Garbo Speaks!

Many moons ago, in the beginning..........

Marlene Wetherell,  while still at Victoria magazine, requested a few pieces for one of their issues.  As per my usual modus operandi, we designed them to spec, since there were parameters involved.  One, it was to be for the blue and white issue, in June.  Second, it needed to be variable, chic, sporty, and romantic.........all in one little hat.

The blue and white one was published, and Polly, my Premiere hates me for that hat even now, since it's a complicated woven structure sitting in a comfortable smallish brim.....cotton ribbon, pale Wedgewood blue, contrasted with the white of an antique linen tablecloth.  Doesn't that sound delightful, as a little hat to throw in your suitcase and carry off to the Polo fields with you?

But......since one hat is never enough for a shoot, I strive to please, and so we designed a few others.......on the way out of the studio, I felt the need for one more twist of fate, and so I grabbed a paprika felt body, threw it on a block, and raced down to the car.......I finished stitching it on the way uptown, in the back of the limo.  For some reason, theatre training does this to us......it makes us infallible and capable of making anything anywhere in a flash.  for a shoot, it's fine....but for a finished product, you can't be that self indulgent.

To bring this all to a neat closure, the hat I designed that day was named the Garbo Fedora, in honor of the magnificent star of the silver screen, Greta Garbo.  It, too , was published, in another issue, and it's the first one the stylist picked up..............ah, life.

Buy your very own on www.ellenchristine.com: packable, supple fur felt with a simple pleated crown and an assymentrical brim. Perfect for the transitional millinery wardrobe.

And remember what my Grandmother said: "Give it a dip, dear!".