ASSOCIATED PRESS SAYS THAT HATS ARE POSED FOR A COMEBACK

It seems like its raining positive hat forecasts for the future – and that’s good news.

Everyday it seems another writer – or stylist – concurs that it’s hat time in the city. So rejoice and start thinking of ways to get women into stores to buy hats.

The biggest problem I see is the lack of hat stores that cater to potential hat lovers. Designer and devoted hat fan Lawrence H. Levens would like to open hat stores (if anyone is interested in talking to him) contact him at: 212-366-5125 or meyerswv@aol.com.

I thought you might want to read the latest article by AP that celebrates the certainty of headwear.

HATS ON: Help headwear stage comeback
By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL - The Associated Press

There are probably more women with hat boxes in their closets than with fashion hats these days.

A century ago, a proper woman almost never left the house without one on her head. It was a style statement, social statement and a way to tame hair that wasn’t washed, lathered up in product and blown dry every day.

Now, it’s no longer considered impolite to be bareheaded when you visit a friend, and there likely is a hair salon around the corner.

So what would it take for the hat to come back?

More focus from the fashion world

Hats and head coverings have been getting a good show on the runways lately, and that could give the concept a boost.

Cleo Glyde, style director at Marie Claire magazine, notes that the riding-inspired dome hat featured at a Balenciaga fashion show last year was a hit. At the fall collection previews, Marc Jacobs made a striking statement as models wore dressy, colorful hats with brims of varying widths reminiscent of the 1920s and ’30s with their menswear-style outfits.

“The mannishness of a hat can be very stylish on a woman,” said Glyde.

Jacobs’ blessing certainly is a good sign, adds Brooke Jaffe, In Style’s accessories editor.

“We look to him a little bit as a god... So many of the fashion shows were about these clean polished looks...and with clean and polished comes the hat.”

More horse races

Hatmaker Kathy Schickli’s store Drinks on the Plaza is in Louisville, Ky., home of the Kentucky Derby, scheduled for May 5 this year. Her customers want wild hats – hats with feathers, flowers and sparkles.

Derby hats, inspired by the hats worn at England’s Royal Ascot horse races, are the most fun to see and the most fun to make, Schickli says.

Easter, with its tradition of bonnets, seems like another good time to trot out a hat. “It can kick up your church outfit,” Schickli said. Plus, a lot of people like to buy Easter hats for their little girls.

More practical reasons

Betsy Thompson, fashion spokeswoman for retailer Talbots, says even fashion hats can have utility.

“Hats are great at graduations. That’s a practical place for them – you’re out in the sun, it’s a dressy occasion, you save your eyesight from glare,” she says.

Deborah Rudinski, merchandise manager at trend strategist firm Henry Doneger Associates, says that younger women who have been raised to shun the sun, wear baseball caps and visors for sports, and also have shown a willingness to put on newsboy- and cabbie-style hats and oversized berets.

More confident women

Milliner Eugenia Kim, who won the Council of Fashion Designers of America award as the top up-and-coming accessories designer in 2004, says a hat is like a canvas for the wearer to paint an image of herself.

A fedora, a style that Hilary Swank sometimes wears, is tomboyish – sexy but masculine, Kim says, while a cap, consistently a best-seller for her, oozes casual cool. But, she agrees, most women who wear hats aren’t shying away from the limelight. “If you go to a bar and wear a hat, most of the time, you get free drinks.”