We are in the midst of sending off our seniors, evicting them from high school, like you do, with a mixture of joy and relief and bittersweet melancholy. I’m not sure how I do this every year, and I can’t imagine what it will be like when my own kids and all their friends are graduating, but ah well. Till then, I’ll just keep practicing with my students.
To hide my misty eyes and to celebrate the incredible spring weather we’re having, I’m highlighting my new favorite hat, which was a birthday gift this year from one of my dear friends.
Don’t worry, poetry fans. I’ll still be featuring another amazing poet tonight on this blog in celebration of National Poetry Month. (For any readers who are new here, click on the Poetry tab to see an index of the past month’s featured poets. It’s a real treat!)
But this morning I need to post something else, a companion piece to an article I wrote which launches today elsewhere on the Interwebz (link follows). Enjoy!
Wearing cute hats makes us happy. (photo by Kara Masharani)
When I was a younger woman, I bemoaned the fashion choices that had led to the presumed demise of the excellent hat. When I suggested to some close friends that perhaps we should bring it back into fashion, I found the rumors of the hat’s death to be greatly exaggerated. Lots of people liked hats! Enjoyed wearing them, even! I was both excited and…confused.
If everyone thought hats were so great, why wasn’t anyone in my fair city wearing them?
There seem to be a couple of big obstacles to hats’ being a staple of women’s daily fashion. The first is the perception that wearing a hat is just too much hassle when one is getting ready for one’s day. The second, and this may be subconscious fuel for the first reason, is that it takes some chutzpah to make a visual statement like that. But everyone is capable of overcoming these little roadblocks.
Go for a wider brim to add a little drama to your look. (photo by Kara Masharani)
First, let go of the myth that hats will make your hair fall out; in actuality, they protect your hair and scalp from sun damage, which is more healthful. Also forget the idea that you need a dozen different chapeaux to have a solid hat wardrobe. You can, of course – and, um, I do – but it’s not required.
You wouldn’t believe how easy it was to find this hat. Go ahead — guess where I got it. (photo by Kara Masharani)
I love fascinators. They’re cute and interesting, and featuring them this week allows me to continue my month-long pursuit of slightly-less-than-typical accessories. I have a few fascinators myself, but nothing quite as fabulous and fancy as this one, here:
Just a reminder: tomorrow is the 13th of the month and thus it will be Le Jour du Cirque des Rêves. Not sure what I’m referring to? Click here for more details!
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It’s important to wear a hat when you’re out in the sun. It’s not so you can avoid getting wrinkles — which no one can actually avoid — but so you can reduce the possibility of getting skin cancer.
For summer, I like this straw hat. It’s soft and flexible and easy to wear but also simple with clean lines, so it counts as relatively stylish even years after I first got it.
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Would you like to be a guest contributor on a Fashion Friday? Click here to see more of the posts and the submission guidelines.
This week’s Fashion Friday post comes to us from guest blog contributor Dana. Thank you, Dana!
I’ll be posting more content myself next week — as well as more on the Book Spine Poetry Contest — as soon as I finish catching up from DFWCon, the writers’ conference I went to a week ago. (Oh yeah, and as soon as I get a handle on this insane stack of papers to grade. Ah, the end of the semester is upon us… Or, if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, SUMMER IS COMING. Thank you, dear readers, for your patience during this trying time each year.)
Hi, everybody. When Angélique asked if I would do a Fashion Friday guest post, I thought, Sure, I can do that. I’ve been pondering what to write, and it’s changed several times. What I’ve finally settled on is this: I love fashion and I love girly stuff, especially jewelry. I always check all of the red carpet photo galleries and rarely miss a “What Were They Thinking?” fashion post. But for me, on a day-to-day basis, being a girl is more fun in theory than in practice.
The subject came up regarding Angélique’s fashionable and fabulous hats. When she mentioned the first hat making party, it brought back some fun memories. I still have the hat I made at that party. I still think it’s rather lovely.
There are flowers and lace and more flowers and pearls and silk and a lovely long scarf hanging down the back. This is the first hat I ever made.
I’ve also never worn it. Partially because it’s too big and partially because, well, it’s a lot of work to get dressed up fancy enough for it. (And I’ve yet to go to Tea in a season for which it’s appropriate.) I think it’s a lovely hat but when it comes down to it, it’s just a little too frou-frou for me now. At the time, probably not so much. Back then I wore make-up regularly and bought more stylish clothes and worked hard to keep up a certain appearance.
These days comfort is more important. This was true even before my darling daughter was born.
This will end up being the most girly thing I ever make in my life. Cute, isn’t she?
On a day-to-day basis, I’d rather wear Birkenstocks than Blahniks, jeans or shorts instead of fancy skirts or trousers, and cotton over linen and silk. And you know what? That’s totally okay. At 41 I can admit that I love fashion and fancy, girly stuff but feel no need to wear it. I’m finally comfortable enough in my own skin to wear what feels good and not worry what people think.
And I think confidence is the best accessory of all.
Time to get back to hats. My good friend (and occasional guest blogger here at Sappho’s Torque) Margo was in town this week, and to celebrate the fact that we got to visit in person, I’m going to offer up this picture of us Continue reading “Fashion Friday 4/26/13”→
The first hat I ever made, and the one I’m probably the most proud of, is a spring-infused confection which I almost never wear now, but which I feel is appropriate to share with you today…
I just love the way all these blooms came together!
From this side angle, you can see the long ribbon and tulle train.
…because it’s a gorgeous late-March day in Texas, the flowers in my garden are blooming like their lives depend on it — and they do, because the more beautiful they are, the more I make time for them (sad but true) — and this weekend it is time to rotate my fall and winter clothes back to the armoire in the office to make way for my spring and summer wardrobe.
My lovely friend Elani graciously agreed to model the hat for me when she came over today to help me roll grapeleaves (Lebanese style) for Easter.
I made this hat at a party where a bunch of my girlfriends all came over and made hats. We then wore our hats out to tea at a fancy hotel. We called ourselves The Hat Ladies. Maybe some day I will tell you that story, too.
It’s Friday, and here at Sappho’s Torque that now means it’s Fashion Friday. The weather grows mild, the purple-turned-mild-pink leaves on the tree outside my classroom have begun to wilt into a pale green that will look Continue reading “Fashion Friday 3/8/13”→
So you know I’m a writer and a mom and that I teach, but you may not know of my abiding interest in fashion. I admit I’m an amateur when it comes to being a style maven, but in another life I think if I had played my cards right, I could have been Stacy London. (Or at least tried to be.)
Sappho's Torque 