When I was a little girl, my Mother read to me often.  One of my favorite books was “Toodles and Her Friends”.  It was about a cat, Toodles, who went through many obstacles but never gave up.  The cat would always say “Perseverance Pays”.  That little phrase has always stuck with me and encouraged me to never give up, both in professional and personal lives.

In designing hats, I am always the most proud of the hats that were the most difficult to design. I will generally design whatever the client requests, even though at the beginning of the project, I am not quite sure how it is all going to work out.

This hat was designed for Royal Ascot.  It was the very first hat that I designed for this prestigious event.  It had to be perfect!

My client lived on the West Coast and I was in Kentucky.  We emailed numerous photos back and forth.  I did not have the dress, which was a different shade of taupe than what showed up in photos. I found a local boutique that had the same dress in stock.  They graciously loaned me the dress so that I could make sure the feathers matched the dress.

My client was thrilled with the hat and received many compliments that day!

Often, the hats that are the most difficult to create are the ones that I fall madly in love with.  Much work goes into designing. I often wake up in the middle of the night with the answer to my design questions.

This was a design that I made for Nancy Cox, who was a local news anchor who covered the Kentucky Derby.  Nancy is a former Miss Kentucky and a delight to work with.  Since she was on air much of the day, I wanted something that stood out, was comfortable to wear and looked stunning with her dress.

The yellow dress was a great base.  I added the blue and white to add a little more color and give it height.  We were both excited with the results. Nancy was a winner on Derby Day.

I designed this hat for Margaret Guedes, who is the Founder/CEO of Kids Beating Cancer.  Margaret is a delight to work with. She always sends me a photo of her dress and we go from there. Her style is elegant and timeless.  We both were happy with the result.  Finding the right color flowers was a challenge but it all worked out in the end because “purrseverance pays”!

Costumes make a film.  With the right costume designer, they can convey much about a character to the audience before they utter a word. It’s not just the clothes that make it, but it comes from the accessories too, hats included! Every little detail of a character’s wardrobe can tell us so much about them and who they are.

Here are 5 of the most iconic hats from movie history:

One of the most fashionable characters in film history is Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  We see in the very first moments of the film,  Audrey Hepburn standing outside of Tiffany’s in a long black dress decked out in pearls wistfully looking at the window.  That scene is one of the most iconic scenes in film history and is the definition of the perfect “little black dress”.  While that outfit is stunning, the viewer gets to see the iconic wide brimmed black hat with a cream colored silk bow.

The costumes for the film were designed by French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey looks beautiful in every outfit.  Her elegant wardrobe throughout the film shows how Holly wants to escape her pervious county girl life for the upscale New York life.

Another film from a totally different era features Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. The film spans 12 years from 1861 to 1873.  We see Scarlett’s life go through many changes, from privileged young Southern belle, to struggling to feed herself and her family, and finally to wealthy business woman. Her costumes through the film highlight her struggle and changes in life. From the fluffy white dress in beginning showing her childhood and innocence to her calico dress that she wears through a good course of the film because she has no money, and then the beautiful gowns she wears when she has money from the lumber mill and marriage to rich Rhett Butler. With many of her outfits she wears hats or head pieces that perfectly match with her dresses.

There are so many to choose from, but I have to go with the hat she wears with the iconic green curtain dress. While not necessarily the most outrageous of her dresses, it is certainly the most memorable. It was even parodied by comedian Carol Burnett in the 90s on her show. She wears the dress to meet Rhett in jail in Atlanta to get money to save Tara showing how dedicated she is to saving her beloved Tara.

Does Audrey Hepburn make two appearances on this list? Yes she does!   Audrey’s hat from My Fair Lady is probably one of the most famous hats from the silver screen.  The movie came out in 1964 with a budget of $17 million. It was the most expensive film made in the US at the time. Costume designer Cecil Beaton designed more than 1,000 costumes for the film and won the Academy Award for Costume Design.

This hat is worn by Eliza when she attends the Royal Ascot after her makeover from simple flower girl to elegant lady.  The hat, along with the dress, were auctioned off for $3.7 million dollars!

Time to show the fashionable men some attention.  While this is not the most crazy or interesting hat by any means, it certainly has left its mark. Once the first Indiana Jones movie came out many men wanted to sport this iconic brown fedora to be like star Harrison Ford. Indy wears a simple white button down with brown slacks, leather jacket and the hat just makes the look forever memorable. People just see the hat and his whip alone and they will know what character you are talking about even if they haven’t seen the movies. The hat adds to this rugged adventurer look (and it doesn’t hurt that a younger Harrison Ford looks amazing in it).

Designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis designed the costumes for the iconic Steven Spielberg franchise. Though Harrison himself wasn’t in love with the look as he once stated, “whoever decided that Indiana Jones should wear a felt hat and a leather jacket in the jungles should be shot,” While an exaggeration, it’s understandable that the outfit was more than likely not the most comfortable for the actor. But I think designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis knew what she was doing when she designed this iconic wardrobe. The Indiana Jones recently went for $650,000 in a recent auction.

Last, but not least, is what could probably be seen as the most iconic hat in film history. The pointy witch hat worn by the green Wicked Witch of the West in the beloved film, The Wizard of Oz, is world famous. Designed by Adrian Adolph Greenberg, the Wizard of Oz costumes are remembered by people of all ages.

