Tiny Hat at Rivership Romance

So my hubby and I went on a Rivership Romance cruise tonight with his sister and parents (see my review of it here). It was on our list of things we really wanted to do before we left for China. The problem was that I have already pack the majority of my clothes so I had nothing to wear. I borrowed this bright purple dress from his sister and it looked really good. It seemed to be missing something though. I was doing my hair and I wondered, "do I have any hats that would go with this?" So I checked my stash and sure enough the purple feathers on this hat were the exact same color as the dress! I got so many complements on both the dress and the hat! We had a lot of fun and the Tiny Hat made me feel very pretty and sophisticated. Not bad for a hat from the Hot Topic clerence rack!

Couture Hats by Philip Treacy

Haute Couture hat designer Philip Treacy will be a guest judge on this season's Project Runway. While I really don;t care for most Haute Couture fashions because they are completely unwearable, he has done some beautiful pieces for people like Sarah Jessica Parker. He does all kinds of styles, big, small, masks, wearable, alien, but I thought I would share some of his best Tiny Hats here.

This black and white number is classic yet modern. It is a bit of a throwback to My Fair Lady.


















Apparently, many ladies of the British Royal Family, espeically Camilla Parker Bowles, are huge fans of Treacy hats.















This beautiful green garden is perhaps my favorite Treacy hat.



















This takes wearing Tiny Hats to the extreme! But wearing just any one of these hats would be a fashion statement in itself. Sometimes, Philip, less is more.

Tiny Hats that make a difference

Hi everyone,

I wanted to take a moment to talk about tiny hats that make a difference. I was browsing Instructables looking for some DIY Tiny Hats and came across a woman who makes tiny hats for needy infants. She is part of a charity called Carewear. Carewear "began in 1991 as a personal effort to provide much needed apparel for premature and low birthweight infants undergoing treatment in neonatal intensive care units of several children's hospitals in the Washington, D.C. area. Initial obstacles included the need to down-size patterns for infants as small as fifteen ounces and the task of contacting each hospital regarding sizes and quantities of garments needed. Because of the high demand for preemie-sized items, efforts began to recruit others to join the effort. As of December 2004, Care Wear had grown to more than 2400 active volunteers." (taken from the carewear website)

I personally have no sewing or craft skills at all, but anyone who can volunteer should certainly think about it. Even though these hats are not typical for this blog, they certainly are important Tiny Hats. If you are like me, though, and would not be able to contribute to this charity, there are countless opportunities available. I volunteer for various charities throughout the year and would encourage everyone to help those in need in your community.

This is not a hat

I know what you are thinking, "that isn't a hat." And maybe tecnically, you are right. But that doesn't mean I can't wear it like a hat. I love to be able to repurpose items into other things. Especially christmas ornaments. Why should they just be used on a tree? I have a really awesome Cinderella snowglobe Christmas ornament that I use as a fan pull. So when we were at the Christmas store in Epcot and they had a whole tree decorated with these pretty peacocks, I had to have one. As soon as I saw it, I thought "I could wear that as a hat." So, voila! I think it works. What do you think?

This is my favorite Tiny Hat. It was actually a gift from my sister-in-law when she found out I liked Tiny Hats. She got it from Stacy Williams in her online shop, the Aesthetik. Unfortunately, she has been having a going out of business sale. I got several hats from her cheap, but she doesn't have any left (at the time of this writing, feel free to check and see if there are any new ones there). She did still have some really nice hair clips left for $5 though last I checked. I wanted some, but I bought out all her Tiny Hats so I had to stop spending money :)

The first time I wore this hat I dressed as an Edwardian Era lady and got so many compliments. I kick myself to this day for not getting pictures that night. Oh well.

One of the things I love most about this hat (in addition to everything) is the peacock feather. I love peacocks. There will be later posts on that.

The only problem with this hat is that she has thoughtfully included clips on the brim, on both sides, to easily clip the hat to your hair for a stronger hold than with just the ribbon. But the problem is that you would have to have a really huge head for the clips to actually work. They are too far out to the sides. I tried using them, but they just made my hair stand way out. But they are hardly noticable when I just don't use them. The ribbon is enough to hold it in as long as I don't shake my head too much.

I like Tiny Hats!

Don't you hate it when you really like something for a long time, maybe your whole life, and then they become mainstream popular, are now everywhere, and everyone now thinks you like the thing because everyone else likes it?
That is what has happened to me with Tiny Hats. Tiny Hats are so cute and I have been collecting them for a while. But, low and behold, they are everywhere now. This is both a blessing and a curse. They are much easier to find now. Tiny Hats are very closely linked to Steampunk which, similarly, is also very popular right now. So Tiny Hats now can be found almost everywhere, even Claire's and Hot Topic. But the bad side is, they are everywhere, even Clarie's and Hot Topic.

What exactly is a Tiny Hat? A tiny Hat, to me, is a hat that is too small to sit atop one's head on it's own. It requires a strap, ribbon, or pin in order to be worn without falling off. Tiny Hats are generally Victorian (or Steampunk) in nature, but not always.

My purpose of this blog is to share my collection and pics of Tiny Hats and share places to find Tiny Hats.