Millinery Delights

If I could do one thing in this life, I would be a milliner, a maker of hats. Head Confections. A possible name for my business. I recently found this Etsy store, which is so tempting to me on my meager budget. Her hats are quite exquisite and reminiscent of older times when fashion embodied the height of sophistication and elegance.

Some of the prettiest hats I've seen come from the musical films of the 1950s and 60s. In Hello Dolly! one of my favorite movies, Irene Malloy owns a fabulous shop in turn-of-the-century New York City. She sings the song, "I'll Be Wearing Ribbons Down My Back," during which she sports a stately headdress that does, indeed, have ribbons flowing down her back.

While all the hats in Hello Dolly! are stunning, none are so gorgeous as the creations of Cecil Beaton in the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. This is my ALL TIME FAVORITE movie. The hats worn by Audrey and the other women in this movie represent pure art. Here are two of my favorites (the second one is so exquisitely crafted and soothing in terms of the gathered chiffon's texture and the curving flow of the hat brim...in fact, the whole outfit is perfection):

Source: www.fancyephemera.com