If there is a hat season, it begins with the parade of at Easter services, and continues with the and on display at parties.
But for some people, including , Denver superintendent of the , and , are as essential as shoes.
“A lady is not well-dressed unless she wears a hat,” Washington said.
“I have a lot of hats. I probably have 200 hats. I try to match my hat to my attire, to whatever I’m wearing. When I go grocery shopping, I wear a hat to the store. I wear a hat even when I travel on a plane. The stewardesses always say how nice it is to see a lady in a hat. They tell me, ‘You look so beautiful.’ “
Harris wears less religiously — she’s willing to run errands with a bare head — but when she dresses up, she says she feels unfinished without a hat.
“A hat just makes you look polished,” Harris said.
For Harris, hats literally are a . In addition to teaching voice lessons, she is a milliner and owner of Natty Hats, a bespoke hat company. She makes all kinds of hats, from the frothy confections that perch like butterflies on a head to architectural creations embellished with flowers realistic enough to interest bees.
It took Harris three months to create an elegant high-crowned boater from a jacquard print, turquoise on the outside, and lined with the purple version of the same material.
This is not an inexpensive hobby. The sort of handmade hats created by Harris or , who uses felted fleece from her alpacas to create hats, cost well over $200.
“Almost all of this is handwork,” Harris says, from the hat’s beginnings as it is formed over a to the final touches of an iridescent pheasant feather or a disconcertingly realistic fabric flower.
A is the rounded wooden, cloth or metal shape designed for different hats. , with movable interlocking parts that adjust to create a , a , a , a a , or a
Hat blocks are rare and expensive. Some of the hat blocks at are worth more than $500 apiece. That’s why Harris, Curry-Elrod and other milliners will rent one for special projects.
Allyn’s is a quirky Country Club neighborhood shop that began as more than 55 years ago.
“There’s been a huge increase in our hat business in the last five years,” said Sandy Wilson, owner of Allyns.
“I have to attribute hat popularity to the Kentucky Derby, although the African-American ladies always have worn their hats for Sunday services.”
Wilson, Curry-Elrod, Harris and of y are among the founding members of the nascent , a group that celebrates handmade hats. Harris took up hat-making after taking a millinery class at Given her long history at Allyn’s, and the shop’s roots in millinery, Wilson says, “It would have been crazy for me not to be a member” of the guild.
Other hat aficionados are content to be collectors and admirers without formalizing things. Among them is , a Denver recruiter who for the past four years has co-hosted a Kentucky Derby party.
“The first year, we had about 40 people at our party, and everybody dressed up and took it pretty seriously,” Gaige said.
“I enjoy wearing hats, but I don’t always have occasion to. This gives me an excuse to buy a big, fancy hat every year. As a host, I need to go all-out.”
Her 2013 hat featured multicolored polka dots, with an oversized pink and green ribbon. The hat she’s ordered for this year’s party is big, with a floppy brim pinned up on one side.
“With big hats, you need confidence to wear them,” she said. “I love it. I love the trend.”
Storage is another matter.
“Right now, I store my hats on the shelves of my closet, and one of them is at my friend Justin’s house. I’d like to buy hat boxes.”
That’s what Washington does for the most cherished of her many hats. Her late husband built a special room in their house, dedicated to the collection that keeps growing.
“At our Church of God in Christ women’s convention, you will see some of the most beautiful hats you’ve ever seen in your life, and there’s a designer out of Brooklyn, New York, that comes to all our conventions,” Washington said, speaking over the phone from a church convention she was attending in Tennessee.
“She’s here right now. I just bought three hats from her.”
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
Where to wear a fancy hat
fundraiser luncheon, 11:30 a.m. May 1, Seawell Grand Ballroom, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 1350 Arapahoe St., Denver. Benefit for the DCPA’s Women’s Voices Fund. Tickets $50 per person; 303-446-4815, denvercenter.org/hattitude
, 11:30 a.m. luncheon; 1-3 pm. networking reception; May 2, Denver Art Museum Ponti Hall, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway, to celebrate Colorado Latina Trailblazers and Unsung Heroines. Tickets, $75 per person (make check payable to LAEF, 561 Santa Fe Dr., Denver. CO 80204)
Derby Party with celebrities and , 1 to 7 p.m. May 3, Denver Athletic Club, 1325 Glenarm Pl., Denver. Tickets $40;
, 1 p.m. May 3, Denver Center for Performing Arts complex, 1350 Arapahoe St., Denver. Tickets start at $110; denverderby.com.
, 1 p.m. May 3, University of Colorado Stadium Club at Folsom Field, Boulder. Tickets $100 at boulderderby.com. Benefit for Front Range Hippotherapy.
, 2 p.m. May 3, Brown Palace Hotel, 321 17th St. Denver. Benefit for cancer foundation, which provides free private web pages to cancer patients and caregivers. Tickets $200 at mylifelinederby.org.
