I have to start following the british royals...

by Aussie Oz 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Band on the Run

  I love Treacy and most of the hats that were displayed at the wedding. Displayed seems a more accurate term than wore. I used to shop/wish at very upscale NY stores and never saw comparable hats. The hats I did see were very expensive. I am proud of my Ralph Lauren and Bergdorf-Goodman hats. Where I live now, no one wears a hat.

  I did find someone who makes hats for the Kentucky Derby. They started at more than $1,000.

  It sounds as a very interesting and creative job. May I asks how you landed in the field? I suppose Fashion Instiute of Technology might offer a course? It seems like a great niche area in the US.
• 

  JAFO

  Aussie's business is making and repairing the wooden blocks (and other specialised equipment) that milliners (hat-makers) use to make hats.. he doesn't actually make the hats themselves.. as for how he got into it, it's our father's retirement hobby/business.. it's grown to the point that Dad can't do it all on his own, so Oz has kinda partially inherited it..

  A few examples (from dozens of designs)

  
• 

  Band on the Run

  Thanks. I had no idea how hats were constructed. It is certainly a skill.
• 

  JAFO

  The ones I find most fascinating are the blocks for hats where the opening is smaller than the top of the hat.. the block has to be cunningly designed so it can be dismantled whilst inside the hat, so the individual sections can be removed from the finished hat, one piece at a time.. some are incredibly ingenious.. (the top-hat in the pic above, for example.. look closely and you can see it's made of a number of separate, detachable parts)
• 

  Sic Semper Tyrannis

  Personally, I have never understood the fascination with the usurping House of Hanover that continues to this day. They have no real power and are just symbolic heads of state. Elizabeth II isn't the problem. She's actually the monarchy's best asset since Victoria. The real problem will come with the advent of Charles III. The guy has a few screws loose. But what can you expect from a man whose sole purpose in life is to wait until his Mum dies? I see the same kind of shit in my own country with the whole Cult of Kennedy. I can't even believe that there is not a single Kennedy in elected office at this moment. Oh well. If the fine citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland want their monarchy, they are certainly entitled to it. insh'allah
• 

  Aussie Oz

  I have no facination with these people...save for now having to be up with the fashion to know what i am going to be asked to make. The whole hat revival of sorts is driven by the royal family, the celebs and the horse racing fashions in the field...and the millinery students.

  Oz