It’s a status symbol, you can find it in many different shapes, colours and materials and it can have a practical and protective function. What is it? The hat. If you happen to have among your family photographs pictures of your relatives from the past, you will easily realise that there was a time when hats ruled. Women looked more mysterious in their feathered or veiled hats; men looked more charming, and I’m sure everyone felt more confident as the right hat can really make you feel self-assured.
Unfortunately, though, there have been bad times for hats caused by trends that tried to sweep away this vital accessory, often considered frivolous and unnecessary. For years the figure of the milliner was in danger of extinction, not only because hats went out of fashion, but also because industrialised manufacturing of hats replaced the milliner’s craftsmanship, simplifying the design of this accessory, yet at the same time introducing new and more advanced techniques in hat making.
But trends at last year’s Spring/Summer 09 fashion weeks proved that 2009 is going to be the year of the hat, also thanks to the exhibition “Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones” at London's Victoria & Albert Museum. I have already mentioned the exhibition and briefly explored Jones’ art in connection with Italian designer Simonetta’s in a previous post, but I can assure you I will dedicate in future more space on this blog to the power of the hat throughout this year.
In the meantime, yesterday, to celebrate the arrival of the new year, my birthday (yes, I was born on 1st January) and the opening of the "year of the hat", I stole from my mum's closet a hat from Anna Rizzo’s latest collection and re-read the book L’arte di fare i cappelli by Anna Maria Nicolini. The Anna Rizzo factory has been producing hats since 1881. The factory is based in Foggia, but the showroom is in Signa, near Florence, a town famous for its straw hats and for its straw museum.
The Anna Rizzo hat I stole from my mum is the sort of hat that can help you achieving a perfect Anna Piaggi style. It's rather tall and its short but asymmetrical brim reminds me of some of Simonetta’s creations. The hat is made of a black PVC -like material with a narrow and rigid white ribbon around the brim.
Anna Maria Nicolini’s book is an amazing manual: it’s a slim volume in Italian and English and it’s the first proper manual ever published in Italy about hat making. 
Nicolini is a milliner who decided to pass on her knowledge to younger generations gathering in book format her secrets and suggestions. She does it in an unpretentious way, listing all the milliner’s tools, techniques and procedures and adding a vital and very useful glossary as appendix to the book.
The author also explains how to make different kinds of hats, such as a Borsalino, a small velvet hat decorated with feathers, a beaded bonnet with a netting motif and crystal fringes, a cloth beret, a broad-brimmed straw hat and a floral headdress.
Is your ideal hat a cloche, a beret, a Borsalino, a pillbox, a broad-brimmed hat or a small evening hat? Do you prefer felt, wool, satin, velvet, brocade or moiré, a simple hat or a heavily embroidered and decorated one? You don't know yet? Well, don't panic: you have a whole year to find out what kind of hat suits you. What I can assure you is that, as soon as the right hat appears on your head, almost by magic, a beautiful smile will appear on your lips.
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