Top Hat White Tie and Tails

I love hats. I think it's a shame that they're not in fashion anymore... well, in the way they were 70-100+ years ago where as much care went into choosing a hat as did an outfit. It's also a shame that my head is so darned big that even if they were in fashion I couldn't really wear them... well, off the rack, anyway.

One of the fun things about living in England is that people still wear hats. Well-- sort of. To weddings... and even then, not many. But there are still some who hold strong to the tradition. To me a hat automatically makes an event more formal-- more special. And the evolving trend of "fascinators" which are beautiful (and sometimes fantastic) feather and flower (and other things) designs flowing from headbands; or attached to clips that are "fastened" to the hair, is setting fashion a flutter with possibility (or maybe just me a flutter with it inspiring a resurgence in hat wearing). This one that Kate Middleton recently wore (a gorgeous handmade design by Vivien Sheriff Millinery) includes a cameo and badges from a Welsh military uniform (apropos considering the event she wore this to was to launch a Welsh ship-- her first official Royal engagement with her hubbie-to-be). It's hard to see but the pheasant feathers and other baubles are attached to a small, chocolate brown velvet pillbox hat. *LOVE* Perhaps not quite the drama of a hat, but oh so chic. Definitely enough to still warrant my affection. I'm secretly hoping that the impending Royal Wedding will inspire a resurgent trend around hats (I think Kate's already making headway-- pardon the pun).

I spied this one at Zara last week and I'm sort of coveting it. It makes me want to go on an exotic beach vacation somewhere in the French Riviera. Of course, it likely wouldn't fit my head.

Wayfaring in 2010

1. Los Angeles (x3)
   
2. San Francisco (x2)
   
3. Benecia, California (x2)
   
4. Napa, California (x2)
   
5. Birmingham, UK (x too many to count)
   
6. London, UK (x too many to count)
   
7. Windermere, UK
   
8. Newcastle, UK (**NEW DESTINATION!**)
   
9. NYC
10. Hartford, Connecticut
11. Chicago (x3)
    
12. Nashville/Cookeville, Tennessee
13. Paris, France (x4)
    
14. Honolulu, Hawaii

Now to work on going to places I've never been... though I suppose technically this counts as wayfaring.

Deee-licious

Couldn't resist posting photos of the deliciously adorable Miss Amelia. No, it's not because her mom doesn't (dig-dig-dig). It's because she's just too cute not to share. Plus, the outfit is courtesy of me (right down to the shoes-- although admittedly, the shoes were more for her Camper lovin' mom and gifted when Amelia was still in the womb. But who would have known my fore-thought for the outfit purchased nearly a year later would have paid off so well and in such a coordinated way?). Future fashionista indeed (Amelia, that is. Not so much me...).

P.S. I made the blanket too. I may not be able to sew but man, can I crochet square objects.

Sew-lusions of grandeur

I'm thinking about taking a sewing class. It's not a new idea... I remember thinking about it way back when I lived in New York... and again in Chicago... even going so far as to try to find a class. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a sewing class. Home economics doesn't exist for the adult set, I guess. Maybe because we good girls should have taken Home Ec in junior high and high school when we were supposed to be learning about being good wives (I mean, 'cause come on-- even though my mother's generation liberated us, clearly the message wasn't passed down to the public education system who still offer Home Ec as a regular course selection). I took student government and AP classes like calculus and art history instead (of course)-- which I suppose was my way of turning my nose up at the domestic smothering that the public school system was trying to cram down my throat.

However, now that I'm older and a tad more level headed, I realize that some of those skills might have been good to learn... like sewing. I mean, how often do you need to sew a button back on a coat, or hem a pair of pants... or sew patches/badges on a shirt (okay, maybe not so much the latter, but believe it or not, I actually have had the need to do that and it was not, shall we say, an optimal outcome). Plus, I have very happy memories of my full-time working mom making our Halloween costumes; Of field trips to the fabric store to flip through patterns to find just the right costumes. And I'm not talking run-of-the-mill ghosts made out of bed sheets. I'm talking about proper, better than you'd ever buy in a store, costumes. Clowns, Spiders, Watermelon slices (Aloha); Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Princesses and, errr... Princesses (Me). They were fantastic! She also made beautiful dresses for special occasions-- holidays, school plays. It was the best. She is the best.

I've been thinking a lot about that; not only how it would be handy to do some repair work myself, but also actually be able to make something. Have you ever been in the situation where you have some event coming up and you have in your mind a picture of the perfect dress? Only you can't find anything to match what you've conjured up in your head? Imagine if you could just whip it up yourself?? I don't really have a passion for fashion in the haute couture kind of way. I do love me some Anthropologie and am a little obsessed with Rachel Zoe because she's bananas-- in every sense of the word (sorry couldn't resist). But a desire to design clothes? Not in the slightest. But lo and behold, a swift Internet search of sewing in Burnley turned up a 10-week adult education course at the local College. It seems a little excessive for my needs, but for 100 bucks (or pounds...) meaning 10 GBP per class, it's a pretty good deal. And if I do have a child one day, it would be pretty great if I could make their Halloween costumes from scratch and give them a memory that will always remind them of how much their mom loved them.

Makes me wanna dance

And now for an installment of makes me want to dance (inspired from previous Gwyneth on Glee post).