bEAR the cold...

TUESDAY ACCESSORY
Recommendation: Lavanya, TREND Writer












What used to be the stereotypical outerwear for a lumberjack has now become a fashion statement. Earflap hats are the go to headgear this winter, and their name says it all: they provide a useful ear flap which keeps the wearers ears extremely warm! Easily found in neutral tones with a fur or sheepskin layer on the inside, these hats are also available in wool. Animal ears as well as an embroidered face on the front give earflap hats a cute and fun flair, making them accessible to individuals of all ages.
Hats are available at almost any store and can range in price from $10 to around $35. Images from urbanoutfitters.com.

HOLY MOSES! hat genius

If anyone has information about where it may be possible to find the archive of works by the hawaiin hat artist 'Moses', please come forth and share this highly relevant information with the world...With the whole fluoro-clash tribal theme that happily darts our eyes around the pages of various fashion Bibles right now- I feel his work would be unbeleivably relevant though possibly trapped behind some glass cages of preservation. However, some lucky flickr-sharing human seems to have visited a retrospective for the guy early on in the millenia and captured a handy guide to creating your own paper hat art, im thinking get some royal mail woven plastic sacks in first and second class colours and create an all weather version for our little country of spluttery clouds? done.

V&A STEPHEN JONES HAT EXHIBITION

Ahhhhh belated blogging... so I was completely in shock really about having a piece included in the exhibition at all really, as I stored it in my mind as one of those things that couldn't possibly be happening until I could see it with my own eyes! I was so nervous I ended up bending the ear off a Swedish journalist who was waiting to interview Philip Treacy- in retrospect I think I tired her out with barrage of words! Anyway she was enlightening me about the state of Swedish headwear and how they are burdened with the necessity of wearing woolly bobble hats which are rarely innovative- Louise Goldin could perhaps branch out and make a killing???

I was super-honoured to be invited to the Milliners Lunch where I nervously kept piling my plate with ordurves but was so nervous i could eat them and started offering them out.

Well the exhibition itslef is a beautiful education- my faveorite bit being the re-creation of

Steven Jones's studio in the centre- a little hub of wonderings and treasures!

And the opening night... what can I say, truffles on sticks- lots of important people with head nests and floating echoes of heaving conversation- I think parties where the volume of conversation overpowers the music are the most exciting (everyone making their own atmosphere) I was endeared to the visual status of the KCTV entourage (Kenny etc...) who were wearing Piers Atkinson.

Stupidly I didn't make camera plans, so I have borrowed these pics from urbanjunkies.com



I Ended up chatting to a designer called Ben Hall, a British footwear designer who was wearing a tall paper hat creation which reminded me of one of my favorite DADA inspiration pictures- turns out his shoes are super-hot so I am going to investigate more of his workstuffs.

My Favorite was of course very literal and jovial;

THE WIDOW HAT

DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA
Perhaps its just me but i really love that age-old advert for Scottish widow insurance (bear with me) with the super mysterious-looking woman wooshing around randomly in a cape- it was a seriously good look- so when i saw that Austrian mllinary designer Molly Yestadt had created a similar and equally dramatic headpeice-

Generally i think Austrian people have special magic in their genes-not on the von trap family legacy alone...

Austrian womenswear designer Anna Aichinger's 'Showreel Collection' for AW08/09 Collection
is full of BLACK tones and confidence.. again i am drawn to the twinkling sequin lightshow like a queen to drag, but somehow the seriousness of her collection makes it look so wearable i am thinking DAYWEAR for the mildly confident?