I really enjoyed Geralyn’s post about hats a few days ago. My husband has been known to reach across the table and whack my son on the head. “Take off your hat.”
I want to talk about ladies’ hats. This Sunday, October 14 from 2 to 5 pm, I’ll be participating in a fun event—the Buns ’n Roses Tea—sponsored by the Richardson Adult Literacy Center and the Richardson Public Library with all proceeds going to Richardson literacy programs. Guests support literacy while meeting some of today’s hottest romance authors, and enjoying a fun-filled afternoon of tea, and, yes—buns and roses. Yes, I’m plugging the event. If you’re in the area, it’s not too late to attend. You can buy tickets at the door. Email me if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.
What I really enjoy about the event, in addition to having an opportunity to spend the afternoon visiting with readers, is all the hats! Lots and lots of hats! You can view many of the hats from last year by visiting: DARA website.
I don’t usually wear hats. I’m not sure if it’s the hat I chose or the shape of my face or the position of my eyes, but I felt like I was walking around with blinders on. I had to keep tilting my head up to see who I was talking to. And I kept thinking someone was approaching me, would turn to address her, and realize it was just my hat. How did women manage in the 1800’s when hats were so popular and so very large?
I’m not sure mine was very 1800-looking. As a matter of fact, I thought I looked more like a woman waiting at the train station for her soldier to come home during World War II. This year I’m wearing a different hat that I hope provides better visibility.
Geralyn Dawson will be at the event. I’m anxious to see if she’s wearing a hat.
And if she takes it off indoors. Why is it acceptable for women to wear their hats indoors and men can’t? Because back in the day, women’s hats required hatpins to stay in place and it was simply too much trouble to take them off. So we didn’t have to. I found a very interesting site that discusses hat etiquette.
It seemed like such a romantic time when women wore hats simply to go out. Or were hats really more trouble than I realize? When was the last time that you wore an actual hat? Not a baseball cap. And yes, cowgirl hats count.
I have to admit that I don’t care for hats. Never did. However, I do like cowboy hats. *grin* And, that is the last (and only) hat I’ve ever worn (to see Waylon Jennings years ago). Oh, wait, scratch that. My mother made us wear hats in the winter when we were kids (hated them, too). lol
Oh I love hats!! But the hubby hats me to wear hats. During one of our cruises, I thought I was just “IT”. I had on cute little jean shorts, a cute little white t-shirt with a couple daisies on it, and a very cute denim hat with a daisy (now this was in the day when daisies were big). I thought I was just too darn cute — then the dh tells me to take the hat off!!! What? I think he thought I was just too cute and he was afraid other guys would hit on me — I wasn’t afraid though
I honestly can’t remember the last time I wore a hat. I don’t feel comfortable with a hat on at all. I used to have a “Blossom” hat back in the day, but I only wore it few times before realizing how rediculous I looked in it. Now a cowgirl hat…yeah, I’ve worn them before, but more for a Halloween costume than just regular wear. (I dressed up as a Texas business man a few times for Halloween! LOL)
Carol: I remember my mom buying us hats for Easter.
Buffie: The daisies sound adorable.
Taryn: A Texas Business Man – what a great idea for a costume.
My husband looks really good in hats. He has cowboy hats, and Indiana Jones hat, a little British cap . . . he’s always trying to find a hat for me, but I just look funny in a hat.
Ha! Lorraine, you’d have thought we coordinated our blogs! (We didn’t.)
I haven’t decided about the hats, yet. I’m still sweating my table gifts. I ordered these way cool bookmarks from a company two weeks ago and they haven’t arrived and I’m getting nervous.
Maybe in honor of Petticoats & Pistols I’ll wear my daughter’s pink cowboy hat.
When I was younger I wore hats every so often. Now I stick with visors. Can’t mess up the hair, you know. Which, imo, is why so many men don’t take off their hats any more…can’t disturb their locks…
Real men don’t mind hat hair.
Oh, Geralyn, a pink cowboy hat sounds like just the thing. This is such a fun event. We’ll have to get all the fillies there next year.
And I think you’re right. It’s all about the hair. My son will grouse that his hair is a mess but his dad just tells him to take off the hat anyway.
