Friday, February 27, 2009

Hats Off to the V&A


I nearly got fired for a love of hats.

It all started with Lilly Dache, a French-born American-based milliner who dressed the great and the good in post war America. Lilly Dache designed hats for Audrey Hepburn, Carole Lombard and my grandmother. I know this because I inherited some of those Dache hats. I’ve hauled those hats all over the world. I love them.

But back to almost getting fired. It was in the days when I was selling computers door-to-door. As usual, I was behind quota. It was the end of the month and I was desperately scrounging around for someone to buy my stuff.

And then, I walked by this divine little hat shop. Oh my God, just look at those hats, so special. So fabulous. I looked up. The name on the store front was ‘Suzanne Dache’. Could she possibly be related to THE Lilly Dache? I’m now hyperventilating. OK, I have to go in and ask. She was and I spent the rest of the afternoon on a critical day at the end of the month trying on hats.

If you feel this way about hats, run, fly, drive – do whatever it takes to get to the hat exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. Curated by Stephen Jones, who has designed hats for everyone from Princess Diana to Beyonce, this show has more than 300 amazing hats including the hats from the film “My Fair Lady”, hats made by Balenciaga, hats made for Queen Victoria and Boy George and of course, hats made by the late, great Lilly Dache.

If you love hats, you really have to see this show. Even the little hats you can buy and make yourself in the gift shop are awesome. I’ll be going back again and again.

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones will be at the V&A until May 31, 2009

Photo Credit: Conde Nast

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