What If the Hat
Doesn't Fit?

This hat is my favorite out of the 63 entries on the If the Hat Fits
web site. I've been checking for what has felt like seemingly weeks to see when they would upload the latest virtual exhibit. This week, I see they finally have the August 2006 show up and rolling. Yahoo! This is a site that's most definitely worth bookmarking if you dig hats as I do. You've got folks from all over the world (but not the universe) knitting, crocheting and molding straw and felt to make the most incredibly unique chapeaux. What's so refreshing is how unserious the hats are. Some are downright silly, the kind of thing you might slap on for a bobsled ride or to buy a gallon of 2 percent milk at the corner bodega. But this hat by Rhonda Sharkie (pictured above) had me right from the hearty HELLO it practically bellowed at me from the computer screen. I just want to study that honey-mustard yellow straw and the matching swoops of feathers like they're sculptures in a museum. And that flower? I must ZOOM in like there's no tomorrow to see the detail on this bloom. It looks like the petals are crafted from starched bits of multi-colored silk. Clever! Now would you wear this cocktail hat even though you *know* that the feathers are going to flirt with the ceilings, doorway jambs, and any tall man that dares to stand behind you? Can you stand to have a hat that's kissing behind your back? I'll bet those feathers won't pose a problem for a certain buyer, who's certain to fall deeply in love with this chapeau from the moment he or she sees it.