Category Archives: Hats

VPOD: Vintage Pierre Cardin Hat


vintage pierre cardin wool felt hat

It’s National Hat Day!

Don your finest or grab this perky Pierre Cardin
and designate your own hat day
any ol’ day you choose.

Available at 1st Dibs.

(To receive the VPOD via email along with detailed size, price and purchase information, sign up for my growing email list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time. )

VPOD: Vintage 1960s Italian Sunglass Hat


vintage 1960s Italian Sunglass Hat

Available at Maire McLeod.

(To receive the VPOD via email along with detailed size, price and purchase information, sign up for my growing email list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

VPOD: Vintage 1950s Hair Crown and Thinking Big


vintage 1950s hair crown

We’ve all heard the expression “Put on your Thinking Cap” but do you actually have one?

A Thinking Cap, I mean. And preferably, a vintage one.

No? Then it’s time to get one!

I think we all need a very special Thinking Cap to sit down and set our goals for 2012.

You don’t need it for your SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). You can write those out just like you’ve been taught.

Bu then it’s time to put on your Thinking Cap.

Its magical powers allow you to think big…

and then think Bigger…

and then think even BIGGER…

until you’re brave enough to write down one ginormous, radical goal that, if you were to share it with someone, would have them thinking you were wearing a Crazy Cap, not a Thinking Cap.

Why?

Why is it so important to set this one goal with your Thinking Cap on?

Well, I think the idea is explained beautifully by Douglas Edwards in his book, I Feel Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59. In it, Edwards quotes another Google employee, Urs Holzle, who said:

Starting with something that’s more ambitious will get you something that’s reasonable. But if you don’t put the goal post way out there, people are already taking fewer risks and are less ambitious about how big the idea should be.

It’s this attitude, of always striving to hit it out of the ballpark, and not caring that someone would characterize their ambitious goals as “crazy talk,” that allowed Google to index a BILLION web pages when all of its competitors were merely crawling a 100 million pages or so.

You see, more often than not, we are limited not by our resources—the time, money, education or support we have access to—but by our THINKING.

Think small and you’ll get small results. Think BIG and, though you may fall short, you stand a better chance of landing far, far ahead of those folks who can only think small.

And most of us have a habit of thinking small. It’s built into our culture, which is why we’re taught SMART goal-setting (which I think should stand for Safe, Mediocre, Average, Responsible and Tame).

Why not set yourself a unique, radical, I-don’t-think-I-can-achieve-this-but-why-not-try-it-goal? You don’t even need to share it with anyone if you don’t want to. Let it be your secret.

But be prepared. You just may discover that with BIG thinking and BABY steps, amazing things can happen.

So if you don’t have a personal Thinking Cap yet, go find one fast. And I’d like to suggest that you seek out a unique vintage version like today’s VPOD.

This vintage 1950s plastic and rhinestone hair crown would definitely set your thoughts soaring, but it’s just one option. Perhaps you prefer a 1920s cloche. Or maybe a vintage aviator cap is more your style.

In fact, ANY vintage Thinking Cap that encourages BIG thinking is the right choice for a Vintage Crusader.

Available at Chez Vous.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

VPOD: Vintage Schiaparelli Straw Hat


vintage schiaparelli straw hat

And they’re off!

In a few hours, twenty thoroughbreds will race around the track at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky in what is billed as the most exciting two minutes in sports. But it’s also an exciting two minutes for fashion because wearing a fashionable hat is one of the Kentucky Derby’s most notable traditions.

If you enjoyed seeing all the fantastic (and sometimes outrageous) millinery at the Royal Wedding, you’ll be equally impressed with the wide range of toppers worn this afternoon.

Many of the hats on display this afternoon will have outlandish colors, feathers, plumes, sequins, ribbons and bows. A few will be more conservative like today’s VPOD.

This vintage straw hat by Schiaparelli is in mint condition with a modern simplicity that is quite elegant.

And it’s a fine Derby Day find for a vintage fashionista!

Available at Pearl Modern. | Discovered at TheFind.com.

(To receive the VPOD via email along with detailed size, price and purchase information, sign up for my growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

VPOD: Vintage Bes Ben Hat and the Easter Parade


vintage bes ben hat

easter parade nyc 1900

NYC Easter Parade 1900

“In your Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You’ll be the grandest gal at the Easter Parade.”
–Irving Berlin, 1948, “Easter Parade”

Yes, Virginia, not only is there a Santa Claus but there is an actual, real, honest-to-goodness Easter Parade, too.

The original event took place in NYC in the 1870s with marchers sporting their spring frocks and bonnets for one block between two churches. But oh, how the tradition has grown!

This Sunday between 10am and 4pm NYC will shut down Fifth Avenue from 49th to 57th Street for its annual Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival.

No traffic. No floats. No marching bands. Just people from around the world. And hats.

Fun, outrageous, fantastic, glorious hats!

And if you’re still looking for your own Easter bonnet for 2011, then I recommend today’s VPOD.

This vintage collectible hat by Bes-Ben features a short knit turban embellished with a gigantic flower and one green leaf held in place with a glass bead that resembles a drop of dew.

It’s a chic chapeaux for a vintage fashionista!

Available at Chosen. | Discovered at TheFind.com.

(To receive the VPOD via email along with detailed size, price and purchase information, sign up for my growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)


© Mary Kincaid 2006-2009
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