All text, concepts and images ©2009 - 2021 Debra Healy
unless otherwise stated.


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Paris Sun a Time for Hats!

 Sketch Junya Watanabe summer 2011
From Italian Vogue


 Images Italian Vogue

I adore these summer hats by Junya Watanabe. Although she sites her influences as Edwardian bathing costme-ish  a la Biarritz, I think  the hats hearken back the Directoire and Empire with a modern twist. I adore the ribbon and buckle.

I love hats, I can’t cope with anything in my hands like a parasol.
My grandmother was a milliner she ran the millinery department at Bonwit Teller in Philadelphia from the
great depression until she retired in the 1970’s. 

 1938


 Pochoir  
Georges Lepape, Gazette du Bon Ton, 1913
each print was hand-colored using stencils.

I have such found memories of trips to her house  where she had  an atelier for private commissions. She had a wall of French silk ribbons on spools. These ribbons were mesmerizing with delicate colors,  textures, and patterns.   


She had shelves of beads in bottles, bolts of lace and tulle for bridal  veils, crowns,  and  beaded bodices.
She also had a zoological treasure trove of exotic feathers. Once she  took me to a place called the South African Feather company, a veritable warehouse stocked with rare and exotic plumes, now, no doubt all contraband; birds of paradise, king fisher feathers,  just gorgeous.

 Italian Vogue

 French Straw hats 1920's-1930's





3 comments:

Ruth Peltason said...

You always have the most interesting and thought-provoking ways of looking at style. The ribbon book is beautiful--was it your grandmother's??

Ruth Peltason said...

Love this about the hats, and how it takes you to thinking about your grandmother. You always make any topic richer by mining the past and showing the trail of bread crumbs along the way.

P.Gaye Tapp at Little Augury said...

Debra, heavenly! I love hats too.Please take me everywhere in your pocket you good-open it and let me peek just a moment. I may have mentioned on my blog-my grandmother was trained as a milliner too. She-in a small town-was instead swept off his feet. The straw from the 20's-30's ! everything her makes me deliriously happy!