Do You Like My Hat?

Apparently the British have this rule that women are expected to wear hats to royal weddings.  One commentator even stated that the invitations said that women were required to wear hats.  Since I didn't get an invite, I don't know if this is true.  But based on the absurd headpieces I saw today, it's probably true.  Apparently hats are still hip in Britain.  And fascinators are all the rage.

I thought about what would happen here if a wedding invitation in Texas required hats.  And then it occurred to me that everyone would probably show up in a cowboy hat!  That's what we call etiquette in Texas. You probably wouldn't be able to find a hat store within 100 miles of here that wasn't devoted to creating cowboy hats.  It just seems like we're light years, or maybe decades, away from the trends in the UK.

I rather like the idea of wearing something ornate on my head, but I'm always afraid that I might obstruct the view of those seated around me. At least that's what I was accused of doing when I tried to wear a big sunhat in Mexico on a mission trip.  But maybe that's why they have the fascinators that many of the girls wore today--or as Philip Treacy the famous London milliner calls them--head pieces.

Who knew that milliners still existed?  The last time I was in a milliner's shop was when I was visiting The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Detroit, Michigan, when I was in the first grade.  I'm pretty sure that the shop I visited was just pretend too. It's so cool to think about going into an actual milliner's shop to choose a hat to go with a fancy outfit.  It seems (and probably is) very high society.

Even though I probably won't ever have a reason to wear a really beautiful hat (although I'm holding out hope that my husband will take me to the Kentucky Derby someday), we can still enjoy them from across the pond.  Here are some hats that I am loving:

These hats by Gina Foster, and many more can be found at http://www.ginafoster.co.uk/.