Easter Parade 2015

After what seemed to be the endless winter, the sun came out on Easter Sunday. Just as we arrived at Fifth Avenue via East 50th Street (the location of St. Patrick's Cathedral) to join the parade, we spied Carol Markel and then were joined by Debra Rapoport and Diana Gabriel (who was wearing one of Debra's Viva hats).

Milliners Jasmin Zorlu and Lana Turner arrived from opposite directions and flanked Diana and Debra for another photo op.

Parade-goers run the gamut of ages and styles. This young couple combined vintage with modern clothing (and tattoos) for a decidedly hip vibe.

Richard and Victoria Mackenzie Childs and their grandchildren walked in the parade and obviously enjoyed every minute of it.

Few people carry off vintage with as much style and pazazz as Friederike Paetzold. Her two-toned hat was "killah"!

This family portrait gives you an idea of the breadth of the style spectrum among parade participants. We wondered what color the kids' hair would be when they showed up at school the next morning.

Zero Boy, who joined us for a photo with his friend, obviously put a lot of thought and effort into his look. He was even sporting a tinted monocle.

Ari Seth Cohen and Eric Lee stopped by the parade, wearing two different styles of head gear. Was Ari channeling his inner Gary Cooper?

Davey Mitchell always goes way out for his Easter attire. Sometimes we wonder if he has parade dyslexia, mixing up Easter with Halloween!

These two gents were definitely working an Easter theme into their outfits.

And this fellow went whole hog -- or should we say, whole rabbit? -- for the event.

We're not sure, but it looks like this young woman took multi-colored googly eyes and glued them to a hat.  To great effect!

Doesn't this woman's costume and upswept hair and parasol conjure up the early 20th century?

All three of these paraders are dressed in the old school spirit of the parade, but we found the rabbit cane in particular to be irresistible.

We ran into Xtine, in a white leather jacket and a Comme des Garcons hat to which she'd affixed a fuschia flower.

This clever lady fashioned her own hat entirely out of paper. The color of the hat and dress are both wonderfully delicate.

There was no lack of variety at the parade.  We're not sure, but we think this woman might be wearing a clear plastic container on her head.  The viewer doesn't actually focus on the container, but rather on the wonderful looping wire arrangement decorated with red and black polka dot masking tape.

Check this out! This lady made her hat, her dress, and her partner's hat out of confetti.  Her hat is such a great shade of pink!

Easter is the perfect holiday for men who take their clothes seriously.

It's interesting to see how different men interpret fashion differently, even when wearing the same colors and shades.

Obviously , sports fans interpret style VERY differently and are in a class by themselves.

Plants and flowers are a perenially popular motif.

We always enjoy seeing women in authentic top hats and this was no exception.  She had decorated hers with a dragonfly, and highlighted it with a bright red high necked jacket.

Great hat, great hair, great lipstick -- and a veil!

After the parade ended at three o'clock, we headed to The Modern restaurant as part of our Easter tradition. Although we hadn't spotted her at the parade, we ran into Mary Anna Smith, The Tipsy Topper herself. Lucky for us, she was in the main dining room with friends (all wearing her hats). She was wearing this blue and green number, complete with a butterfly, which was different from the one she'd worn in the parade which resembled a big blue kite flying through the clouds.

We also hadn't spotted Elaine in the crowd or her friends, who were all wearing her hand-painted hats. The theme of her hat this year was the old Pennsylvania Station, whose demolition prompted the city landmark preservation movement in New York City. She is holding one of her hats from another season.

Here is the rear-view of Elaine's beautiful Pennsylvania Station chapeau.

After an absolutely delicious snack and a cocktail, as we were preparing to head homeward, Dan Jones presented each of us with The Modern's holiday gift bag. This is another of our Easter traditions for which we are extremely grateful to the restaurant and its wonderful staff.

And what, you might ask, was in that bag? A robin's egg blue hollow chocolate egg contained a yummy assortment of chocolates and caramels, macaroons and chocolate wafer cookies. The egg itself was also positively delicious.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the parade through our eyes.

What we're wearing:

Jean is wearing: an Ignatius hat (purchased at the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show last November); Prada jacket; Issey Miyake skirt and honey-comb coat; Trippen boots; Yayoi Kusama tote bag (gift from Valerie); and lots of vintage bakelite and resin and wooden necklaces, bangles and rings.

Valerie is wearing: a 1940s vintage Stanford, Connecticut souvenir hat (with cardboard visor reading STANFORD carefully removed), green plastic earrings, Issey Miyake multicolored nylon coat, vintage green and yellow pieced gauntlets, Pleats Please spring green dress, Charlotte Olympia leafy leather shoes.