NE_StyleSmart: My Love of Hats

Some women love shoes or bags but for me nothing brings an outfit to life quite like a hat. My love affair with hats was not something that I saw coming. There are no childhood photos of me wearing my Grandmother’s hats and it wasn’t the obvious womanly fetish, but to be honest a pair of shoes or a nice piece of arm candy have just never jumped out at me, maybe this is because I don’t spend my life looking at people’s feet or hands. It has always been a hat that has drawn my attention to its owner. I just love how hats instantly add style and a new dimension to the outfit; they have always had somewhat of a jaunty and authoritarian association to them. Any lady of society is rarely seen at an event without one and the Queen’s outfit is never complete without a hat (be warned I do love the Queen). They also manage to combine fashion and functionality; I’m sure many of you are far too aware of this being the female Holy Grail.

Festival goers can keep their greasy un-kept hair hidden and shielded from the inevitable rain, and holiday makers can shield the scalp from the sun. I can assure you I have done both of these as one of the joys of having dark hair is that it looks greasy quickly and my hair also radiates the sun; hello sun stroke.

I have acquired quite a few hats over the years. I think the first hat that I bought was to prevent the sun stroke on a girly holiday to Ibiza; it was a 1970’s floppy hat and ever since then there has been no stopping me, I just can’t seem to walk past them without trying them on, posing in the mirror and usually leaving with a lighter purse.

My Collection currently consists of another deep purple velour floppy hat. I love the seventies hippy look this hat has, yet it also makes me feel instantly glamourous, although never to be worn when there is a slight gust of wind; running down the street after your hat is never a good look and unfortunately my love of hats has sometimes resulted in this.

The obligatory festival hat, the straw trilby. This never left my head at Glastonbury and we are not talking about the beautiful Glastonbury of 2013, this was worn in 2011 when we pitched a tent in the rain and there were very few glimmers of sunshine. It did however hide the greasy damp mess that was my hair when the sun did grace us with its presence.

My most daring of hats is my red Bowler hat with a black ribbon. I bought this from Camden market which involved some impressive bartering even if I do say so myself. I love wearing this hat with bright red lipstick and it totally worth all of the Clockwork Orange jokes.

My most recent fix is a khaki green fedora, you may have seen me wearing it in a few of my pictures; I really can’t get enough of it, it goes with everything, or at least in my mind. I bought this from Topshop as a wedding present to myself which speaks for itself on my love of hats as I could have bought anything.