In America, we are home to Vogue, and high-fashion loving celebrities, but this is where the Brits have us beat: headgear.
And guests at this weekend’s Royal Wedding will most definitely be sporting hats and fascinators.
“We still wear them for traditional reasons,” says Houston milliner, Lindsay Halpin.
“We wear them for practical reasons – it rains a lot in England. But we also wear them for colorful reasons. It’s a nice pick-me-up to wear a colorful hat.” she said.
Halpin, who is originally from England, has a degree in Fashion Design from Houston Community College; but she taught herself how to make hats.
Eight years later, she’s an award-winning hatmaker and has created headpieces for designers - local and abroad.
She does it all by hand: steaming, shaping, and sewing the sinamay material, before accessorizing it with feathers, buttons, and anything else a client may request.
Halpin says during Prince William and Kate’s wedding years ago, the fascination around fascinators sky-rocketed.
But they’ve been around for more than 100 years.
“They are very flattering and not as much of a commitment to wear, since you wear them around a hairstyle,” says Halpin.
“Also, you don’t have to worry about where you’re going to store a full-size hat.”
She says it’s best to follow the rules of proportion when buying a hat: for example, don’t wear one that is oversized, if you’re small in stature.
Also, she says, look for quality.
“Disastrous hats to me are ones where you can see the stitching or glue.”
Halpin says for those looking to get a custom headpiece, this is her advice: Go big or go home.
“If you’re going to go to a hat maker, then you might as well embrace it and get the edgiest one possible.”
MORE ON THE ROYAL WEDDING: