Here are my picks to get you started.  I've chosen hats that  are custom made on order and can be adapted to any size or breed of dog. I also looked for hats that are comfortable for the dog ​ as well as cute. I stayed away from anything that was too elaborate to be sturdy or too intricate to be comfortable for the animal.

If you want more information on any of these hats, just click on the photo to go right to the Etsy store that sells the hat you like. Don't wait too long if you want Fido to go trick or treating with you and yours this year.  Most Etsy stores need two weeks or so to make and ship your hat to you.

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New York Fashion week ended yesterday and it didn't end with a whimper.  It was big and bold, featuring strong colors and contrasts, big bags and bodacious hats.  No Victorian frippery or soft lines and muted colors this season.  The  Spring 2013  collections were all about bold statement  from retro to space age,  and hats were definitely front and center.

The photo above, snapped on the street, by  fashion photographer, Candice Lake sums up the mood of NY Fashion week  perfectly. It's a composite that captures the brightness, the boldness,  and the sense of  retro chic that pervaded all the runway shows. Check out Candice Lake's  website for details and credits as well as more fabulous fashion photos..

 Its on to London next week, where, fresh from the Olympics, UK designers are poised to really take off. With the Brits taking the lead in millinery these days, there are bound to be some fabulous and totally innovative  hats.... stay tuned.  I'll be snooping.​​

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I'm a bit of a political junkie, so I have been glued to my TV  and I just could not escape those hats.  Hats were everywhere.-- and ARE everywhere at both conventions.   Elephants, donkeys and American flags and a lot of bi-partisan originality keep catching my eye-- last week and now.  Here some goodies from both conventions.

R​epublican  Hats

DEMOCRATIC HATS

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​Note the high crown which balances out the lavish floral decoration. and broad brim.  In those days, a hat was an integral part of an outfit and a lady never, ever went outside bare headed during the day.  A lady also wore gloves and didn't show her ankles.  I love the hats of this era with their broad brims and lavish adornment.

This one has a down-turned brim which leaves lots of room for  fruit and floral decor and flatters the rather narrow face of the wearer. The wide brims and high crowns balanced out the elaborate bouffant hair styles of the day.  Long, often ornate, hat pins secured the hat to the wearer's hair and kept it in place.​

This one is my favorite.  I love the ribbon and cabbage rose decoration and the rounded crown. Note that the fashion of the day decreed that these hats should be worn with high collared blouses to set off the wearer's face, hair and to make the hat look its best.  The idea was that a lady should have a long, swan-like neck and that her hat, like her hair, should be her crowning glory.  ​I don't know who this lady is, but she has a quiet elegance about her that I find quite appealing and I love the simple heart shaped locket she is wearing around her neck.

In the blink of history's eye, these hats came and went. Only a decade later the roaring twenties gave birth to the flapper, with her bobbed hair, short skirts and cloche hats and the lovely Edwardian ladies above were out of style.  Time and fashion moves on.​

I ran across  Zaphat this morning on TechCrunch​  and could barely believe  what I was reading. Zaphat goes way beyond fashion and personal style to gamesmanship and augmented reality.  Wearing a zaphat is like actually being your avatar.  It brings the whole " Second Life" thing to a whole new level.  It's a hat that is much much more than a fashion statement.

Here's how it works.  The logo on  a perfectly ordinary knit cap  acts as the target for an iOS/Android app that uses Augmented Reality to transform the wearer of the hat into an avatar Through the magic of tech, Clark Kent becomes Superman. Is that mind blowing or what? 

This is going to totally rock the youth market and the implications for the broader fashion world are  amazing.  Imagine this a fashion week in New York or Paris?

Go on over to Zappar.com to check it out and download the app yourself.   And stop by TechCrunch to read  the more detailed post over there.

Traditionally, Treacy puts it out there in a splendid, almost costume party way. 

Lady Gaga in her Philip Treacy Grammy hat

Restrained and Floral in Paris

But wait.  Look at his latest hats from this year’s Paris Couture Fashion Week which took place from July 1-5. On day three,  Treacy hats topped the heads of models  showing Didit Hediprasetyo’s Fall 2012  collection.  The theme was floral, the tone was delicate, and while Treacy did not abandon his traditional style, he toned it down enough to produce an integrated fashion statement on the runway.  The result was WOW.

