Hats need to make comeback

Nieka Style

One co-worker says when he thinks of Easter, he thinks of hats. He says growing up Baptist, Easter was the holiday when the biggest and boldest hats came out at church.

link D'Nieka Hartsfield

This conversation took me back to childhood during church service (when not cutting up with my brother and getting pinched by mom to be quiet), I would silently judge the fancy hat that I liked the best. I remember all the big bows, veils, embroidery, flowers and ribbons.

The fuchsia tones stood out to me the most (my favorite color as a child). There were always those handful of older women who would go all out with their dressy suits, shoes and fancy hat to match.

Though the big and bold hats aren’t as popular today as they were when I was little, there are still several events and happenings today where the ladies will pull them out of the closet. William and Kate’s royal wedding is one event that really brought back some attention and interest in hats to a younger, broader crowd. I noticed It was a new and fascinating site to those who didn’t grow up surrounded by them like I did. My mother has my late great-grandmother’s collection of hats and fascinators that she loves but has never worn them.

There are some rules and etiquette to wearing hats, but it would be nice to see women wearing them more. You should consider wearing a fancy hat and/or fascinator when planning to attend...

• a horse-racing (e.g. Kentucky Derby) event

• church services

• a wedding or reception

• a graduation

• casual head-wear at the beach (blocking the sun benefits everyone)

• and of course Easter Sunday!

An upside to one hat rule is that women do not have to take off their hats whether they’re indoors or outdoors like men and their ball caps. So any excuse that it will mess up your hair is now in void. Another great reason to wear a hat when dressing up is that you can wear the plainest dress and let your hat be the focus. I think more younger women should adopt this style.

Whether you decide to pull out the big floppy brimmed hat to block the sun or fancy it up at a dinner party, if anything at all, it is a conversation piece.

D’Nieka Hartsfield writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact her at [email protected] find her on Facebook.