I used to wear vintage hats once upon a time. I have a dozen hat boxes in the attic filled with impractical, whimsical creations that I take out and look at occasionally but have not worn in 15 years. My daughter and her friends will occasionally go through them, trying on and posing the way they do in the department stores before the saleslady gives them the fish eye.

Each and every hat was worn to one party or another back when I had a much funkier job (and freakier friends) than I do now. Black turtleneck, black skirt, black boots and dynamite hat and I was dressed to the nines. One or two hats could possibly make an appearance in the future, but mostly they are “too much” for our modern lifestyle. More subtle statements are the order of the day.

Summer is easier for hat wearing because even a flashy straw looks practical. Still, a woman wearing a hat, baseball caps and sun visors excluded, garners a certain level of attention that can only be attributed to the hat. And it doesn’t have to be Gaga-worthy or Sunday Church Lady fancy to convey “hatitude”. I think there must be something different in the way you walk when wearing a hat, or maybe society has gotten so far past the hat as accessory that it looks special.

The most common comment I get from women after they say that they love my hat is, “but I couldn’t carry it off”. I never have understood that phrase. I am a big believer in you can carry off whatever you want to wear if you act like you mean it. Just find the right hat and you are in business.

A side benefit is that men seem to flirt more when you are wearing a hat. I guess the hat says “look at me” and they do. Its an invitation to offer a compliment, engage in conversation. By the same token I do love a man in a nice brim. I hope the Mad Men craze hangs in there long enough to get men besides Tom Waits and movie stars wearing hats without team logos, messages or a kangaroo.

We could all use a little more hatitude. A little more personal power.

A current object of desire from one of my favorite  millinery’s – what do you think? In Lilac or Chiffon Yellow?