 Here are a couple of examples— small elegant floral fascinators that do not overwhelm the outfit, but that give it that perfect, Philip Treacy finish.  H/t to   Justluxe.com and Voguemoment.com for the pix. 

I don’t know about you, but I find the more restrained elegance of these hats delightful and am hoping to see more of it in future.

There is no better place to get a good look at the classic cowboy hat than at The  Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada.  The annual ten day event, billed as the ” Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” kicked off this past Friday with the big parade and will continue for the next ten days. Thousands are drawn to Calgary every year for the Stampede which features everything from classic rodeo events to square dancing and country music.  This year is special because it marks the 100th anniversary of the event.

The opening parade took place the past Friday, July 6th. Needless to say,  there were cowboy hats everywhere.  Check out this selection of opening day parade photos from the Edmonton Journal. and go find even more on their website.

Calgary Cowboy Hats on Parade

Parade Grand Marshall, Ian Tyson, suitably hatted, waves to the crowd

Kids in Cowboy Hats. Does it get any better than that?

chowing down  in cowboy hats

Miss America showed up in a Cowboy hat at Calgary

Marching and playing in cowboy hats

The llittlest cowgirl is also the cutest

Happy 100th birthday and hats off to the annual Calgary Stampede— the greatest outdoor show on earth.  There’s still time to go and take part in all the fun. Check out the details here

Women have known for generations that excessive sun exposure  produces wrinkles and pre-mature aging. Back in the day, pale skin, untouched by the sun, was a sign of affluence and the suntan was sported only by those forced to do hard work outside under the  harsh rays of the sun— Girls who helped on the family farm wore sunbonnets and long sleeves in the hottest weather

 Back in the days before sunscreen, city women, from factory workers to ladies of leisure, wore wide brimmed hats with feathers and veils and carried parasols, not just for fashion, but to protect from the sun.

Today, there is ETSIS— a fashion right and scientific solution to sun protection that provides  comfortable, protection to women of all ages and all walks of life.

 About ETSIS

ETSIS was born out of a personal need. Company founder and CEO,Devra Wathen, had several pre-cancerous growths  removed from her face and neck a few years ago.

Facing the hot sun of her Hawaiian home was no longer an option for her.  She was under strict orders from her doctor to protect herself from the sun’s rays in order to avoid future skin cancers.

How to go out in the sun without looking like a beekeeper was the fashion problem?  ETSIS hats were Devra Walthen’s fabulous solution.

The hats, with their adjustable, snap-in panels,  protect not only the head, but also the face, cheeks, mouth and neck—areas which 95%of sunhats leave dangerously exposed.

In less than five years ETSIS hats have gained popularity all over the world and have also earned the approval of the Melanoma International Foundation.

There’s more information and an online store at the company website. Go on over and have a look.The site is so user friendly and full of beautiful pictures and useful information that you will definitely want to stay and look around. 

You can also find ETSIS on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s the grand and glorious Fourth of July— the day Americans celebrate their national day not with shows of military might or governmental pomp, but with back yard barbeques and trips to the park, the pool, or the beach for a picnic and games.  I think this kind of celebration is rather fitting and I always enjoy it.

So, off I go to shut down my computer and go play in the real world for a couple of days.  To all my fellow Americans, Happy July Fourth, and to all my fellow hat lovers, whoever and wherever in the world you are, I say  happy summer.  Have a wonderful week and join in the celebration if you care to. There’s enough cake for everybody:-)

Here are a few simple rules, laid down by fashionable women of past generations, when hats and gloves were part of every woman’s wardrobe.  They work for today’s young women who are re-discovering hats, just as well as they did for their mothers and grandmothers back in the day. Hope you find them useful too.

Choose the Right Hat for Your Body Type

Generally speaking, the shorter the woman, the narrower her hat brim should be.  A wide brimmed dramatic garden party hat  that looks great on a tall woman, will overwhelm a short one. Tall women  look better in hats with flatter crowns. A short woman in a flat crowned, broad brimmed hat can end up looking like a mushroom, or maybe even a toadstool. A tall, slim woman risks looking like a pinhead in narrow brimmed high crowned styles. 

