Fall / Winter 2010 is coming together

I've been taking a break from the blog, and most other things, as I get everything for my fall / winter 2010 collection together.

Over the last few months, I've been working with my hat block maker in the UK, designing blocks for my new men's line. The line includes a trilby, a center dent / homburg, a boater, and a bowler. The first set, in my sample size (23"), is being made right now. After those arrive, if they look ok I'll order the same styles in other sizes so I have Small / Medium / Large to choose from in each shape. Having custom blocks made is a long process, starting with weeks or months of sending pictures, questions, ideas, etc. back and forth by email to work out the details before ordering. From when the order is placed, it takes at least a month to arrive. But it's so worth it to have just what you need.

For the ladies, I'm making one or two full-size fedora styles, plus some tiny feathery and/or ribbony cocktail hats, and some mini top hats and bowlers.

I just finished making final decisions on colors & materials for all the styles I'm making, and created a giant swatch book that has sketches and materials samples for everything in all the color combinations. It's going to be my constant companion for the next few months. Looking at everything I WANT to make, I'm starting to realize that I may need to cut it back to a fewer number of options, and maybe do another set of colors around the holidays. The only thing I have left to decide is feathers for the men's hats, but I may need to have the hats made and in front of me first, to try out the proportions with different types of feathers. My creative process revolves around the materials themselves, I'm more of a draper than a drawer when it comes to designing.

I've also just ordered all the materials I need to make the samples, except for one type of feather. My next new project will be dying feathers to match materials colors, and I'm considering between a couple of options for dye-able feathers.