A Farewell to Hat

Today I let an old friend go: a round brown (fake)fur pillbox hat.

It first came into my possession about nineteen years ago, when I was preparing for my 21st – a costume party – and hunting up odd hats in second hand shops for the use of anyone who came without a costume. To my intense surprise, the furry little hat actually fit my remarkably bijou head, and so I kept it and wore it often.

Painting of white-haired pink-cheeked old lady with blue eyes and a brown fur pillbox hat. She has a lavender and green shawl over her shoulders, pinned at the front with a square golden brooch.
My old hat was like this but not nearly so tall.

I was wearing it one night as I passed through the centre of Christchurch, returning from an evening theatrical event. It was winter, so I was also wearing my big belted khaki overcoat and sheepskin boots, and as I crossed a largely deserted Cathedral Square en route to the bus station, I heard a distant – and possibly intoxicated – voice cry out, “The Russians are invading!”

Continue & Comment

Letting Go of the People You Might Have Been

I think it was the hats that finally clued me in.
I own thirteen hats, and as I walked to the yarn shop to obtain materials for the fourteenth hat, I brooded. More than that, I mused, I prayed, I meditated. On such subjects as simplicity, the significance of hats, and the wisdom or unwisdom of buying yarn for another hat.

Boy carrying hats. New York City. - NARA - 523519 cropped
And this is what I realized: the reason I have so many hats – the reason why I have trouble getting rid of any of  these hats – is that they represent the people I could be.

Continue & Comment

Wardrobe Architect 12: Adding Accessories

It’s the last day of the year – can you believe it? To go along with it, we have the last chapter of the Wardrobe Architect: Adding Accessories.

The exercise is fairly simple: figure out what qualities you want in your accessories, decide what accessories your capsule wardrobe calls for, look at what you’ve already got, and then address the surplus or deficit, as the case may be. Straightforward, yes?

Hatter og tilbehor
The complication arises when you consider what falls under the heading of “accessories” – the original post includes hats, scarves, belts, gloves, shoes, bags, sunglasses, “legwear” and jewellery (mops brow). On the other hand, since we’re setting up a capsule wardrobe here (whether seasonal or permanent) we’re not looking at special occasion stuff, just your ordinary everyday items.Continue & Comment