Whether you are tall, short, fat, thin, old or young, it is important when selecting a hat to look at yourself in a full length mirror to gauge how the hat goes with your outfit, your body type, and the overall you.  A hat that looks fabulous when you look at it in a small, vanity mirror, may miss the mark entirelywhen you view it full length and see it integrated with the rest of your body and the outfit you are wearing with it.

Choose the Right Hat for Your Face Shape

imagesource PinterestFirst, ascertain your face shape.  If you don’t know it, look in a mirror or ask your friends.  They’ll tell you. The cardinal rule to remember when selecting a hat is to pick one with a crown that is the opposite of your  jawlline and that balances out your face and makes it look as close to a perfect oval as possible.

For example:  If your face is square and you choose a hat with a square crown, you will look like a box.  Choose a round crown that balances out your square jaw.

Look at your features closely in a mirror.  Are your face planes soft or sharp and angular?  If you have soft features choose a hat with sharp, defined lines to balance your soft features out. 

If your face has lots of angles or you are ( ahem) more mature, choose a hat with softer, rounder lines. 

Short hair is rarely a problem when choosing hats, but if you have long hair, decide how to wear it when wearing hats. Usually it is best to pull your hair back or wear in in an upsweep or even braided.  It varies with the person and the hat but one thing is for sure.  Long hair hanging down from certain hats can be a disaster. Other hats perched on top of an elaborate upsweep can be equally bad.  Think ahead about your hair as well as your face shape when choosing a hat.

So that’s it.  Those are the rules and I hope they help.  But the most important rule of all for hat success is to buy and wear a hat that you love and feel comfortable in and that reflects your personal style.  One of the wonderful things about hats is that they are a shortcut to fashion and that they make a very individual fashion statement. Whatever your age, body shape or face type, wear a hat that shows off the real you.

source: flickr creative commons

The minute I saw this rather unique contraption, I knew I had to share it here and to that end I have named it the Hat for All Seasons  “Hat of the Month” for the month of June.  It certainly deserves a prize of some sort. Don’t you agree?

When I stopped laughing and thought about it, though, I had to admit that this is a rather ingenious adaptation of a bicycle helmet albeit made to order for a small, select group of bird lovers.

I hasten to add that I am not a bird watcher nor am I particularly partial to hummingbirds, but even I think it would be fun and rather (you should excuse the expression) a “lark” to watch hummingbirds feeding right in front of my face at least once in my life.  Don’t think I would want to do it more than once, however.

Own Your Own Hummingbird Hat

If you are into this sort of thing, watch the video below to see the hat in action with a couple of hungry hummingbirds.  If you would like to own your own hummingbird hat, you can buy one at John’s Etsy shop, The Roy Road Fish Company.

Go for it!  The June hat of the month can bring you hours of delight (or at least a few moments summertime fun) and I’m thinking that this hat could add a new dimension to back yard barbeques too (although I’m not sure the hummingbirds would show up for the party)

Sixty years is a long time.  Most of us have grown up, and some of us have grown old with her. She’s a more popular world figure today than she has ever been.  The Queen is a consistant figure in a turbulent world,and someone who, for most people in the world today, has just always been there.

So, while Britain celebrates in that very British way that they do so well,  the whole world joins in  the celebration.

Hats Off to Her Majesty

The Royal Barge and the Queen

  Todays festivities include an impressive royal flotilla on the River Thames and I intend to be watching  both on TV and online (and, of course on the lookout for hats of particular interest.)  It should be fun.  The Jubilee events continue for the next four days and the entire country seems to be one giant block party. 

Isn’t it nice that all of us all over the world can take part through the magic of technology?God Save the Queen and  Hat’s off to Her Majesty

 Some Super Festive Diamond Jubilee Hats

Toddler in a bowler at  a diamond jubilee celebration in  south west London

A festive Londoner in the rain

 An impromptu diamond jubilee hat at Epsom Downs yesterday

Now THAT is a hat— in London, of course

Street Party fun with dogs and crowns in London

A  Rhodesian Ridgeback in Toronto sports a Jubilee hat too

A Fast Look At Queen Elizabeth’s 60 Years On The Throne

1956 silk cocktail hat by Mr. John..

But if you really want to know, there are some differences between the two.  The cocktail hat is the precurser of the fascinator.  It came first, and today’s fascinator is not a real hat, but a delightful head ornament that clearly has its origins in yesterday’s cocktail hat.

