As a long time hat designer, I’m seeing that the easiest clothes to wear a hat with are neutrals. Anne and I had this conversation earlier today. I was noticing how nice she and Sue looked in our recent Hat Ladies Luncheon photo. Both Sue and Anne were wearing pastel hats with white outfits. The result was stunning. Colors such as white, taupe, beige, and black are so much easier to coordinate pink, lavender and other color hats with.

Likewise, purchasing a white, beige or black hat gives one more options in putting together outfits. The biggest dilemma I face as a hat wearer is putting the hat and outfit together before I leave the house. You’d think that since I design hats for a living that I would be better at it! Quite often, I’ve not allowed enough time to make my wardrobe choice.

Years ago, living in Manhattan and working in the music business, I lived in black. Wore black and breathed black. When I moved back to Kentucky, I slowly started incorporated color into my life. I knew something was up when I purchased my first white dress! But what I noticed was that it became harder to pair hats up with different color clothing, since my hats tended to have a lot of color in them. In Manhattan, I wore bright hats with black clothing. Here I was trying to wear bright hats with clothing colors that didn’t quite work.

The lesson of neutrals finally hit home and my life is somewhat easier now! Trying to match colors is difficult even for the professionals.

By Polly Singer