Far Away

Here is a picture from the Royal Court production of "Far Away." I only wanted the middle picture, but I'm not home so lack editing software. I haven't said much about the play itself. It's strange and disturbing but I like it. Basically it's a story of the end of the world, everything is at war, even the animals, even the weather and in the middle there is this parade of hats on prisoners where the winner gets...? I'd love to see some of these up close.

Tendrils

Is exactly what it looks like. Headband with Holiday sprigs attached. If I were really making it to sell and not for a show I'd cover the band in a pretty fabric.

Sunday School

Obviously related to Thorns, a wreath, upside down, with beads added--like projects in Sunday School. "Let's decorate the Ark of the Covenant with Macaroni!" "Let's decorate our crown of thorns!" In a warped world.

I wish I was Philip Treacy

Not mine. The fabulous Philip Treacy. I really wish I could be him--or at least work for him.

Just for a little variety

This is bottle I papier-mached and painted. The hat is a spare button from a blouse I no longer own. There's three dimensional latex paint that can be built up, This wasn't it, but I squirted some out straight from the tube, teased it with the brush and let it dry. Not too bad. I have a bunch of these painted bottles (not the same--all different) and thought about trying to market them, but each venture I imagine seems to take so much time and demand that it be my primary focus. I need to find a promoter.

Acts of Futility

Another play from Acts of Futility. The hat is on the table. Just a basic wide brimmed, short crowned hat covered in a heavy black cotton, hand sewn. I made the coats out of the same material. They were very Matrix like and the guys loved them. I had the worst time with the wigs. They were just cheap plastic Halloween wigs, and regular hair products did nothing. We wanted them to look stringy and unwashed. I ended up having to thin white glue and run it through clumps by hand. You can get a better look at the floor that my husband I hand painted as well. I really knocked myself out on this show.

Renaissance

This is another of the hats I sell. A shot blue-green velvet with an etched leaf pattern (which unfortunately doesn't show up well here) and a shot green silk shantung that also makes the band.

Rhymes with...

This is a hat from Far Away that I actually designed before shopping. I drew it on a page. It's two top hat frames put together, the top one clipped to give it an angle, styrofoam half balls glued on and spray painted orange. I'd like to make this one out of real materials sometime--maybe actually steam wool and block it (hey, Red Queen, wanna help?). I love top hats. I've got designs for several in my head.

The Nelson

I'm rather proud of this one. It's made of two bridal bands sewn together holding up a throw pillow case with a few stitches to hold the shape. I just started manipulating the fabric, and there it was, Admiral Nelson's hat (albeit in fuzzy brown polyester w/ fringe).

Mod Hatter

Bucket liner, tile spacers, tubing. 'Nuff said.

Flower Garden

This is another found hat--a basic green felt, prob. 1960's-1970's. I'm not sure now why I bought it as I don't wear green. It had some sad green grosgrain on it which I removed and did not save. I then practiced my ribbon embroidery on it--purely random pattern. Then it still needed something else, so I runched wired ribbon and worked it along the band.

Thorns

I love this hat. It was certainly the easiest to make. For Far Away, of course. Like I said, I was shopping this show around Christmas. I'm not sure what you were supposed to do with this--wreaths I think, but the nice part was that it was tied together with separate strings, like basket weaving, so that if you cut one the whole thing didn't come apart. I knew I kind of wanted to do a crown of thorns thing with it, but after I had cut a few strings and watched it spiral down I knew I should just stop. Put on an elastic hat strap and away we go. Actors actually fought to wear this, even though it actually pokes into the head. People are funny.

Pier 1 Straw Hat

Thought it was about time to show a hat I really do wear. Self-portrait at work today--someday I'll get myself together and Photoshop my lovely office out of the picture, but not today. Once upon a time Pier 1 sold clothing. It was a very brief time, but during that moment I bought two straw hats. This is one. It's getting a little beat up because in winter I store it in a hat box which is just a little too small. I need to repair it in front. It has a big straw bow on the back. I really love this hat and it usually gets a lot of praise (except from people on the train--I think they think I'm going to bump into them with it.) The people in Shino Express--my favorite Sushi haunt--seemed alarmed by it too, so I held it. Shino is about the size of some people's bathrooms. I'm not kidding. It seats 6 at the bar and maybe a further 10 in seats if you don't mind bumping elbows. They remodeled and I think it became smaller. It's the best Sushi on Newbury St. in my opinion, maybe in the city, and everyone goes there. Express it isn't, at lunch at least. 20 minute wait. I usually place my order and run errands, like to the library and come back.