The Cocktail Hat

The cocktail hat came into being in the 1930’s, with a lot of help from Hollywood.  Designers like Elsa Schiaparelli  and Mr. John created cocktail hat designs for the movies and women of fashion eagerly adopted them all over the world.

For a well dressed woman, either in the movies, or in real life,  to go out to lunch or to a business appointment during the day required one kind of hat, but being escorted (and a lady was always escorted) to a cocktail party, tea dance or elegant art opening or formal reception in the late afternoon, all dressed up in a cocktail dress,meant either going bare headed or wearing an entirely different kind of hat. Enter the cocktail hat! It was small, often veiled, and perched on the top or the side of the head— but though it was small and elegant, it was a real hat— made on a real hat form.  It had a base and could sit on the head, held in place by nothing more than a traditional hatpin.

 Ballenciaga cocktail hat 1953. Photo: John Rawlings

 Certainly, it was permissable for a woman to go bare headed to a cocktail party or tea dance back in the day, but when the cocktail hat appeared on the scene, women of fashion took it up with enthusiasm and through the 1940’s and 50’s and even into the 1960’s,  the cocktail hat was de rigeur for smart women everywhere.

The Fascinator

Today’s fascinator, the linear descendant of the cocktail hat, is constructed quite differently.  It is usually a small base, perched rakishly on the side or top of the head and attached with combs, clips, pins or elastic, or a combination of all these, to keep it in place.  It is not really a  formed hat at all.

It usually sits at a charmingly rakish angle and is almost always decorated with feathers. In addition there may also be jewels, lace, flowers and veils, but almost always, there will be feathers or plumes of some sort.  The fascinator, made popular by the former Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge,is  a UK favorite and is quickly being adopted on this side of the Atlantic as well.  Fascinators are fast becoming the in thing to wear at society weddings for both guests and bridesmaids— and sometimes even the bride.

There were quite a number of fascinating fascinators on hand at Churchill Downs for the running of the Kentucky Derby this year and at fashionable Kentucky Derby parites all over the country.  The fascinator is definitely here to stay, and whatever you want to call it, it is a wonderful addition to the ever expanding fashion world of hats. 

the woman who made the fascinator famous

Is she milliner, costume designer, or just plain fabulous creative artist?  No matter what you call her, Lara Jensen is causing a stir with her head turning, show stopping headgear. 

Much of it is not for the likes of you and me, but her clients, people like Lady Gaga, Peaches, Guy Ritchie, Jessie J and Karl Lagerfeld, can’t get enough and neither can major studios and cutting edge fashion publications.

According to her online bio:

“After winning a scholarship to study for an MA in Costume Design for Performance, at the London College of Fashion, Lara has gone on to generate a reputation for creating bespoke pieces for advertising, artists, catwalk, TV and film. Her innovative and elaborate designs display her technical expertise and a true talent for design.”

I could not have put it better myself. The photos above, snitched from her website, give you a tiny taste of  Lara’s work.  Follow the link to her website for more.  When it comes to unique and smashing headgear for celebs onstage and off, Lara Jensen is somebody to watch.

The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, numbering between 30 and 50 million. They have a long history of creativity in art and design. The gele is a Yoruba gift to women of color all over the world.

It is a quintessentially African garment made from a length of stiff woven fabric, most often  damask, cotton brocade, or a thickly woven African silk called Aso-ok. Every African girl learns how to wrap a gele the way American teenagers learn to apply eye makeup. 

What is fascinating about the gele as a personal fashion statement is that, since the shape is mutable and changeable with every wearing,  it is the skill of the wrapper and the beauty and texture of the fabric that creates the look.  It is as if you design your own hat every time you wear it.  How cool is that?

The gele has a long cultural history  both in Africa and amongst the people of the African diaspora, particularly African Americans.  African women can tell at once where another African woman is from and who her people are from the cut of her gele.  African American women and women of color in the Carribean and elsewhere have embraced the Gele with gusto.   It is a beautiful feminine piece of headwear that is as much a cutural icon as personal fashion statement.

