Hats On My Head

Watching the royal wedding and the women in all of their hats made me wish that hats were still in vogue here across the sea besides for those attending the Kentucky Derby. Of course some of those seen this morning like Princess Beatrice's faux ribbon hat, were more eye catching than others.  I want to know how she kept that thing on her head!  I have always loved the hats worn by women from decades past here in the states (quite different from many of those seen this morning)

I have never been much of a collector of things.  When I was in middle school I fell in love with a porcelain doll and begged my mom to buy her for me.  The next thing I knew I had a whole collection of porcelain dolls that I didn't really care for.

In college, I collected rare, old books but they needed special care and I eventually ran out of room to store them.  And I ran out of time to seek them out as time went on.

In a conversation with a friend who was an avid collector of Hallmark ornaments several years ago, she had asked me if I would collect something what would it be regardless of the lack of space in my tiny apartment.  To humor her, I said I was always fascinated with the hats women used to wear at the turn of the century and up until the era of Jackie Kennedy as first lady.  For Christmas that year, she had got me a hat that she found at an antique shop and my hat collection was born.

I have hats that family and friends have found and some I picked up myself.  Two of the hats I own belonged to my grandmother.

I no longer collect them since I ran out of room on the hat stand (that I acquired when the clothing store I worked at in college was going to throw it out). They sit in a solitary corner of the guest room and are a topic of conversation whenever we have overnight guests.

I refuse to part with the hats. They will probably get passed on to the girls.  They love to try them on but they know that I must be in the room with them and that I need to help them put them on.  I like that they can respect these hats that were once owned and worn by real women from another era.

Maybe one day hats will be fashionable again in the U.S.

Okay, maybe not.