Lorraine, what a perfect tie-in to Geralyn’s post! And it was all by accident. Too funny!
Personally, I love hats. I find them feminine and with the right outfit, incredibly fashionable. I truly regret their demise.
That said, I never wear them, but I remember growing up and every woman in church had one. My mother rarely left the house without one, at least in her younger days. When my girls were little, they always got a hat at Easter time.
I do miss those days.
And hey, have fun at Buns & Roses! Sure wish I lived closer. I’d love to go, too!
I don’t wear hats. My husband is a farmer and puts on a baseball cap all the time. We call them gimmee hats because they’re free from seed corn dealers and equipment and repair places.
Dekalb, Pioneer, Garst, John Deere.
He owns a cowboy hat but he really uses it, to keep the sun off his face in the summer to protect against skin cancer. Nothing decorative about it…he does look pretty good in it, though.
The reason I hate hats is it reminds me that I’ve got a head like a pumpkin…I could BE the model for Charlie Brown. My girls all wear baseball caps like to go boating, with a pony tail pulled through the gap in the back.
When I try one on I need on that’s adjustable and…even when it’s one of my husbands, I just have to keep making it bigger and bigger.
Embarrassing.
I heard that the reason women don’t wear hats anymore (remember Jackie Kennedy’s pillbox hats) is because the started doing their hair. Did women really NOT do their hair before?
So they’d pull on their little hats and be done…but of COURSE they couldn’t take them off…because their hair was a disaster to begin with, made worse by a hat.
……AND, I posted on another blog today, a blog about writer’s contests…about how a contest win led to my first contract. If there are any aspiring writers on the loop here you could go check it out, I’m blogging today and tomorrow, cuz it’s a long story…or I just can’t control my yammering.
Lots of up to date contest info if you’re interested in entering.
It’s:
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/
Remember when Princess Diane almost brought hats back in the 80′s?
I wear a hat/cap quite often. On those mornings when I just don’t feel like brushing my hair before I take my son to school, I just throw on a cap instead.
Lorraine, I truly wish I looked good in hats. You don’t know the times I wish it, especially when my hair gets that Phyliss Diller look.
But, the sad fact is that a hat just doesn’t do a thing for my face. Guess it’s the shape of my face or maybe as Mary said, I’ve got this Charlie Brown head. But I really envy women who wear hats. I bought a cowgirl hat back when John Travolta did that movie that was set at Mickey Gilly’s dance hall in Pasadena. The name of the movie escapes me at the moment but JT made the cowboy hat very popular. I really wanted that hat but after I got it I think I only wore it maybe two or three times.
Sure wish I had a new book out so I could’ve signed up to participate in the Buns and Roses affair. Sounds wonderful and lots of fun. Maybe next year. Yes, wouldn’t it be great if all the fillies could take part? We might have to work on that. Anyway, I wish you girls all the best. Sell a ton of books and laugh up a storm.
Excellent post and thanks for the hat etiquette link! I may use it to settle a dispute. Have a wonderful day.
I just did a web-search and found the name of that John Travolta movie–URBAN COWBOY. Man, did he look good in a hat!! I think I watched that movie at least a dozen times. But every man and woman wanted to get that cowboy/cowgirl look.
I wear a baseball cap when I’m raking hay, baling, and changing pipes in the summer. In the winter when I’m feeding I wear a stocking cap or a hooded sweatshirt with the hood tied up tight. But as for a fancy hat to wear to town, I feel funny walking around with a hat on. Even though my daughters and my friend say I look good in hats.
Interesting link. Thanks, Lorraine!
I’m not a hat person. They don’t look good on me, but I do like hats on others. Especially cowboy hats! But I think women who wear hats nowadays make a statement, and not just a fashion statement, but one that says they’re confident, sure and proud to be a woman. My older friend wears hats beautifully and let me tell you, when she walks into a room, every head turns.
See, Linda talking about Phyllis Diller hair…I have always had very thick hair and it tends to stick out like, as my mom always said, Rosanne Rosanadana from Saturday Night Live. When I used to grow my hair out really long I could do a great Cousin Itt impersonation. Hats hate my hair.
(
Interesting site.
