Friday, October 3, 2008

Headache




What shape of hat can I wear with my face?  That's one of the 10 most frequently asked questions in my shop. I'll get into the rest of them along the way, and you will recognize yourself, or your buddy, in them all. This one is an easy out for me but for some reason, perplexes Jane and John Q. Public.  The little diagrams I've included are on my website, ellenchristine.com, for easy reference.  They're taken from a fast-and-easy How-To book from the 1940's, and so the silhouettes are recognize-able from that era.  The basic geometry is the same, though, and so :
If you have a round face, don't wear a hat that will highlight the circle, but rather something with a bit of a diagonal, to distract, and elongate.  Same goes for those of us over 40 who haven't had face-lifts yet.
For the square, very angular face, add something soft, keeping the angle there again, to cut with a diagonal, and highlight the architecture of your bones.  My grandmother always said "give it a dip", and that's very important  for this shape.  
The triangle, or heart-shaped face loves hats that come lower on the brow, and they can often wear a cloche with that Clara Bow cuteness.
How to find out what shape your face is?  I always say to draw it in the bathroom mirror with a bar of soap.  Easy, fast, but somewhat subjective, unless geometry was one of your favorite subjects.  So, if that's too hard for you, just come into the shop, and we'll play here.

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