My Fair Lady (Movie Version)--Ascot

Musing's comment made me think of other hats I should profile.

This is, of course, Audrey Hepburn in the hat and dress from "My Fair Lady" (Movie Version) designed by Cecil Beaton. What's funny is it's probably my least liked outfit from that movie (love the yellow suit she "runs away" in), and my least liked hat from Ascot. The dress is all wrong for the period, which is funny because all of the other dresses are correct--and it's not like she was Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot" where Marilyn's figure was half the point. Audrey's figure was never her strongest suit. Nor was her voice. I love, love, love and emulate Audrey and wear Sabrina necklines whenever possible, but she was wrong for this movie. Poor Marni Nixon--who's voice we love in so many movies. There are other Ascot hats too, all in lovely black and white, that are just more fantastic.

My own personal connection to this hat is our high school production of MFL, where I froze when singing in the audition (whole long childhood trauma thing--story for another day) and ended up the Assistant Director and dialect coach (I do English accents well, if I do say so myself). I so wanted to push the lead off of the stage and the director/acting teacher knew it. Esp. since the lead had only auditioned because her mother made her! Anyway, we ordered the costumes and sets from some company that supplies that sort of thing to high schools and they were facsimiles of the originals. This was a very strange hat supported with what looked like a giant sachet to give it that angle. Much flattened and yellowed by years of grubby hands and small boxes. Other stories from that production were the stage manager getting trapped on stage during a scene change, a Henry Higgins who had to have his lines fed to him from offstage (I had such a crush on him--one of the few times I had a crush on a non-bishie--he was sweet but really could have cared less, although we did have some good math conversations), and a Alfred P. Doolittle who ripped his pants on stage.

Laurels

This is plastic Christmas ornaments on a Styrofoam ring where I cut out a wedge (did I mention that Far Away went up between Christmas and New Year's? Good fun for the whole family--HA). I so wanted to make this hat--I could see it in my head, but unfortunately it proved too fragile and was never worn in the show. Despite massive amounts of various glues the plastic balls would just snap apart. It had to be held like glass which was just not possible in the rush backstage. It's called Laurels because it reminds me of the laurel leaf crowns that the Caeser's wore.

Acts of Futility: Come & Go

These were three hats (and coats) I did for an evening of Beckett plays called Acts of Futility. This part was called Come & Go. The women are Robin, Wendy and Susan, playing (not necessarily in order) Flo, Ru, and Vi. I knew I'd never find hats and coats that matched the way I wanted them to so I had to make them. My husband and I hand painted that floor as well.

Alien Landscape

Ok, so this is me in a hat I made for Far Away called Alien Landscape. This was for an interview in a Boston free "scene" magazine to promote the play. The interviewer is a local playwright. We didn't meet--he interviewed me on the phone and then later a photographer came to rehearsals. I added the tilt when scanning this. I've removed my name to avoid stalkers, although I've been working on an acting webpage for some time where I'll have my name and face, so I'm not sure why. I like this picture, though I would have loved to have seen the others he took.

I've also added a small shot of Alien Landscape from the top. It's a plastic platter on a bridal headpiece and the objects were in a bag of mixed potpourri--very organic and fun. I meant it to be worn at a rakish angle, but it often went through the parade flat on top of someone's head because it was easier to wear. Most people don't realize that those elaborate headdresses of show girls and Carmen Miranda are extremely heavy to counterbalance.

As a side note Blogspot was highlighting a page called A Dress a Day, so perhaps someday...

Amherst Spirit

I love bowlers, always have. I like to hold eggs and marbles too, but that's a different story. I've had the purple bowler since late high school. I don't wear it much anymore because it doesn't have an internal band and wool is getting progressively harder for me to wear. When I graduated from college I received a framed print of the school from a gentleman who had given me a scholarship wrapped in this two tone ribbon. The ribbon had been cut to make the bow, so reusing it was tricky. I'd seen rosettes in some historical hat books so gave it a shot. This hat has already been on display when I was doing visual merchandising last year. I put up a bunch of my hats for "Ideas for Ribbon." Unfortunately people wanted to buy the hats. I can't sell what I try to sell, and yet people always ask for the things I don't want to sell. Go figure.

