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Gallery 12 – Millinery
The St. Clement Collection
Millinery is my favorite medium to work in. Millinery has an amazing history and tradition. There were rules about fabrics and the months they had to be worn. Political affiliations were represented by the crown of the hat:
top hats for conservatives, berets for liberals. In their day, the monarchy would never remove their crowns in public,
because doing so would signify a loss of power. Subordinates were expected to show hat honor by removing their headwear
in the presence of a superior, enforcing a chain of command. Thus the
tradition of doffing, the tipping of the hat, to show respect evolved.
In the 1960's the trend of going hatless accelerated. Some say
the trend started for men when JFK did not wear a hat while campaigning. For women, the famous beehive hair do's of the 60's essentially became hair as hats. Toss in the explosive social change that occurred in the 60's, and you can see how social mores and hats have gone hand in hand. It's a fascinating subject to explore.
Today baseball caps have become the rage. Also as an unfortunate side effect of global warming, hats are needed as a protection against the damage done by greenhouse gasses.
In the recent decades, the rules, traditions, and quirky nature of millinery
have become almost forgotten. It was from this history that I developed the Millinery Man Entertainment Series featured in Gallery 6.
The St. Clement Collection features handcrafted updates of traditional millinery styles. The hats are sewn, not blocked. Traditionally hats are steamed to a wooden block that is a shape of a hat and sized to hat sizes. I don't do that. Let's face it, there are those we all know who we can refer to as block heads, however for the most part, heads are are unique to the body it's attached to. My hats are less structured, and can conform to the unique head on the individual choosing to wear it.
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Click picture for close up view
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