Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2012

More hats on the runway:

 

Hats where you might not have expected them.  I love the way exaggerated form and weightlessness are in perfect balance here.

Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2012

 

 This was definitely one of my favorite collections from the SS '12 runways.  The fact that these hats managed to avoid any resemblance to Smurfs is truly a feat.

grosgrain umbrellas

1940s straw hat with grosgrain umbrellas from Dorothea's Closet Vintage

By now you should know I love a good 1940s hat.  The grosgrain umbrellas on this one are absolutely charming.  What a great way to use a trim, and it reminds me of one of the paper sculptures in the Macy's window I had seen last January.

My junior year at Parsons has officially begun, so I will do my best to stay current with this blog.  Part of the focus of our digital class this year will also be in creating an inspiration blog, so perhaps I'll be able to find a way to tie that in with this blog and see where that takes me.  Until then, enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

of jellyfish, and other monsters

As promised, here are photos of my knit hat, which somehow turned into a jellyfish fascinator.

hand knit fascinator: linen paper yarn, neon raffia trim and jelly elastic band

In addition, I ended up making another raffia hat using a buckram frame I'd bought a long time ago for another project from Manny's Millinery Supply.

Raffia helmet: buckram frame and hand-tacked raffia trim

 I have not yet resolved the very top of the hat - I think I will end up making some kind of "button" by wrapping the raffia trim around itself.  This was a spur of the moment project.  The buckram frame has a wire rim to it, which allows for shaping the helmet.  I molded the front of the hat to the start of the bridge of the nose, similar to Ancient Greek warrior helmets.

current work in progress

First of all, I came across another straw hat I wanted to share.  The liberties designers/milliners have taken with straw hats over time never cease to amaze me.

1923 embellished straw cloche from Vintage Textile

I've been working on a small number of different hats at the same time, as well as my rising junior summer assignment which is due on the first day of class (next week... eek!).  A large part of the assignment is to design a collection, with accessories to complement it.  Shoes are more or less a necessity when designing a collection for presentation, as a simple black pump just doesn't cut it at Parsons this far into the program.  However, it only recently occurred to me that some of the hats I've been working on this summer could easily fit into my summer assignment, and in fact add some much needed whimsy in what is often such a serious undertaking.  Who knows, maybe I just had my inspiration on the brain the entire time, subconsciously designing and creating them.

In any case, here is the hat I'm working on at the moment, a hot pink horsehair chenille braid cone that I had sewn and blocked at Albrizio this past week:

The chenille braid was a little dusty when I purchased it, and as luck would have it the most affected area ended up at the tip of the cone.  Though washable, I didn't want to risk washing away the hat's sizing so I had to find another solution.  Begging for some kind of embellishment, I decided on a cascade of different types of clear, white, red, and fuchsia beads in different sizes and finishes (matte, shiny, irridescent), which were also part of my summer collection.  Needless to say, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

two straw hats, two different ways

 

both images courtesy of The Nifty Fifties

Just to illustrate the point that there are straw hats... and then there are straw hats.  But whether fancy or casual, there's a straw hat for every lady.

About a week ago, I had a chance to catch up with a friend of mine that I'd met three years ago during the summer fashion program at Parsons.  Since then, she has started studying fashion full-time in her home country of Japan.  Naturally, we were both curious about differences in the teaching of our discipline at our respective schools, but we also got to talking about our fears and concerns as future designers.

One thing I've been thinking about for a while now was also on my friend's mind: the question of why fashion designers keep looking back.  I may have mentioned before the idea my fashion history teacher brought up last semester of the fact that we have yet to come up with a silhouette for the 21st Century.  So does that mean that we've really done everything we can with the shape of clothing?  I don't want to believe that that's the reason, but my fear is something worse, something another design teacher discussed with us last year: the idea of de-futuring that has permeated our world.

This other teacher claimed that after the end of World War II, the idea of "a future" became uncertain in everyone's mind, because it was demonstrated that the world could be destroyed at the push of a button.  Bringing the discussion to our present condition, this teacher claimed that a major problem designers face is how to design for an economically/ecologically/socially de-futured world.  A grim way of looking at things, no?  He ended the lecture with his best attempt at optimism, challenging us as designers to create things that will make the world a better place, and fight against the idea of de-futuring.

At this point, I couldn't help but be reminded of a wonderful Ted Talk by Philippe Starck from 2007:

I think Starck sums up my concerns quite nicely: the idea of my profession being somewhat obsolete at times like these, with war, natural disasters, world economies collapsing like dominoes.

I choose to remain hopeful about this - design is what I love to do, and it took me quite a few years of studying and doing things that I wasn't passionate about to truly appreciate it.  But I can't help but wonder if part of the answer to the question of why fashion designers keep looking to the past for inspiration is tied into this idea of de-futuring.

HATS: The Only Millinery Magazine Published in America

I recently got hold of two issues of "Hats" magazine, also known as "The Only Millinery Magazine Published in America."

 

These beauties, from June and July 1965, are filled to the brim with the latest hat trends, advertisements, fashion illustrations and photography, season reports on fabrics and trims, and even a "Dear Abby" style column where women asked questions about their hat-related woes.

 

This last tidbit is about none other than Ann Albrizio and her millinery runway report on styles, trends and materials.  I wish fashion magazines today were written with such spunk, pizazz and... well... personality.

The last line of this reads: "Not for chewing, the dangling chin straps."

Remember my mild obsession with hair hats?  The caption for this reads, "Now an evening hairdo with the fringe on top - and all around the head - shapes up like a switched-on hat."  Thank you, Haute Coiffure Francaise!