' is made from high-quality fur felt, and trimmed yards and yards of vintage silk tulle veiling wound around the crown, dipping over the brim to make a birdcage veil, and looped up into a large bow at the back. The loops of the bow are held in place with hat pins tipped with honeycomb-shaped finials made to match the hat felt. The 'Simone' is available in black, charcoal gray, and purple plum.

The 'Madge' mini top hat is made from high quality long-nap fur felt, polished to a high shine. Trimmed with drape-y crocheted vintage veiling that gives a bit of peek-a-boo over one eye, and a vintage ribbon band and bow. The bow is large and asymmetrical, finished with a sparkly Art Deco-era antique cut steel buckle. It's shaped using the same blocks as our popular 'Wellington' and 'Sabrina' styles- a classic Mad Hatter style top hat with straight sides and a slightly domed top. Available in black with silver gray trim, or loden with apple green trim.

And finally, the 'Astrid'- another petite mini top hat shaped using the same blocks as our ever-popular 'Una' and 'Belle Epoch' styles. This one is all about the cockade! This jaunty ladies hat is made from lush, high-quality fur felt, with a huge hand-made cockade of vintage ribbon. The cockade is backed with a bow with fringed ends on its tails, and finished with a delicately etched metal button. Hand-curled Silver Pheasant feathers. Available in black with black and ice gray / green trim, or in chocolate brown with trim in brown tones.

All of these styles are available for sale now in our Etsy store.

Fall / Winter 2013 Product Announcement Schedule

We've been working hard to get all the new styles finished, photographed, and announced to the world as quickly as we can. A first batch of things came out earlier today, with lots more to follow. Here's a loose schedule of our product releases and design goals for the rest of the year, for those interested.

The first batch of hats for Fall / Winter 2013 included 30 new styles, 15 of which were just posted to our Flickr page. These 15 are all ladies mini top hats. Some of them are on our Etsy shop now, the rest should be posted there for sale within 48 hours.

The next set of photos will include 15 more ladies hat styles: fedoras, pillboxes, riding hats, 1930s/1940s-inspired goodness, and others. These should be posted by the end of this week.

Meanwhile, I've *just* received our latest set of new hat blocks from the brilliant Guy Morse Brown Hat Blocks, a whole new range of custom cloche shapes, and prototyping for the new designs made with those starts this week. I'm also working on new mens styles for fall, and a few little ladies whimsies for the holidays, all of which should be out around the end of October.

Then I'll go straight into design for Bridal and Spring / Summer 2014, to be completed by the end of the year.

As you can see, we've got a busy schedule planned for the next few months, and orders are already rolling in. If you'd like to buy a hat for the holidays, try to get your order in as early as you can, to be sure we can deliver in time for your deadline. Once we sell the original sample, all subsequent hats in that style are made on-demand, and our production queue is already at 4-6 weeks for styles that aren't currently in stock. Please keep in mind that, in addition to our ready-to-wear styles, we are also very happy to do custom work- see a style you like, but want it in a different color? Have an idea for a new hat style that you'd like to discuss? We look forward to hearing from you!

Fall / Winter 2013: New Colors for Popular Styles

The photos for our new styles are rolling in now!

Lot of mini top hats are in the mix. Here are some new colors in popular styles from past seasons.

Our 'Una' mini top hat has been a best-seller. It's made with a glossy long-napped fur felt, polished to a high shine, and trimmed with vintage ribbon and veiling. Since we've got the antique lace-edged veiling in chocolate and navy in addition to black, we're branching out this season with more color options.

Camel with chocolate trim.  This trim would also look great with a medium or darker brown felt- just ask, if you'd like to order an alternate felt color. But if you like the brown veiling, better move fast, we only have enough left to make one additional hat!

And another 'Una' in vibrant purple with navy trim. On this one, the purple felt is vintage too, and extremely limited.

The navy trim also looks great with felt in navy or pale blue- available upon request. There is only enough of the veiling in navy (and in black) to make less than 10 more hats. The silk veiling used in this style is a rare antique item, it's unlikely that we'll ever find more, so the 'Una' is a very limited edition.

The 'Una' is made using our 'Belle Epoch' block set, the most petite mini top hat style in our collection. For more information about hat blocks and how hats are made, see this previous post.

There are new colorways for the 'Viola' also. This style also sports hand-curled feathers and vintage ribbon trim, but the blocks used are slightly larger than those for the 'Una', so it's still a mini but closer to a full-size hat in scale.

Cherry with black trim.

 

And bronze with chocolate trim.

Here's our latest addition to the 'Wellington' line, in a luminous raspberry pink long-napped felt with burgundy trim. It's got a hand-pleated band, and a large ribbon bow backed with huge vintage popcorn veiling that gives a bit of peek-a-boo over one eye. As you can see in the photos, the 'Wellington' is very different than the other mini top hats in our range- with straight sides and a slightly rounded top, it has a classic Mad Hatter shape.

Here's our 'Sabrina', previously available only in black, this time in deep sable with trim in brown tones. Natural colored 'badger' rooster hackle feathers ring the crown. Antique bronzed glass beads give a bit of sparkle through the veiling across the front. It's made using the same blocks as the 'Wellington', shown above.

These are all available now in our Etsy shop.  

There are lots more new styles coming up in the next few days, so stay tuned.