My burning desire for a hat has led me every which way in sydney - from vintage to the chain stores, to thrift via my grandfather's closet. But alas, to no avail, the hat that I really really want, and the shape that I truly truly desire evades me. So all that's left is to accept the fact that I'm going to have to go straight to the source. It was the Maison Michel hats that first caught my eye these past couple of months - models Irina Lazareanu and Elena Permikova both have that gorgeous mossy green with red gros-grain tie one, and street style photographer Candice Lake owns a few (including this tangerine beauty that anouk has) and shoots even more. What makes them so good? It's that stiff, wide brim - not floppy like a broad brim and not shot like a bowler hat. This brim is the stuff of legends, the kind that you can hide behind, that would really give you sun coverage like your mum wanted, and that creates a hat that makes everyone want to look at you. Which is okay, because that's kind of what a hat's all about, right?
Recently I've been finding that my "searches" for the perfect X have resulted with me back at square one at the designer item I wanted to find replicated on the high street. I'm not even the biggest high street shopper - with the exception of country road and smatterings of zara - because I find the quality to be very bad and the fit to be even worse. But more recently I've been left completely cold by high street renditions of international trends, or have been disappointed at not being able to find what I want in their stores. I guess I am one shopper out of many, and catering to my tastes is not on any big business's minds. But I think I am slowly coming to the realisation that spending a little more to get something that I will love is worth the effort and the wait. I found this out during RAFW. When I was planning my outfits I had everything worked out in my head, maxi skirts belted with jumpers, loose tee shirts and my shearling vest, etc etc. But I actually ended up in my failsafe, old faithful outfit from around this time last year, my opening ceremony coat belted over a black skirt with my chanel ballet flats. The black skirt is a high street purchase I will grant you, but it's country road and therefore great quality and a good fit (I'm yet to find the perfect fitted maxi like this one from country road, should have bought it in all the different colours like I wanted to!). This is not to say that I want to own only designer for the rest of my life - that would be a perfect world indeed. But I'm starting to see that the clothes that make me the most happy when I wear them are the ones that I spent a little bit of money on. If only because on the whole it means that I really, really wanted them rather than that I just purchased them because I had cash at hand.
I think this hat would be a great addition to my (very short) list of designer purchases. Perhaps not in peach - I'm not sure how it will mix with my myriads of reds - but in fail safe black or brown or even a green. I'm going to have a good search for them when I'm in Paris in July, a hat is definitely something that you have to try and on and feel before you buy, but I'm already getting that excited feeling in my stomach that always precludes a great purchase. From now on I'm going to seek out clothes that bring me that feeling. Because it can only mean good things.
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