Wednesday, 26 November 2014

FOUND - 2nd-Hand Hats Off To Top Girl


I find friends and colleagues brimming with stylish ideas and 2nd-hand daring. Emily, friend and colleague, is an aspiring writer, comedian and professional gadabout originally from the Canadian prairies. She moved to London three years ago, compelled by the misguided notion that her life would turn into a Richard Curtis film. She's stayed because it turned out far better. Emily, take it away -

After making an atypically pragmatic decision to chop off all my hair in preparation for a trip abroad, I found myself at a loose end in Kensington with a brand new visa in my passport and a brand new style on my head. I’ve always loved hats but as someone with big, curly hair, I’ve found it difficult to find toppers that don’t make me look like a newly-purchased Christmas tree that’s only had its bottom half unbound. However, with a lot less hair I was free to enter the great world of millinery and, when I saw this £10 hat in the Gloucester Road Oxfam, I fell in love. It's the work of Peter Bettley, a man who I gather has been designing for everyone from Selfridges to the royals for the past 39 years. I’m sure my hat is more high street than Her Majesty but I don’t think I could love it any more even if it had royal provenance. I wore it to a friend’s house the other day and she described it as ‘very Mary Poppins’ to which I replied, ‘I assume you mean practically perfect in every way?'

Mark Your Calendar: 
Oxfam Boutique Chiswick ** Merry Shopping Night
Nibbles, Drinks, 2nd-hand Style, 5-9pm Thur 4 Dec
Follow @OxfamBoutiqueW4

No comments: