Petite Sweet

The Vintage Hat Series: 80s cocktail hat

This little cocktail hat is so Eighties I feel I should be sipping on a Fluffy Duck. When I first glimpsed this tiny confection in a Salvos op-shop, a bowl of raspberries and cream instantly came to mind, so perhaps a Jam Donut cocktail would be more apt.

The base is such a delicious shade of vanilla, but it is the little floral trim – pansies cut from velvet – and veil that make it a simply irresistible mouthful.

A likely suspect. A vintage 80s Victor Costa dress.My guess is that someone wore this to a wedding – perhaps a bridesmaid – with a meringue puff of a dress made from latté ruched taffeta. Or perhaps it was draped raw silk in a delicate shade of oyster? Anyway, at the end of the night (or perhaps sometime on the next day when her hangover wore off, and she had finally removed her mascara), she lovingly returned it to its little box, where it was cradled on a mille feuille of tissue paper… and never saw the light of day again.

Twenty years later whilst cleaning out the depths of her wardrobe, this young woman (now a matron) unearthed the box and pulled out the little hat in delight. She sat and wasted quite a few minutes smiling and reminiscing about the guy (whose name momentarily escaped her) she pashed on the day. She’d thought he was quite good-looking, in his powder blue suit, bolo tie and the…  mullet…

Shuddering, and suddenly coming to herself, she ruthlessly stuffed the hat back into the box and threw it on the floor with all the other old memories that were being donated to the Salvos. Where someone else – maybe a fashionable un-princess – could find and enjoy them.