In yesterday’s post I got excited at seeing hats and turbans appearing on the catwalk during Ralph Lauren‘s show. That was New York, you might argue. And yet London Fashion Week seems to have reconfirmed the trend and has even relaunched the long lost veiled hat. Horrendous hairstyles aside, PPQ complemented some outfits with pink, aquamarine, camel and black straw hats covered in excessive layers of veil, imagine ‘40s or ‘50s hats mixed with the extravagance of ‘80s headgear, add a contemporary twist and you get an idea. In some cases the hats absolutely outshone the garments that didn’t struck me that much.
I do have less flamboyant but more wearable and absolutely beautiful veiled hats in my mum’s collection. Since I was a child I always thought that veiled hats were one of the most mysterious and at the same time alluring thing on earth. I never thought veiled hats were too formal and, if I had had my way, I would have gone to school every day with a veiled hat on my head. I think the main thing that fascinated me was the way the look of the wearer changed when pulling on and off the veil, especially if the veil was black.
There was a trick that my mum often used to renew a hat and that’s changing the veil, its shape or conformation, but, if it was too hot to wear a hat, she would just buy a few metres of veil from a milliner’s shop in town and wrap it around her head in a casual, but fashionable and stylish way. I was pleased to see that this is back, at least in Luella’s Spring/Summer 09 collection.
Most of the outfits – from elegant coats and dresses to trousers and Chanel-like suits – in violet, lavender, grey or lilac – were completed by veils wrapped around the head, all in bright shades of pink or in the deepest black. In some cases the veils seemed to be attached to fabric bows, in another the veil entirely covered an extravagant riding helmet.
The final effect was slightly sickly, but all the same beautiful and fun especially on the most colourful outfits, such as short bright pink or orange tight dresses with inserts of lace crisscrossing them or suits with layered skirts. Colour coordinating the gloves with the hats added a final touch of excess and gave the outfits a slightly ‘80s edge.
Maybe next season we will all go around in hats at social events like it used to happen in the early ‘80s. Hopefully, though, this comeback won’t be killed (like in the ’80s…) by extremely cheap imitations that will turn the look into something ridiculous and undesirable.
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