Fascinator made it into the Oxford Dictionary, Other new entries for this year include “slebs” – meaning celebrities – and “fascinators”, to describe an item of ladies millinery.

The Kansas City Royals baseball team are giving out hats to their loyal fans.

On Friday, the first 20,000 fans will get a cowboy hat. Some of these will be worn again, but probably not a lot. How many people do you see wearing cowboy hats around here? I suppose some of the Royals’ version will pop up on the golf course as sun hats.

On Saturday, the first 20,000 people get Santa Claus hats, which should be comfy on a hot night in July. Some may be stowed away and brought out at Christmas for years to come. More likely, they will end up at the bottom of closets or in garage sales.

Sunday is golf visor day. Again, the first 20,000 get the gift.

Hint Fashion Magazine have an Interview with Milliner Stephen Jones If you’ve watched a Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior, John Galliano or Comme des Garçons show in recent years, you’ve no doubt seen Stephen Jones’ creations bobbing down the runway. And to see even one of the English milliner’s fanciful creations is to see nothing less than a work of art—and art at work. For 25 years, Jones has been handcrafting truly avant-garde hats that run the gamut from eccentric tea-party fare to outré Schiaparelli-like surrealism.

The Mediterranean Trotting Cup held at the Zagreb Race Track was up there next to the Kentucky Derby and Royal Ascot when it comes to crazy hats. The photo gallery can be seen here

A ‘Hats from yesteryear exhibit’ is currently on at Tulare Historical Museum on until 31 August 2008. San Joaquin Valley in California.

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Here is a list of Millinery suppliers so far on my links page….

Australia

Melbourne

Cyril J Preston

Supplier to the millinery and associate trades. Check out their website for the supplies of hats and feathers currently available. They dye or get dyed some of their own feathers – I have picked up some great feathers there.
38 Walsh St,
West Melbourne,
VIC 3003.
Ph: 03 9329 8944.
visit CJ Preston

Torb and Reiner Millinery

Hat making with a passion. Provides a wide range of millinery materials, supplies and tools. Also supplies products that are not available elsewhere such as jinsin and straw cloth. They also run regular courses from their Murrumbeena studio and around Australia.
Ph: 03 9504 4476.
visit Torb and Reiner

Melbourne Hat Blocks

This Melbourne based hat block maker takes orders on the Internet. I have seen a few of the hat blocks purchased by some of my Millinery friends and they appear to be of good quality.

Unit 3, 2 Celia St
Bentleigh East
VIC, 3165
Australia
(03) 9579 343
visit: Visit Your Hat Shop

NSW

Wagga Wagga

De Lew Designs

Milliner and Millinery supplies. From sinamay and capalines/hoods, to hat veiling, flowers and millinery tools. Has a great online ordering system and very efficient mailing.
15 Crisp Dr,
Wagga Wagga,
NSW 2650.
Ph: 02 6971 1122. visit De Lew Designs

Queensland

Feather.com.au – Supplier of all kind of feathers. The largest selection of hand-dyed, commercially dyed and natural feathers in Australia. A good online shopping system.

Lot 14, Chatham Terrace,
Smithfield Heights,
Cairns, QLD 4878.
Ph: 07 4038 2882. visit Feather.com.au

Custom Made hatblocks and moulds
Phil Mergard – supplier of custom made blocks and production moulds.
0419709421

Sydney

SA Brown or the Hat Studio

Millinery supplies: blocking fabric, capeline, cocktail shapes, crinoline, feathers, flowers, hat blocks, hoods, ribbons, sinamay braid and fabric, veiling. Also conduct millinery workshops.
168 Victoria Ave,
Chatswood,
NSW 2067.
Ph: 02 9413 4311. visit the Hat Studio

Image via Wikipedia

• Fashions at Dior show pay homage to Vogue – Arizona Daily Star

Another article about the Dior Fashion show. Milliner Stephen Jones, a longtime collaborator, said hats were inspired by illustrator Eduardo Garcia Benito, famous for his 1920s Vogue covers of women in …

• Golf caps present a new twist on old style fashions – Fibre2fashion.com

This article is about the changing in types of golf hats worn. …genre of hats has hit a new high for head fashions. It used to be that a visor, or more traditional hat was the only style seen outside of the old …

Image via Wikipedia

This week has been quite a busy week for hats in the news. With the last of the coverage from Royal Ascot to a story on recycled plastic bag hats. There was a free hat give away in Lancaster county and a few stories on the millinery and milliners behind the hats at Royal Ascot and a ‘scandal’ involving betting on whether the Queen would wear a facinator to the races. Enjoy and please feel free to provide any feedback.

• As children you’re told not to put bags on your head, but Inglewood’s Reta Batten has a different message – cover up with a bread bag and help a worthy cause. Mrs Batten (91) makes and sells sunhats from used bread bags and donates the proceeds to the Cancer Society
• Summer officially begins at 7:59 p.m. Friday and a hat company in Lancaster County wants to protect people from the hot summer sun.The Bollman Hat Company gave out free hats Friday morning at Lancaster’s Binns Park.
• The Evenings post coverage of Royal Ascot, at the Reading train station and at the races.
• The Queen was caught up in a strange betting scandal on Ladies Day at Royal Ascot. Bookmakers suspended bets before her arrival at the racecourse on the type of hat she would be wearing.
• Marie Claire’s coverage of Royal Asco
• Liz Felix has been a milliner for over fifteen years. Initially, making hats just for her daughter, she now runs her own millinery business. Complete with a host of clients ranging from the average housewife to the rich and famous
• An amazing gallery of hat and millinery photos from Royal Ascot.
• Royal Ascot photos through the ages… A good glimpse of the a little history of hats at Royal Ascot.
• Facinators at the races
• Hat’s off to a lady who really knows how to use her head
• HATS, hats and more hats are what initially strike the first-time visitor to Lady Caroline Renwick’s shop.
• New York Magazine’s take on Royal Ascot with some great photos.
• Belfast student Blaise Harvey (21) tells Jane Bell how she’s worked with top milliner Philip Treacy’s team and helped with a Princess Beatrice hat for Royal Ascot.
• New York Times Slideshow on Royal Ascot Hats.

Related articles

* Laura Thompson: Royal Ascot is more about showing off than racing [via Zemanta]

Zemanta Pixie

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I have decided to start a regular blog post with news on hat in the media. This is a good source to see what people are wearing, where and when.

With the Royal Ascot in progress this week it was sure a week for hats in the media. There were also a number of other smaller media stories that I picked up and also a few millinery stories associated with the Royal Ascot and the tradition to wear hats. Enjoy!

Hats! Heels! Horses! Flashy fashion at Ladies Day – Fashion & Beauty – MSNBC.com

This is a link to an article on fashion at Royal Ascot.

So, where can one find a good hatpin these days?
This is an article with with quotes from How2Hat’s – Mrs Morse-Brown in relation to millinery and hats at the Royal Ascot

Hats off to Ascot! The wild, wacky and wonderful outfits of Ladies Day | Mail Online
The images in the gallery on this page show some of the less spectacular hats, but these still give a good indication of the styles of hats worn at the races this year

Rochdale Online -Hats off to the ladies for charity race day

ladies day at Royal Ascot.

The Associated Press: Hats and heels take the day at Ascot’s Ladies Day
Hats at Ascot

The Press Association: Stylish hats on Ladies Day at Ascot
Some more hats at Ascot.

Zara Phillips tops celebrity hat list – Telegraph
Who are the biggest celebrity hat wearer? According to this article Zara Phillips and Brad Pitt…

Mad hatters – Lifestyle News – Cairns, QLD, Australia
Article on local milliners in Cairns.