I think the last time I wore a hat was when I was a little kid and it was Easter…it was white and had a ribbon that matched my dress. I don’t really care for hats other than the occasional ballcap. Like you, I would probably feel like I had blinders on…plus it would just feel odd since I am not used to it.
I cannot stand hats. They make me feel as if I have a large weight sitting on my head.
I’m having a hard time remembering. Always had to have one for church on sundays but I quickly switched to one of those lace jobs you just laid on top of your head. I look horrible in caps (thick hair). I’ve worn the occasional sun hat but it’s been years. I do enjoy watching all the wild looking hats when they show the Kentucky Derby lol.
Does anybody else miss hats with net veils that came down over your eyes? I had one in college, the veil had little black dots and it was so flattering. You never see them anymore.
I have a shelf full of hats, including a black felt cowboy one. Rarely wear them because I hate the way my hair looks when I take it off. Do you think they’ll ever really come back?
I usually don’t wear a hat but I do like them..not necessarily for fashion but for sun protection..LOL
!
I love hats but don’t look good in any hat except a fedora or a cowboy hat. Mine are both red and I love em and my Red Hat Group!
Does anyone remember the straw hats with an elastic chin strap, with a ribbon around the band and tails down the back? When we sat down in church, we were okay until we looked down. Remember how the hat would pop off because we had the ribbon tails caught between our back and the church pew?
I love all these hat stories! They bring back memories – the white Easter bonnet with the matching ribbon around it. I had one of those!
I love seeing the hats at the horse races. They do add a bit of elegance. So I’m really looking forward to the tea.
Thank you all for sharing your stories. Maybe women stopped wearing hats because there were so many of us who simply didn’t like the way we looked wearing them.
After wearing visors while playing softball for 8 yrs, I became a “hat lady” 15 yrs ago when I found a red velour 1940′s cloche hat with a double row of rhinestones, years before I was eligible to be a Red Hatter (too busy to join now! ROFL) My hair is 1/2″ long (picture a salt & pepper Emu!) so hat hair is a moot point!
Among my MANY hat stories: bought a gamblers hat with 1935 Indian head nickels on hat band in Cheyenne WY while listening to ’94 Garth Brooks concert; BONUS-found a 2nd hat inside one I bought at thrift store; gave lavendar pill box I was wearing (not the shirt off my back) to a speaker at church because it matched her outfit; won a hat contest at work; the ladies at Methodist district events are disappointed if I don’t wear one-ONLY one who does wear hats; also frequently attend black Baptist church where several older ladies wear LOVELY stylish creations; wore couple of Easter hats as child in ’50′s; collect hat boxes, too.
Enjoy garden/picture hats like Scarlett O’Hara: wore one as sister’s bridesmaid in ’70′s; paid 2x as much for my lace trimmed wedding hat as my gown (dress was $25 in ’80′s); got plain basic black one on my first cruise recently.
Also confess I’m a “bag lady”: in addition to purses, BAGS for books, various activities, projects & travels, NOT knitting/crafts.
Lorraine; THANKS for the trip down memory lane and for the link to view TX fundraiser!
How about Liza Doolittle’s hats in My Fair Lady and Julia Robert’s in Pretty Woman, especially at the race and returning to the snobby shop clerk?.
PS How could I forget that I paid $4 for a turquoise sequined baseball cap?
I’ll be with you, Geralyn and the authors/readers/supporters in spirit Sun! Libraries and bookstores tie with church (home of the Good Book- pun intended!) as my second home!
That party in Richardson sounds FUN!
Lucky Lou sounds like a my kind of person-books and hats.
Oh how I hurt for you poor ladies who don’t feel comfortable/look good in hats!
I love hats, and especially LOVE all the men that compliment me on them. I get free desserts, free drinks, doors are opened for me, compliments are called out across crowded rooms, and NONE of this ever happens when I am wearing expensive shoes or a pricy hand bag. Only when I wear a hat.
A cute little fedora with pants, or a pillbox with veil and LBD, the women stare but the men are chatting and complimenting in the most refreshing manner (and NOT in a fresh or suggestive way.)
My husband thinks it is fun to watch the guys smile at me as their wives frown…clearly they wish they had worn a hat, but just didn’t have the feminine confidence that it takes to wear a hat.