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The Hat Shop NYC
Jun. 28th, 2008 08:21 amOne of the things i wanted to do this summer was visit the Hat Shop, an independent boutique in Soho featuring the work of over 30 local milliners. Last Sunday, I went and checked it out!
One of the most exciting hats to see in the shop was the initially unassuming-looking water hyacinth straw sun hat by Australian milliner Maya Neumann. The saleswoman showed my friend and i how, with a spritzing of water from a nearby spray bottle, the hat could be reshaped into a variety of different styles by simply folding a fedora-like pinch into the crown or dimpling a divot, or bending a pleat or three into the brim--the hat easily and instantly reshaped, but then another healthy misting and it was easily remolded into its initial dome-crown flat-brim shape. She told us that the Hat Shop's owner, Linda Pagan, had worn a water hyacinth hat across Thailand, crushing it into her bag and freshening it with water whenever she wanted to wear it. She also would apparently submerge it in a river when hiking in remote areas, then put it on, whereupon it served to quickly cool her off as the water evaporated from the hat. Pretty exciting material!
I spent a lot of time agonizing over whether to buy a cloche by Egg Cup Designs, and eventually purchased a brilliantly-designed hat made by Abigail Aldridge, a NYC milliner who apparently doesn't exist on Google(!).
( photos and discussion of construction )
One of the most exciting hats to see in the shop was the initially unassuming-looking water hyacinth straw sun hat by Australian milliner Maya Neumann. The saleswoman showed my friend and i how, with a spritzing of water from a nearby spray bottle, the hat could be reshaped into a variety of different styles by simply folding a fedora-like pinch into the crown or dimpling a divot, or bending a pleat or three into the brim--the hat easily and instantly reshaped, but then another healthy misting and it was easily remolded into its initial dome-crown flat-brim shape. She told us that the Hat Shop's owner, Linda Pagan, had worn a water hyacinth hat across Thailand, crushing it into her bag and freshening it with water whenever she wanted to wear it. She also would apparently submerge it in a river when hiking in remote areas, then put it on, whereupon it served to quickly cool her off as the water evaporated from the hat. Pretty exciting material!
I spent a lot of time agonizing over whether to buy a cloche by Egg Cup Designs, and eventually purchased a brilliantly-designed hat made by Abigail Aldridge, a NYC milliner who apparently doesn't exist on Google(!).
( photos and discussion of construction )
