The Grand Entrance

I’m a little crazy about hats, and it must be said this hat is a little crazy. It’s big. It’s OTT (pun not intended). It looks like something a grand dame might have worn out on a morning call a hundred years ago.

I’ve never actually worn it out in public, but when I first saw it in Scally & Trombone in Fitzroy years ago, I decided I simply had to have it in spite of the equally enormous price tag. The designer’s name was Sandy F (with a cute zebra drawing on the label), about whom I can find out nothing now.

…the only thing my hat seems to have in common with Kate’s is sheer size…

The woman presiding over the shop however, told me the designer was inspired by the hat Kate Winslet wore in Titanic. From memory I think she referred to the scene when Kate makes her grand entrance with her darling husband-to-be dangling from her arm, a role played with aplomb by the dishy Billy Zane. However, as these pictures below show, the only thing my hat seems to have in common with Kate’s is sheer size – and the ability to have someone’s eye out if one is not careful.

Nor is my outfit quite as glamorous as Kate’s costume, but I rather like the Belle Époque silhouette. Though I think the coat, which I unearthed at Camberwell Sunday Market, dates from the 1940s rather than the 10s.

(NB. See me ham it up a little more in the Out-takes & Extras gallery.)