fashion fantoms

And here it is, our first ever feature!

2008-05-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Anna Shoub, The Hat Junkie

Anna's Favorite from her collection is called Daisy Maple
Daisy is hand blocked from twisted sea grass straw. The crown is open and the edges are raw. The ribbon is green with red threads woven through and topped off by a beautiful moss colored rose. Kind of has a sophisticated farm girl quality to it. Looks equally wonderful with a pretty sun dress as with overalls. Anna wears hers for gardening. It ages very well. As it gets used over the years and sat on by the kids, it just adds to it's charm.

Anna's hats are so very beautiful! Just take a look and you cannot help but fall in love with all of them! We chose 4 of the hats that we found to be our favorites, and this was not an easy task! Anna has succeeded in capturing a timelessness in her hats, of those simpler times gone by. Her style is classy, vintage yet fits
in so well with today's trends!

You can see all her great hat creations at her Etsy shop, or her website.
Also visit her blog here.

It's been a busy week!

2008-05-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

We had hoped to continue with some 20th and 21st century hat history, and decided to wait a bit on that. Instead our next focus is to feature some great hat designers, after all, that's why you are all here, is to see the artists! Once we get it all together, the features are next! Stay tuned, it's coming!

It's Hat Week!

2008-05-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

This week we are going to be looking at the impact of hats on fashion. We will explore the history of hats from the early days to present. By the end of the week we will focus on the details of the 20th and 21st centuries, and lastly, the trends that are expected in 2008.

We invite all of you who are hand-crafters of hats to let us see your work. We'd like to know which of the styles we present are most represented by your work and which styles influence your creations.

It's always fun to reflect back on those styles of the past. In the fashion world, today's upcoming styles are often taken from the past with updates on these vintage modes.

Let's get started!

Ancient Egyptians - 1000 BC to 1 AD
The Egyptian hat was a wig. These wigs were made from human hair and were braided or styled in numerous ways. Many were quite elaborate! Hair was very important to the Egyptians. Henna was the dye of choice to cover up graying hair. It didn't matter much if you were rich or poor in ancient Egyptian times, the hair was adorned all the same, it was not considered a luxury but a necessity. The difference between the rich and poor was in the quality of materials you could afford. Much like today, if you can't afford the 24k gold, you go for gold-plate!

Ancient Greece - 800 BC to 500 BC
The women of ancient Greece didn't wear hats. The fashionable way to decorate the head was to carefully arrange their hair. Many hairstyles were elaborate from puffs, to curls, to waves. They adorned their hair with hairpins made from ivory, gold and silver that much of the time was set with precious stones and jewels. These Grecian women often dyed their hair golden-red. False hair was also a common addition and included flowers, leaves and coronets of pearls and precious stones. Long hair was in and the longer and lusher the better! So you could say, the hats of Greek women were the elaborate styling of the hair itself!

The Romans - 753 BC to 393 AD (approximate)
Very much like the Greeks, the Romans were a fairly simple people when it came to fashion. They too, generally, did not wear hats or decorative headdresses. They did, however, have some interesting rituals regarding their hair. They believed if they washed their hair too often, it would disturb the important spirits who watched over them. August 13 was the celebration of the birthday of Diana, the goddess of the hunt, so this was a day when they typically would wash their hair. Like the Greeks, the Roman women wore their hair up.

Middle Ages
The middle ages run from 1000 AD until 1300 AD, and very little had changed in this time period from the previous period due to widespread poverty. But the lack of money didn't keep these women from adorning their heads!
1200 - 1300
The barbette, which is a chin band that a woman attached a headress was common.

Also the coif, was popular during this time, a much simpler type of hat.

The Renaissance period 1400 - 1500 AD During this time, it was actually against the law to be out in public without headwear. Hoods were very common for women until the early the early 16th century. These hoods fell in folds with the sides turned back to reveal an under cap. The English hood or gabled hood was a popular style.

During the 1600's and 1700's the head-dress styles went through more subtle changes.

The 1800's fashion trends brought with them a wider variety and more elaborate hat fashions with decorative bows, ribbons and even feathers!

We hope you have enjoyed reading a bit about early hat history! Our next entry will feature the 20th and 21st centuries, and then we can get to the task of featuring some handmade hat artists as well!

Welcome!

2008-05-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

This venture is going to be so much fun for all involved! Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be seeking out all those fun, hip and beautiful handmade accessories that we as girls are always in search of!

Hats - gotta love them! These are a fashion statement that women have cherished for many years. We will be showcasing some past and present styles and we have some great handmade hat artists to showcase. If you are a hat designer and would like to be featured send us an email!

Scarves - Think Jackie O, think 50's convertible cars, think cold blustery winter, or just think of something fun! Whether it's silk, lace, knitted, or synthetic, scarves are on the rise as a means of creating a fashion statement! We'd love to hear from all those handcrafted scarf makers.

Purses - what woman doesn't need one of these! We are going to showcase the handbag, the clutch, the tote. Purses with long stringy straps, big bulky straps and no straps at all. If you make handcrafted purses, let us know!

Belts - the little old belt years ago had one simple purpose, to keep those trousers from falling down. This simple little item has evolved in so many ways! We will introduce you to the trends and uses. We know this is a very small category of which there are homegrown varieties, but we are up for the challenge in finding all of you!

Jewelry - now every woman loves jewelry! There are so many styles to choose from. We have elegant with the high costly precious stones. We have trendy eclectic pieces that can have a range of prices. There are dressy costume and those everyday pieces that go from the office to the beach to the weekend. It's a good thing there are so many reasons to wear jewelry because there is so much of it out there to choose from! We expect this category to be our largest collection of featured artists. If you create handcrafted jewelry and want to be featured, let us know!

Our plan is simple, find artists from the above categories, feature them, and place them in our list of linked artists. The only thing we ask is that the items are handcrafted by the designer, no mass produced items will be featured here, we all know where Wal-Mart is, and this is not the place for that type of stuff!

At first, while we are gearing up, we will first be looking towards all those great Etsy artisians.

Stay tuned while we get this going!

--your fashion fantoms!