Gotta Watch TV

Tonight was the closing Conan O'Brien The Tonight Show, and the send off included ZZ top and Will Ferrell kicking it to Freebird, by Lynrd Skynrd, with Conan playing along on his axe. The entire week was one long wrap up joke, re the soap opera that NBC created by re-shuffling the cards of it's late night line up. Tonight was a must see, if just for the history books.

We were treated to Robin Williams, Pee Wee Herman, and Tom Hanks on show after show of brilliant writing, deductive reasoning, and inane antics not seen since the early days of Letterman.

As a gentleman, Conan provided his fans with wisdom and advice for handling the situation, and deepfelt thanks for their support. As a comedian, he provided his fans with ongoing one-liners, and insider jokes. As a professional, he stood his ground and stood up for his team in the face of an onslaught rarely seen in Televisionland.

And so it's a wrap, and Leno will be back on his turf in a month or so. Whither goest Conan we do not know, but his fans will follow, as they have from one slot to another over the years.

The other half of the evening was the benefit amazingly tossed together by George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for the Haitian relief cause. In the space of under one week, a smooth, gorgeous production was broadcast from multiple sites,and every channel, with international stars of the music world joining voices and forces to funnel money through a slew of organizations. The song choices were poignant, and are available for uploading on iTunes. Go to HopeforHaitinow.org to donate anything at all. Go to: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1630348/20100122/rihanna.jhtml

for the line-up of performers, and to pre-order the CD.

It's up to all of us to throw our hats in the ring and help.

Recap

Here's a quick little article for those of you who didn't make it this year:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23159-Chelsea-Accessories-Examiner~y2009m11d22-Hats-rule#

plan for next year! Make your own hat and win the prize, since only non-members can enter.

The Culture of Costume

Early fashion plates, and journals promoted the latest, the hottest, and chic-est in garments, so that the middle classes could emulate the aristocracy across Europe. The latest color, silhouette, trimming of ensembles for daytime and nighttime became watered down as each subsequent societal group interpreted fashion. Through the decades that followed this initial blast that became the borgeousie, each group began to identify itself via fabric, shape and designer. In this costume maelstrom of the 17^th-18^th centuries, the common man has emerged dressed as he chooses, according to his own style and taste.

Today, with the overwhelming freedom of choice in mens’ as well as in womens’ garb, costume can be, and is, often extremely individualistic. Post-hippie vintage merged into haute couture, and slid home with it’s ever popular resuscitation, manipulated bygone eras into iconic combinations that became recognize-able by their decade. The 1970’s revived the 1940’s , and the 1980’s translation of the shoulder has come home to haunt. We’re living in a moment of phoenix-like glory. The 1980’s , so obvious an influence in contemporary fashion has now bled into the dance, and other artistic camps.

The Metropolitan Opera is currently showing, to sellout crowds, the new production of “The Damnation of Faust”. Chock full of intent, the visual content is rampant with dancers, acrobats, costumed singers, and video projections. And that’s in just one scene.

The 1980’s should be culled for specificity, and elements extracted that morph into new interpretation. Any era can provide inspiration, but when we take everything available and throw it against the wall to see what sticks, we’re not designing, or interpreting.

Let the individuals of this new decade ahead take the centuries behind us and extract, or exhume, their favorites icons. The Dandies will live to tie another tie. Hollywood movie stars of the glam eras will drip another foxtail. The flappers of the 1920’s will pull down their cloches on a new era. The Victorians will again tweed us to death, and the embroideries of the Edwardian Arts and Crafts movement will once again be copied somewhere in India. Fashion lives in cycles no doubt, and art follows, but let the art and the fashion be refreshing in it’s newness. It’s the hope we live for.

The Great and Glorious Mimi Weddell

I'm sad to announce, via Mimi Weddell's press agent, that the lovely hatted one left us on Sept 24th. Here is her obituary:

WEDDELL, Mimi Rogers took a final bow and removed her hat for the last time on September 24, 2009 following a short illness. The first of four children born to Helen Stevens and Harold Rogers, Mimi made her debut on February 15, 1915 in Williston, ND. After exploring numerous cities, Mimi decided to settle in New York with husband Richard Weddell, an executive with what was then known as RCA Victor.

Exceptionally gracious and world-wise, Mimi was a working mother in an age when mothers did not work, especially mothers living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In her mid-sixties, upon the passing of her husband, she quit all her “day jobs” and with no children to support Mimi launched what would become an eclectic modeling and acting career. She loved the cameras and the lenses embraced her.

At 90 years old she was declared by New York Magazine as one of the “50 Most Beautiful New Yorkers”. She has appeared in over 25 movies,starting with the cult classic “Dracula’s Last Rites”, to “Hitch” and numerous television series including Sex in the City , Law and Order and practically all of the “soaps.”