Sea Anemone

I saw this feather boa when I was shopping for Far Away and knew it had to be a hat. It really is a black boa with long white feathers in between. They flutter as you walk. It's got a certain 60's vibe. I have this one, but I never seem to have the occasion to wear it.

The Birthday Cake Hat

No picture today because I don't have a picture of this hat. I made it in elementary school and I hadn't thought about it in years. Today is my birthday and I was thinking about that as I woke up and I suddenly remembered this hat that I had made with my mother for some school spirit event.

My parents had a book store called "Frontier Bookstore" when I was a child. It had a frontier theme with bandana print for the bags and at some point my mother bought these faux straw boaters--I think for the presidential elections/bicentennial. They were made of some styrofoam material stamped to look like straw. I remember they came with a red, white and blue band and if you took that off the styrofoam was smooth underneath. There must have been some spirit day at my school--crazy hat day--and she and I decided to make one of these into a birthday cake--it was nearly the color of buttercream. Half of the store was a Hallmark gift store and there were pkg. toppers that were fuzzy balls. We put those around the brim like icecream, and gimp trim for icing and then poked birthday candles in the top. I really hadn't thought about this in years. My mother would say, "See, that's where your creativity comes from." I don't know if I want to give her all of the credit, but I've sure been making crazy hats for a long time.

Butterfly

I love this hat, although it's another one that I didn't keep. It's an upside down plastic bowl that I bought at a dollar store, a straw hat that I bought at a craft store and two wire frame, mesh butterfly's that I bought at a different dollar store. I've posted two views of it so you can get a sense of it's size. It also had the advantage that it looked great from all angles and could be worn front to back or back to front. I just kept manipulating the wire armature until I got what I wanted. I'm told that wearing the plastic bowl was a little uncomfortable and it slipped around a bit, but it always got a good response. The actors only had to wear each hat for a bout a minute and a half. The director had the dressers put the hats on in roughly rising arc, smallest to largest through the course of the hat parade.

I missed a day again because I didn't get home until 11 pm last night. I posted pics. of Hyde in hats at Mesmerized the night before so, that sort of counts.

Chauffeur

In for a penny. Nick Rhodes in a chauffeur's cap from circa 1983. The bishie's I have loved and the hats they have worn.

Of course if I'd thought about it, I should have posted this on June 8th, Nick Rhodes' birthday. Once upon I time that would have never slipped my mind.

Hyde in a Hat

Well, I said I wasn't going to do this but the boy has a lot of fun hats. I'd love to make the whole suit.

Mercury

This is yet another found hat, although it's also a designed hat because I had the idea in my head and then looked for a hat base to develop it. I used it in Far Away, although I built it for myself. It's a little 60's blue velvet cap with white feathers a la Mercury or Hermes, the winged messengers of the Gods.

Envelope

After getting a book on Vionnet several years ago I got very caught up in trying to make things with geometric shapes. This is a square piece of fleece made into an envelope. The button hides a little pocket for lift passes.

Daisy's Hat

This is another found hat. A friend gave me the cloche with some ghastly metallic, stretch lame glued on it which I removed. Then I needed a hat for "The Adding Machine" set in the 20's. The concept of the show was black and white--in a uniform but grotesque way. This character is the love interest. So when she goes to leave the office she puts on this hat with a bit of color. Later when she was dead she is in heaven in a bright red dress. Sometimes I like to challenge myself to use only what I have. I've had this dotted grosgrain ribbon since I was a toddler and wore my hair in pigtails. One ribbon is the band, one ribbon is the bow with a plain red satin ribbon for accent. The actress is Stacy Fisher.

Lady 80

This is one of those hats where I saw the materials and the hat just came to me. It's two placemats from a dollar store, making it one of the cheapest. The title, well if just seemed like the kind of fanciful geometric hats that were popular in the 80's as were the colors. I didn't keep this one, but if you want one, I can make it for you pretty quickly.