A Hat Party

Hot Fun on a Hat Afternoon
It was the second hot day of summer. We had been extremely lucky in New York City, not to have had any heat waves up to third week in July. So when the 90-degree, humid weather finally hit, who could complain? Are you kidding, plenty of people.

At Debra's and trying on a quirky, handmade straw.

Many of the hats will need TLS (tender, loving steaming).

It was within this context, as I have described, that I took the F train, and then the A, to a hat party given by Debra Rapoport at Westbeth in the far West Village. She had inherited a trove of vintage hats from a friend's deceased mother, and had invited us to come and choose and play dress up.

Vintage hats, arrayed for our choosing pleasure.

To my eye, the hats were of the 50's and 60's.

Debra shows us a flower-bedecked dome hat.

A pink pie plate with pink roses.

 My tunique, from Paris, is 

by Suleiado.

 Lily Pink in a bit of veiling and a few feathers, with Debra.

 Jewelry designer, Diana Gabriel, in a 

feather-swathed pillbox.

Diana went for feathers again, but

decided it was for the birds.

Lily in a wide-brimmed straw boater.

 Debra adjusting the same straw boater on Iman, 

a fashion design student at Parson's.

 Iman and Lily.

 I brought home the straw with the wide velvet ribbon

So perfect for a garden party.

Perhaps I will take it to Orient, Long Island

next week when Lazy Girl goes to the country.

 And it's from I. Magnin, no less.

I. Magnin was a luxury department store in San Francisco.

The underbrim in covered in velvet too.

Debra's "Hoop Hat with Beaded Flowers" from 1993.

This hat appeared in a wonderful exhibit at 

The Philadelphia Museum of Art,

"Ahead of Fashion, Hats of the 20th Century."

Thank you, Debra!

À Bientôt!