The black pointy witch hat has become the staple for any Halloween witch costume. All you have to do is put on the hat and people atomically know what character you’re trying to be. That says so much about the iconic status of the hat!

We often get the question from our clients on how to wear their hair with a hat. Having long hair, I generally wear mine down and natural. There really is no right or wrong way, just whatever is the most comfortable in my opinion.

If you have bangs (or fringe as the British call it), I would suggest pinning them back so that they do not stick out under the brim. Some people will wear their hair back in a pony tail or chignon If you have very short hair, then you need not worry at all.

Hair color wise, I’ve found that redheads, such as myself, can wear almost any color of hat. Pink hats look good on most everyone. I would not advise a redhead to wear a red hat obviously. I always like contrast.

If you are a blond, you can wear a white or cream hat, just put lots of color on the hat to balance things out. A brunette can wear a dark hat, just with a bit of color added. My black and white hats look great on brunettes since the black and white has contrast.

By: Polly Singer

“Men have many ways to express themselves. We only have our hats and dresses” – Keira Knightley as the Duchess of Devonshire in “The Duchess”

Last night, I went with a group of friends to see “The Duchess”. The new movie features Keira Knightley as the Duchess of Devonshire, a direct ancestor of Lady Diana Spencer. Ralph Fiennes is the Duke of Devonshire, who even I can’t begin to describe. Let’s just say that he’s not entirely faithful to his wife as he takes up with her “best” friend (the obvious “with friends like that, who needs enemies?”), and keeps her set up in the house, with all three living in this web of dysfunction. The Duchess, Georgina, is terribly unhappy and frustrated, but what can she do? Women at that time, had no options.

Georgina is intelligent, a political being whose mere appearance can triple a crowd at a political rally. As one of the character says, “Everyone in England is love with the Duchess except her husband”. She became a prominent force in the Whig Party by speaking at rallies and fundraising. She even adopted the Whig colors of blue and buff in her ensembles.

The Duchess expresses herself through her wit and obviously her clothing. It was said if she showed up wearing a hat or dress style, that it would be copied by all ladies the next day. In fact, she was the star of her day, similar to her direct descendant Lady Diana. Georgina’s hats were stunning, comprised of large black and white ostrich feathers, that often stood straight up in the air, making her stand out in any crowd. The hats she wore in non-public engagements were lovely straw hats, perched lower in the front and higher in the back, again adorned with feathers.

In millinery history, hats were cast off during the mid 1960’s – late 70’s. For many, it was Diana Spencer’s wearing of hats as the new wife of Prince Charles that brought back millinery to the masses. While the average lady didn’t rush out to buy a new hat, it reinvigorated interest in hats.

Not only were Georgina’s hats and dresses stunning, but she also was known for her hairstyles. She would fashion three foot high “hair towers”. She put pads of horsehair in her own hair, using scented pomade and decorated the top of her hair with ornaments, even ships in full sail. The towers required the help of two hairdressers and took hours to create.

For more information on Georgina’s fashion, please visit www.theduchessmovie.com and go to Discover. Wikipedia also has some interesting historical information.

I would highly recommend seeing “The Duchess”. It will give you a view of period fashion and also make you glad that we live in the day where we as women have many more rights than those living in that period. It is based on Amanda Foreman’s book “Georgina: The Duchess of Devonshire”. For more information visit www.amanda-foreman.com.

By: Polly Singer

As anyone who has visited my website will notice, many of my designs have been inspired by Audrey Hepburn. Her timeless elegance and simple style always impressed me. Even though I love trends, I always go back to the classics. I feel a classic design is much easier to work around than a trend.

How did I start designing around Audrey Hepburn? While studying at FIT in New York, we were told to design our hat line around a theme. I had always loved Audrey Hepburn’s movies, so I decided to design hats based on her films that I loved most. It was such a fun project. I researched her movies, life and her friendship with Hubert de Givenchy. I noticed that her style of dress favored simple lines in black and white. The clothes she wore in her movies and private life were classic then and could still be worn today.

This hat was inspired by two movies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady.  I created a wider brim in white and then made a crown in black.  I added a huge grey silk rose to add a third color and finished with a spray of feathers.  To my great surprise and joy, this hat brought $5000 at a charity auction.

My favorite movies tend to be Breakfast at Tiffany’s and My Fair Lady, although I adore all of her movies.  Roman Holiday inspired me to visit Rome.  Charade with Cary Grant always makes me smile.  Funny Face is adorable.   The list goes on!  The white and black dress from Sabrina is one of my favorite dresses.

The best hat scene of all time is the Ascot scene in “My Fair Lady”. All those wonderful black and white hats! I designed many hats based on the emotions that scene stirred up for me. Eliza’s Day at Ascot was designed while I was listening to the soundtrack.

What I most admired about Audrey Hepburn though was not her fashion sense, but her amazing depth of character. She lived through World War II and almost died while running messages for the French resistance. In her later years, she worked on behalf of UNICEF and saw incredible starvation that we can only imagine. She not only “talked the talk”, but “walked the walk”.

When I lived in New York City, I was walking home one night. It had been a stressful day and I could hardly think. Walking along Central Park South I saw a crowd of people and this delicate lady being incredibly gracious, signing every autograph. She then looked up and smiled at me, giving me a smile that could melt the coldest glacier. It was Audrey! I wasn’t star struck, as I had met lots of famous people working in the music business. What most impressed me was her warmth and kindness. I feel so fortunate to have had that experience.

By Polly Singer