In April, I partnered with renowned Holly Hill Inn chef, Quita Michel to host my 2^nd annual Hat Tea event at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington.  We put on a Kentucky Derby hat fashion show and lovely afternoon tea.

This special event was the launching point for my Savannah Spring Hat collection as well my new artisan tea collection, featuring five hand-blended, loose leaf teas.

At the Hat Tea, guests were treated to a shopping experience where they were encouraged to have fun experimenting with all of the elegant and spirited hats in my new collection! 

With so many upcoming Spring events on the calendar, it was a great joy to help ladies find their own personal best look.

We had a tea-tasting station where guests could sample all the hand-blended teas in my new collection. As a native Kentuckian, I’m proud to have partnered with the world-famous Elmwood Inn, located right here in Kentucky, to create this delicious line of artisan teas.

We are all treated to a classic afternoon tea menu, designed, created and thoughtfully presented by Quita Michel and it did not disappoint!

 

 

Pimm’s Cups and Peach Bellini’s were available and the mixologists at Fasig-Tipton also created a wonderful mocktail with my Belle’s Butterfly Fascinator tea, lemonade and honey- delicious and so refreshing!

If you think an afternoon tea is not a substantial source of sustenance…think again!

As a certified Afternoon Tea Etiquette trainer, it was my pleasure to present a talk on Tea Etiquette for my guests.

 

I talked about tea fashion, host gifts and included a presentation with model, Katherine Barr on how to best pair a hat with an outfit that has a print, which is sometimes a challenging endeavor!

 

During Tea Service models weaved their way through the elegantly appointed dining tables, showcasing different hats to inspire ideas and fashion possibilities for everyone… 

Michaela and the entire Holly Hill Inn / Fasig-Tipton staff exceeded expectations, bringing this already elevated experience to the next level with their service and attention to detail.

It was a successful and absolutely splendid afternoon.

I want to thank everyone who joined me for this beautiful day of elegant hats and gorgeous teas and, still much needed, in-person connection.

It was a joy and I plan to continue this annual Hat Tea tradition every April!

In the meantime… wear your hats with confidence and enjoy a meaningful break from stress with a daily cup of tea in the afternoon!

Lots of love,

Polly

 

Can a hat help a horse? In this instance, yes. I am partnering with the Kentucky Equine Adoption Center in an exciting new project where $30.00 from hat purchases will go to the Kentucky Equine Adoption Center’s horses.

When I started researching the Kentucky Equine Adoption Center, I got very excited. This group has placed over 500 horses in new homes in it’s first 3 years. Not only that, but they are an all breed rescue organization, which I loved. Located in Jessamine County, right down the road from my office, they take in all horses, not turning any Kentucky horse in need away. In addition, horse owners can surrender their horses directly to KYEAC at the tracks, eliminating horses from ending up in dire circumstances, such as being sold for slaughter. Unfortunately this does happen.

All horses are examined and vetted. Horses deemed adoptable are then put up for adoption. As many of you know, horse abandonment is at all time due to the economy. People can simply not afford to feed their horses or pay for vet care. To keep a horse is an expensive proposition, especially with hay and feed prices soaring. As an animal lover and volunteer for various humane societies, seeing this depressed me. As only one person, I felt there was not much I could do, but I had to do something.

Prominent in Pink, Simply Demure and Azure were the hats selected for this project. I selected hats that were popular styles and wearable as well. I’m happy to report sales have begun and we’ve already started raising money for KYEAC

Why not turn your Kentucky Derby Party into a fundraiser for homeless horses? If each person donates $10.00 at your party and you have 20 people, that’s an easy $200.00 that was raised in easy and fun manner.

But when it’s time to be discreet
There’s one thing
you just can’t beat
And that’s a strapless backless classical little black dress
Richard Hartley, Shock Treatment

Audrey Hepburn knew it, as did Betty Boop and Edith Piaf. Clearly Mme. Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Madame X knew it; that is, the inestimable value of the Little Black Dress.

 

Throughout the Edwardian and Victorian eras black as a choice for ladies’ apparel was reserved for those in full mourning. It was French fashion designer Coco Chanel who, in the 1920’s, established black as a fashion choice. Gabrielle  Coco Chanel, a designer of great vision and practicality intended the black dress to be versatile, long lasting and available to the widest possible market. In 1926 Chanel published a picture of a short, simple black dress in Vogue. Vogue called it Chanel’s Ford.  Like the Model T, the little black dress was simple and accessible for most social classes. As Vogue predicted variations on this simple black garment would become a sort of uniform for all women of taste.

 

Today the LBD, as it has become known, is considered essential to a complete wardrobe, and under dire conditions, say while traveling light, can be a complete wardrobe in itself. Living in New York as a busy and often broke young woman, I soon learned which garment would carry me from the office to the opera with very little fuss. One year I wore the same black dress to wedding receptions as on a night train journey across Kenya. It was simply a matter of exchanging pearls and heels for elephant hair bracelets and espadrilles.

The beauty of a sleek, well cut black dress is that it becomes a blank palette for the art of accessorizing. One of the best elements to play off of a black dress is a dramatic hat. Case in point, the simple black de Givenchy sheath worn with a wide brimmed hat by actress Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

 

This spring All You Need is Love Hats and Veils (now Polly Singer) was deluged by requests for black hats. Ascot 2008 proved so popular that the design was temporarily removed from the collection for fear that every third woman at the Derby might be wearing the same hat. Like an elegant black dress, a black hat provides the perfect back-drop for color and trim. This Derby season, commentator Nancy Cox wore Blithe Spirit, a dramatic black hat banked in yellow silk roses. Our own First Lady Jane Beshear chose a small black hat trimmed in robin’s egg blue.

 

Dress it up or dress it down The Little Black dress is the work horse of a wardrobe. As Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, once said, “When a little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear in its place.”

by Jan Masters Yon