The world’s largest event, devoted entirely to chocolate, takes place annually in November in New York City. It’s The Chocolate Show and it features more chocolate things than you could ever imagine, including some amazing chocolate couture and yes, there are chocolate hats. ( I’m drooling.)

This photo is from the 2011 event which opened on Broadway, with a star studded parade of models wearing some amazing chocolate fashions, including chocolate chapeau that bring new meaning to the saying ” I’ll eat my hat” 

 Would you believe that headpiece is made entirely of chocolate— even the ” feathers.”  I wonder how much it weighs?  Oh well, if she gets tired of wearing it, she can always eat it.

Yes folks, I said a paper fashion show.  It’s an annual fundraiser put on by The Art Directors Club of Denver (ADCD) and it is quite the occasion. The event features a giant sold out runway show, fabulous fashion statements made entirely of paper created by, 50 or more professional design teams.  It has prizes, hoopla and lots of proceeds which go to help Downtown Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA), a local community organization that provides after-school arts programs for urban youth ages 3-17.

It’s no wonder people in Denver love this event.  Who knew such marvelous, creative fashions could be made from paper ( ok well there’s just a bit of paper mache, but that counts as paper too).  Not all the models are wearing hats, but those that are….. well all I can say is WOW! 

These photos by Denver-based photographer, David Ingraham  really convey the energy of the event.  You can find the photos used in this post plus more on Dave’s flickr account at  Stealthphotos’s photostream on flickr.

This is quite the fashion statement from the cover of Puck Magazine in April of 1901— The battleship chapeau probably reflects the Spanish American War which had started in 1898 with the sinking of the battleship Maine in Cuba and ended in 1902 with the United States annexing  the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam.  It was Spain’s last vestige of empire and Americas debut on the global stage. I suppose the New York glitterati of the time were quite proud of the newfound military might and political power— so why not a gun turret of a hat?  It makes quite a political statement as well.

Puck Magazine  was a cutting edge, witty and fashionable magazine from 1871 when it started to 1918 when the last issue appeared.  It became well known for biting political satire and witty political cartoons.  This cover featuring  Columbia’s Easter war-bonnet was probably an example of the latter.

Whatever— it’s quite a hat and makes quite a statement about what America wanted in 1901.  It would have made a fetching addition to New York’s Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue that year.  Like they say: “the more things change, the more they remain the same.”

 Welcome to the hat lover’s garden.This marvelous photo is from  Facebook. The photo was re-blogged there but originally came from  a delightful blog  devoted to recycling and re-purposing all sorts or wonderful items.  It was sent to me by my friend Deborah Engisch Platt who knows what a hat maven I am, and who has a terrific eye for good green stuff herself.

For my money this is the best hat lovers garden I have ever seen and quite easy to adapt to your own home garden.  Think of recycling your old garden statuary or finding potential treasures in trash bins or landfills or just abandoned on the street.

I think it would be fun to do it with garden gnomes and garden animal statues too.  Green growing hats for all I say and green, recycled garden statuary, porcelain figurines or metal or wire  thingies— whatever strikes your fancy and need green growing headgear to make it perfect.

The Boobie Beanie— invented by doula, Sara Hanson, has caught on and gone viral on the mommynet.  Sarah can’t keep up with demand. Over  the past year she has knitted  and sold 800 all by herself and  demand just does not stop…..her website is totally overwhelmed with orders.

Sara, who used to be a nanny, made the first boobie beanie for a mom she was nannying for. It was in response to a cartoon she saw about public breastfeeding and I’m sure she never dreamed it would take off like it has.

I’m not surprised that the product has gone viral— because not only is the hat practical and cute, it makes a very important political statement about women and their breasts. 

Boobs are more than just a male playground after all, and discreetly  breast feeding a young baby in a public place is quite acceptable in most parts of the world.  I will never understand why here in the USA, women are forbidden to breastfeed in parks or playgrounds or public places in general. It makes no sense.

The Boobie Beanie points out the silliness of American squeamishness  in a  dignified yet humorous way and it is not just new mothers who love it.   It has become a popular shower gift and, at least one group of breast cancer survivors doing a 5K run wore adult size boobie beanies for the event.  I’m sure that publicity will bring more of this sort of thing. 

If you want to know more about the boobie beanie or want to order one, go to Sara’s website  If you want to know more about Sarah, check out her Facebook Page