Hat Day at Bouquets to Art, April 23

I'm super excited about going to Hat Day at Bouquets to Art!

Every year they do an amazing event at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, where floral designers create displays inspired by pieces of art in the museum, and they're shown together. People also wear all kinds of crazy flower-related fashions, and fashions made of flowers. And they have a hat day with a hat contest. This year's hat day is on Friday April 23. I hope to see you there!

You can look a photos of past Bouquets to Art here and here.

Straw, Continued

Just in time for spring, this straw 'Kit Kat' derby with loads of colorful ribbonwork. Made of finely woven balibuntal straw, it has a big cockade finished with a silver button and springy red pheasant feathers.







Available now in my etsy shop.

I should have the rest of my straws finished in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for more photos.

Fez Friday: High Fashion Fez

A couture fez from John Galliano, Fall Winter 2010/2011

So glamorous!

Newest Retailer: The Dapper Cap, Portland

I've just returned from a fabulous long weekend in Portland.

To start, let me introduce my newest retailer, The Dapper Cap.

They have a wide selection, a beautiful showroom, and are just really cool and nice people to boot. Be sure to stop in next time you're in town! I'm really excited to add House of Nines to their long, international list of high quality brands, and feel a happy symbiosis coming on.

I'd never been to Portland before and really didn't know much about it beforehand. Portland is bigger, older, cooler, and way more stocked with everything fun than I expected. Fantastic food. Incredible cocktails. Great shopping. A really interesting mix of great old and great new architecture, and tons of fun old neon signs still in place and working. And everyone we met was so friendly and cool and eager to give us advice on stuff to do and see around town. Did I mention the cocktails? I can't wait to go back sometime and explore some more.

Here are a few more of my favorite Portland places:
Huber's Restaurant - Get the turkey dinner!!
Cassidy's
Clyde Common
Hotel Deluxe - Be sure to check out the Driftwood Room
Ray's Ragtime Vintage Clothing
Magpie Vintage Clothing

Bonus Hat of the Week: Edwardian Straw

Seeing as how the straw hat season is nearly upon us, I've been thinking a lot about straw as a material. How to use and showcase its natural qualities, and how to choose trims to compliment it. Here are photos of a beautiful straw hat from around 1905. I love how the brim outlines a graceful curve. And the frothiness of the ostrich trim is nicely offset by the plainness of a natural straw hat body, so the total effect is not as heavy and wedding-cake looking as hats from the period usually are.

Hat of the Week: Mr. John Junior Black & White Straw

This week, I've got boaters and boater-like hats on the brain. This 1950s or early 1960s hat by Mr. John Junior is boater-esque, but with a taller crown and wider brim. Thick black and white cellophane 'straw' woven into a checkery pattern. It would look sharp with a slim white dress, and black shoes and accessories...