England is all about hats. Hats come in all shapes and sizes and women love them.
Most ladies will wear a hat to a wedding and at my own, there was a beautiful array of colourful headwear at the church.
A lot of younger women will wear a fascinator, which is fun and elegant.
When one of my friends in Canada looked at my wedding pictures, she commented on how many people were wearing fascinators or hats.
She said she thought fascinators were just something worn by people like Kate Middleton, Prince William’s girlfriend, as she is nearly always pictured wearing one in Hello Magazine.
But no, a fascinator is a familiar item at any wedding.
Another essential hat wearing day is Ladies Day at Royal Ascot.
My friends recently attended on June 17 and judging by the pictures, the millinery industry is very much in business.
Ascot race course is one of the leading race courses in the United Kingdom. Ladies day is very much a chance for fashion followers to dress up and find the perfect hat.
My friends all wore beautiful hats. Lucie had a beautiful black hat with red flowers while Louise opted for a smaller pink side hat. And the rest of the crowd certainly paraded in all sorts of different and unusual hats.
One picture showed a woman wearing a hat which even featured a miniature bathroom inside it.
Another woman’s hat was completely made of flowers.
Mini-skirts and midriffs are banned at Ascot so it’s a great excuse to dress up.
Odds are even offered every day on the colour of the Queen’s hat. I’ve never actually attended Ascot but I fully intend to one day and when I do I will begin a search for the perfect hat to match my outfit.
I recently had another conversation about hats with a Canadian friend who told me her mother is travelling to England to attend the Henley Royal Regatta — another essential hat wearing occasion.
Unfortunately she will not have time to find a hat in England when she arrives and needs to buy one before travelling. But she is having a hard time finding an appropriate hat as there appears to be a shortage of milliners in Canada.
When I think back to Shrewsbury High Street, I know there are at least three individual hat shops and you can also purchase head wear in the department stores.
You can even hire a hat. As they are quite expensive, and you often only wear it once to match a particular outfit, it’s an excellent idea.
Every time my mother is invited to a wedding, she has the worry of where to find a new hat.
But it’s so much fun looking for them and when you’ve bought one, you get given a wonderful hat box to protect it.
While hats brighten up any occasion and look fabulous, there are a couple of things to look out for.
There’s that hat hair when you take it off. It’s best to make sure you’ve got a hairbrush with you to fix any flat hair.
Oh and try to avoid sitting behind a large hat during a wedding if you want to get a good view of anything that’s happening.
But all in all it’s best to embrace the hat — after all there’s not many occasions when you get to be so flamboyant.
Rebecca Lawrence can be reached at 691-1258.
