Hats of the Year in Review!

As the year comes to a close, standard practice for the bigger news agencies is to look back on the big news stories of the year.  Since the news of the year has largely been so negative, we couldn't bear to end 2012 on such a down note. Instead, we present herewith our Hats of the Year in Review, and we wish all of our wonderful readers a very, very happy and prosperous 2013. Please join us as we review some of our favorite chapeaux (listed in random order).

For the story behind this opening shot: http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/11/our-heads-in-clouds.html.

One Hat - Two Heads!  Sometimes, when we both like the same hat, it looks great on both of us. Other times, it looks better on one than the other. You be the judge!  On January 2, 2012, we went to Helen Uffner's vintage clothing warehouse to see the proprietress and explore the premises, look at hats, clothing and all kinds of ephemera. We both tried the monkey fur hat that Helen was wearing when we arrived and both found it to be flattering - and oh! such fun.
























We both agreed that a sophisticated statement hat such as this requires more than a little attitude to carry it off.  Declaring the contest a tie, we sadly left the hat with its owner (who was not proffering it for sale anyway, so we didn't have to fight over it).  Here's the link to the posting we called "Kids in a Candy Store": http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/01/kids-in-candy-store.html

























One week later in early January, we met a friend from out of town at the hat show curated by Stephen Jones at Bard, went to the flea market on Amsterdam and 77th Street and stopped for lunch afterward at Machievelli's on Columbus Avenue for a snack. (No link for this one, since we never actually posted about this outing.) Jean is wearing an Ignatius felted wool funnel shaped hat.  For Valerie's hat, see the first link above about Tomas Saraceno's Cloud City on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 






















Here we are in front of the Brooklyn Museum when we went to the Keith Haring show last summer.

Once inside the museum, we got carried away by the artwork. For the skinny on the show:
http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/06/prince-of-pop-art-and-queen-of-england.html

At the Whitney opening of Yayoi Kusama's exhibition, we both wore or red lacquered coolie hats, adorned with white polka dots in homage to the artist. http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/07/gone-dotty-yayoi-kusama-opening-at.html

We paused in the middle of the Easter Parade for a photo to show off our hats and our nails:
http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/04/nycs-easter-parade-2012.html

When we went to LIM College to attend the lecture and book-signing by Ari Seth Cohen for Advanced Style and by Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum for StylelikeU.  (We're in both books!)  We covered the event in the blog: http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-ifs-go-back-to-college.html

At Stella Management's recent Pier Show, we loved participating in a fashion advice booth. At our age, we figured we'd make more money with a fashion booth than with a kissing booth.  For more on the event:http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/11/fashion-advice-5-cents-pier-show.html

For the Anna Piaggi Picnic to celebrate her legacy, nearly everyone wore a hat. Here we are at Grand Central getting ready to make the trek to Long Island City.  For more juicy details:
http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/08/piaggi-picnic.html

At the party to celebrate publication of "Issey Miyake: Pleats Please", we both wore tall brimmed black felt hats. Scope out the party and the people:
http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/12/pleats-please-me-oh-yeah.html

Our art deco style helmets by Carol Markel (which we were wearing in Bill Cunningham's 12/23/12 On the Street: Jollytown) were first featured in May, 2012: http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/05/now-if-we-just-had-bugatti.html

During Fashion Week last September, we did an impromptu runway show at the fountain at Lincoln Center:
http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/09/we-walk-walk-one-last-time-at-lincoln.html

At our 10-11-12 get-together at DBGB, here's what we wore. http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/10/ladies-who-lunch-brunch-and-munch.html

For our shoot outside the Seagrams Building for the Van She music video, we wore very different headgear with our stripes.

Here we are in front of one of the John Chamberlain sculptures: http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/10/were-in-van-she-music-video.html

During the summer, we stopped in at the Apple Store in the Meatpacking District. http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/08/meandering-in-meatpacking-district.html

When we attended opening night of the Arts of Pacific Asia Show in March, we were lucky enough to be photographed by Bill Cunningham. Check it out: http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/03/arts-of-pacific-asia-show-opening-night.html

To celebrate Jean's November birthday, we went to Cold Spring, New York for the day. http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-day-on-small-town-jeans-birthday.html

In May, we both donned top hats and tails at the Art Deco Show at Japan Society: http://idiosyncraticfashionistas.blogspot.com/2012/05/putting-on-ritz-japan-society-art-deco.html

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