Ms. Weddell was featured in Joyce Tenneson’s Book, Wise Women. She also found time to appear Off Broadway and traveled across country to join the casts of regional theatre groups. Mimi, who would never let her age get in the way of a casting call, appeared either on the cover or in editorial spreads in New York Magazine; Italian Vogue; Vogue and, of course, Vanity Fair. She worked with photographers, Richard Avedon,Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh, Tim Walker, and Martin Hyers to name a few. Her lithe spirit was seen in many commercials and print ads for Juicy Couture, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Nike ‘Just Do It’ campaign and others.

A few years back, Mimi caught the attention of Producer/Director Jyll Johnstone who decided Mimi’s remarkable life was a story worth telling. The result was the highly acclaimed 2008 documentary “Hats Off.” Mimi at last got top billing and in so doing launched the battle cry heard around the independent film industry: “90 is the New 40.”

Within the “industry,” Mimi was always known for her vast collection and endless array of hats. Her sense of style was legend. Grace Coddington, the Creative Director of Vogue Magazine remarked to Mimi's favorite fashion photographer, Tim Walker that she couldn't have styled Mimi any better than Mimi dresses herself.

Fashion Week, NYC 2009 and then some

A deep sigh of exhaustion now exudes from my entire being. We're not quite over, but here's the deal:

during Fashion Week, all of the models are in town, and , the dear editors schedule as many magazine shoots as they possibly can, to take advantage of that very fact. As a matter of fact, everyone is in town: the photogs, the models, the stylists, and every assistant not shipped off to Albuquerque for a shoot. This omni-presence seems to complicate matters. TV shows schedule bits involving fashion, the reality shows jump on board the fashion bandwagon, and yes, even the designers remember we're here and we can make fabulous hats for their collections.

So, a wrap up of just a few salient points from this mad, mad week and a half:

The Mad Fashionista requested hats by Ellen Christine to highlight her wardrobe for her tent presence. Somewhere along the way she upstaged Kathy Griffin, wearing one of our hats, as reported in WWD. Point for our side.

Chic Today got an article out of me for the Gareth Pugh installation at Mac/Milk. We love this designer, and felt right at home, as if it were the 1980's once again, in the middle of a lit cube.

Go read the article.

United Bamboo requested designs for their S/S 2010 collection. Andrew Richardson, a stylist with whom we have worked in the past, called and asked for a meeting. The meeting went well, the hats looked glorious, I was happy , they were happy. Pay attention to the prints in their collection, all designed inhouse by an artist. Very Joan Miro. Great dresses, and a brilliant jumpsuit.

People Magazine is shooting their 35th Anniversary issue. Some of our cocktail hats were called in by Jamie Grace for Iman, and Chanel Iman to wear........we''ll have to see what happens.

The upcoming tv series "Sherri" picked up two hats for an episode shot just this week.....I can say they're large hats, drama hats, great looking hats......beyond that, watch the show when it comes out.

The last project of the week is for "My Fair Wedding", a reality show that is staging a fashion runway show next week. They'll present a specially designed collection of gowns, with Ellen Christine Millinery headpieces. Watch and see for a David Tutera moment.........

Just a peek into our daily adventures.........just a tip of the iceberg......just a blink of the eye. Now, back to my customers.

Wear a hat, and keep me happy.

Request To Consider Willy DeVille For Induction In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Petition

Request To Consider Willy DeVille For Induction In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Petition

Spike the Shoe!

Wearing a cobbler’s apron crafted by Hermes, Beth Levine made magic in her studio. Beyond shoes, the Levines (Beth, and her husband, Herbert) transformed American made footwear of the prosaic loafer era into a glamourous panoply of humorous, chic, and innovative pieces that remain iconoclastic even today.

Think of Marilyn Monroe in her Springolators….the name Beth Levine is stamped indelibly onto that image.

A virtuoso of shoe-dom, Beth Levine as the design force behind the Herbert Levine brand, influenced European style with her elegant creations. This glorious technicolor book tracks the Levines from their first post War shoe factory to their last run in 1975. Ad campaigns, publicity shots, pages from Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar fashion editorials lend imaginative background to the myth and the reality of the Levine shoe.

Best of all are the artistically photographed portraits of Beth’s shoes- details captured, nuance explained. Able to make inroads in experimental and futuristic shapes and materials, the Levines’ body of work affords a broad spectrum of design research. Theatre boots, encrusted with stones a la 18th Century; modernistic Kabuki “flats” that give a floating sensation; clear vinyl; heels crafted from curls of leather; pumps covered in peacock feathers: this book is a veritable library of shoe history. Written with appropriate quotes and quips, with a dynamic forward by Harold Koda, of the Metropolitan Museum, this is one of the most important costume books in the field since “Mode in Shoes” first appeared.