Wilmington's Hat Wearing Events

It has been insanely busy the last couple of weeks as Wilmington was getting (and is getting) attired for the hat wearing events of the year for us. Those would be Azalea Festival Garden Party, Easter, and the Jr. League's Mint Julep Jubilee, a Kentucky Derby event including Best Hat Contest (!). I've been making and selling hats as fast as I can!

Above you see two local fashionistas (in my hats!) on their way to a Garden Party after-party. Yes, you heard me right. Wilmington can't get enough of wearing their hats (and partying!) on the big day, so after the big hoopla where everyone who's anyone attends, they break into many, many after-parties to keep the festivities going--yachts, bars, restaurants, private homes.

These particular fashionistas happen to be friends of mine-- designer Amanda deLeon (left) and 'Style Girl' Jess James (right). Jess is the local fashion guru, and is known as 'Style Girl' not only through her newspaper column in the Wilmington Star News, but through many other events she coordinates throughout the year like fashion shows and style swaps. She does some seriously great work in styling fashion shoots too. You can usually check out her latest in Focus on the Coast, another of our local publications. Amanda just had a fabulous introduction into Charleston (SC) Fashion Week as one of the 4 semi-finalists...no easy feat since the competition was fierce. But she was a roaring success! See this page http://www.charlestonfashionweek.com/designers.html for more info on Amanda and Charleston Fashion Week. Congratulations, Amanda!

The above picture is Crystal, one of the members of Wilmington's Junior League. She looked stunning in every hat she tried on! Seriously! My new hat model??

I hosted the League Girl's Night Out recently as they preened for their Mint Julep Jubilee held on May 2--Kentucky Derby Day!! It is going to be a beautiful display of great hats, pretty dresses (and ladies), seersuckered men, Southern buffet, oh, and a horse race to watch.

Try on those hats, girls! There's a style for everyone! I think they had a good time and I know most had never been to a milliner before. Well, we are few and far between. We talked about how to wear a hat properly, colors, embellishments, custom work and time lines for getting a custom hat made. Verrry important!!

I know there are many hat wearing events this Spring all over the country. If ever there is a time to wear a hat it would be to one of these events. But if you don't feel comfortable in hats as a rule you will feel much more comfortable with everyone else wearing one. Yes? But be prepared for some attention...especially from the men as they loooooove a woman in a hat. Don't believe me?? Try it and see!