On With His Head!

Cick above for video via the SHOWstudio site.

It never ceases to amaze (and utterly relieve) me that some of the most genius artists in the fashion world are also fantastic people. I've grown up with a ridiculous, inexplicable inner itch to make fashion my life. There was no cure for that strange condition, so now I'm devoting myself to it with a drive I didn't know I had. Every day it takes courage to show up as myself to a dream that I never thought I could really do without being reincarnated into some other human form with longer legs or a keener style sense. The fuel for my fire are the ever-so-talented and delightfully humble fashion folk who also do what they love simply because they must. Philip Treacy is one of those people. His work is poetic in its perfection. Every piece that I've ever seen come out of his millinery shop in his decade plus career has been witty, expertly crafted, and pointedly beautiful. Every single one. In an old SHOWstudio video piece I just caught for the first time, Treacy makes one of his "Feather Salads," or so he calls them. You get to watch him craft one of his gorgeous hatworks from mold to mannequin with the skill and eye he has in excess. He also answers questions at the same time, speaking candidly about his initial fear of Lady Gaga, the only two "machines" that he uses to make hats (his hands), and the beautiful feathers he curls to perfection with a hair iron. The video is only available through the SHOWstudio site, but please click through the photo above and watch; the video is phenomenal.

Mad Hatter Explained.

Sometimes I fancy this site as a progressive, fashion-heavy version of Mr. Rodgers. Remember when he would take you behind the scenes at the crayon factory or the piano-making shop? I effing loved those segments and remember them clear as day. The video below is kind of like that, only in pretty Paris, and you get to learn about why hatters are mad.



I was going to just URL the Mr. Rodgers video above, but I started watching it and found it more relaxing than my meditation session this morning. Watch and zone out...



No wonder childhood was so happy. That video is like a Valium.

Granny's Got Ya Covered!

Ok, so if you live anywhere on the east coast, you know that winter still has some of its cold sting left. If you are anything like me, by this point in the season you've lost your favorite winter accouterments on subways, in public restrooms, or Forever 21 (damn, I loved those gloves!). With temperatures still requiring some extra insulating layers, you may want to call Grandma and have her knit you something special. What's that? You don't have a Grandma (R.I.P., Grans)? Or, your's doesn't knit? Well, have no fear! You can borrow a knitting Nana from the good folks over at GoldenHook. Meet your matriarchal choices:

Aren't they something? So, you get to choose what your hat will look like, from the color and shape to the number of stripes and material, and then you get to choose the Grandma who will knit it for you! Simone, Lydia, Salima, Colette, Elisabeth, and Sarah are the talented stitchers who will hand knit your hat and even sew in a personalized label for you. I love this idea. Here's some of the finished products:

Some of the Grandma's are French. Maybe the hats will smell like home baked cookies, and rose perfume when they arrive.

Photos from the GoldenHook website.
Thanks for the tip Jenny!

Head Start To Finish

Ok, one more bit of hat magic. Here's a little extra sumptin' sumptin' to add to the post below. Watch a Stephen Jones hat go from theoretical to wearable. See it being hand made, beginning as a plastic covered wood form and winding up a sophisticated and distinct even-stitched top hat.

It's like on Sesame Street when they took you to the crayon factory, only with fancy chapeaus instead of wax kids' snacks.

Put It On Your Head.

V&A is hosting a new show about British milliner extraordinaire, Stephen Jones, who has hat head in the best way possible. It's his God-given talent to festoon noggins with fancy, clever, spectacles of well-crafted head gear and he's been doing it brilliantly for years. The show, called "Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones" is a retrospective with some new pieces thrown in. The new pieces are fanciful Jones through and through.

Here, spend a few minutes with the man who made hats for Princess Diana and Boy George and regular folk who like lobsters on their heads. Also, joy of joys, meet some of his quirky team:

Want to participate in the eccentric British hat tradition in a safe, watered-down, nonthreatening American way? You can get some cute-as-candy hat-themed accessories created especially by the V&A to be gift shop saleable at the exhibit. You can have a hat headband or a hat hair clip or a collection of die-cut paper hats to make your brain house extra pretty.

They would all be perfect for your next fete-a-tete. Click any of the items above for ordering information.

Click any photo for source information.

Common Goods: Swimmingly

This is the single most glamorous shot of beach attire I've ever seen.

Those are some 1890s-era kids visiting the sea. I doubt they were there to swim, but doesn't that hat on the little Cate Blanchett lookalike make you yearn for fancy beach dress code? Maybe just once a year, or something. It would save us from having to see too much flesh coming out of too little spandex. Plus, they look like such little precursors to modern fashion shoots, those exercises in non-functional sartorial beauty. I love it.

This photo comes from the National Media Museum's photostream over at Flickr's Commons. Be sure to check out the rest of their stellar early photography collection.

Daughter Dearest

According to her Wiki profile "It" girl Lou Doillon, a regular at this week's shows, had tattoos and a pierced tongue by the age of 11 and a half. She had a famous mother by age zero, and being the daughter of French actress Jane Birkin has blessed her with fashion icon genes. In addition to her tomboy prettiness, Lou has a frank honesty that would make any mama proud. An "It" girl who admits her appetite for attention is fine by me. She acts, models, designs jeans for Lee Cooper, and wears top hats. She fits the boy/girl mood of the season perfectly.

It Goes Straight to Their Heads

Japanese Fashion Week has just begun and I'm already noticing a trend: noggin decor. As I've announced previously, I'm envious of the head decoration that goes on so freely in other countries. America knows baseball caps and sun visors really well, but they wouldn't venture into the tete territory that Japan is showcasing thus far. Here's to hoping we stop ignoring our northernmost real estate. Go crazy, wear a 3-D wooden dinosaur model on your head. Why not? Huh?



The wooden model toppers at the Mint Designs show




Potpourri head gear at Fur Fur

Hat's off

I know Sarah Jessica caught a nice amount of flack for her recent decision to don a flowery, butterfly festooned, acorn hat at the London premier of Sex and the City, but I'm kinda jealous. Those Brits really know how to top a person off. I wish Americans were a little more accepting of the crazy hat craze because I would love to rock the Stephen Jones pieces featured in today's Future Tense video on Showstudio.com. The video entitled Soma Holiday was shot by Chloë de Carvalho backstage at Basso and Brooke's Spring/Summer 2008 collection.

Colorful, floating discs of Op Art: they should be the next big thing.