Aretha Franklin "Hatter" is Very Busy With Orders From Jolly Old England!

Aretha Franklin wears it with pride Photo: Reuters

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/vickiwoods/4326295/We-make-the-worlds-best-hats-so-why-dont-we-wear-them.html

We make the world's best hats, so why don't we wear them?
British women should emulate Aretha Franklin and don magnificent head-gear, says Vicki Woods.
By Vicki Woods
23 Jan 2009

Following the Inauguration of Hope and Rapture, my friend in Oxford emailed: "Singular absence of hats – only Aretha Franklin. Why would that be?" In haste, I replied: "Singular absence of milliners/Ascot/royal funerals. Americans aren't hatty people." Which they aren't, in general: Laura Bush, on protocol duty for the Queen Mother's funeral, very properly wore a hat, but it was a schoolgirl Gigi straw boater jammed on her head, and deeply unflattering.

I'd forgotten there is a demographic of hatty people in America – millions strong. The matriarchs who pack out the gospel churches always wear the full fig (hats, gloves, best coats). And, of course, it was a church hat Franklin wore, out of R-E-S-P-E-C-T for a pretty churchy occasion.

So, I was wrong about the absence of milliners. The Queen of Soul is from Detroit; and so is her hatter Luke Song, who runs the business (started by his Korean-immigrant mother) for a clientele of "90 per cent churchgoing African-American women". He made Aretha's grey felt cloche with the hugely oversized bow for about $400 (£290); I thought she looked fabulous in it and I wasn't alone. Almost as soon as My Country 'Tis of Thee died away, Song was hit by a Diana wedding-dress-style tsunami and he's rushing out lookalikes (for $179) and buying up all the felt he can find. He told the Detroit Free Press that, "people are calling from England, asking for the hat, I'm shocked".

..........

Now that is really good news for the happy "hatter" of Detroit!

:fistbump:

Thanks, Aretha!

I'm proud to have Aretha as a 'neighbor.'

When I was a kid, all women wore hats to church. If I didn't know a lady's name, I could identify her by the kind of hat she wore. "Flower lady." "Dingle-ball lady."

From her hat to her earrings, dress, shoes and pocketbook, they were all matched. Everyone would comment on her outfits and she was known as the "honorary" Mayor of our town. I will always remember her in her best "church" outfit with her silver hair shining and her blue eyes twinkling even at 91. :loveya:

wear hats more. When I was a little girl I would wear a hat on Easter but I would feel weird wearing one now since so few do.

From teens to seniors, hats are back! Especially with the twenty, thirty and fortysomethings, older style hats are coming back with a vengeance and have been for the last few years. Derby-style top hats and other styles that were popular during the 1920s and 1930s can be found everywhere from the hipster pleasing Urban Outfitters to the everyperson JC Penneys. I am a 40 year old male and I have lots of hats. I like to think that they make me look "distinguished". Besides, I feel a bit hipper wearing them.

I was at a street festival in our Fillmore district and popped into the store he uses here. Lovely hats for men and women, horribly expensive but they look like every penny.

He's a goodlooking man with a nicely shaped head but he loves his hats.

I was singularly underwhelmed that Michelle did not wear a hat for the inauguration ceremony. She is of the perfect staure to carry off a hat. It needn't have been wide brimmed,obscuring her face,but it would have provided both warmth AND dignity to the significance of the occasion.

I was delighted to see that the Queen of Soul, Aretha,did.Next best thing to a crown!

Say what you will about Ms. Franklin- she ALWAYS has style and presence.

I thought her hat struck just the right note

Shame women don't realize the presence that a hat gives a woman.

A woman wearing a hat has instant cache'. Men love hats on women.