November 7, 2009

For the November meeting of the Dallas Hat Band, we visited Fashion on Main and the Dallas Arts District.


We joined Costume Society of America (CSA) members at UNT's Fashion on Main. The special exhibit was entitled Painting the Town, 1920s High Style. It featured ensembles from the wardrobe of New York designer Regina Kobler and images of her 1923 designs as well as evening attire from the Texas Fashion Collection and the private collect of Caralee Smith.

After the Fashion on Main exhibit, we went to the Nasher Sculpture Center. We had a nice lunch in Cafe Nasher by Wolfgang Puck with some of the CSA members.

We strolled through the outdoor exhbit at the Nasher and then went indoors and looked at the scale models of contemporary architecture around the world designed by prize winning architect Norman Foster.

Rush Hour by George Segal, 1983

Jonathan Borofsky, Walking to the Sky, 2004

Although this looks horizontal in the photo, it is actually vertical, reaching towards the sky.


From the Nasher, we walked across the street to the Crow Collection of Asian Art. The exhibit there is Yeohlee: Design for Now.

Rhonda, Nicole, Suzanne

Rhonda, Edie (President of SW region of CSA) and Nicole



Here are a few photos of the new Winspear Opera House in the Dallas Art District.

Winspear Opera House

Meeting at the Movie: The September Issue

On September 20, 2009, a group of Hat Band members met up at the movie theater to see The September Issue, the new movie about Vogue editor Anna Wintour and the production of the magazine’s giant annual September issue.

Benita, Margarita, Nicole, Jeanne, Rhonda,

all looking fabulous

Here are some comments about the movie:

-----"This movie is so not about fashion, but more of a look at the personalities and behaviors of the people behind the scenes. I was and am now absolutely fascinated by Grace Coddington, the magazine's shoot stylist. Definitely not a "fluff" movie. Oh, and I am now not going to be so hard on myself for not looking like those models and women in the magazines. The movie did not hide the fact of the touchups and airbrushing that is done to make these women look they way they do." -Margarita

-----"I was struck by what appeared to be a genuinely warm relationship between Anna Wintour and her daughter. It was in stark contrast to Anna’s interactions with everyone else shown in the movie." -Rhonda

-----"I enjoyed the documentary. I had forgotten about women in NY and their appearance. Except for Anna Wintour, ALL of the women working for Vogue desperately needed makeup, a good hair cut, moisturizer. That is the way they women looked when I was in NY in the ‘80’s." -Benita

Lunch at Hattie's, August 22, 2009

The Dallas Hat Band lunched at Hattie's in the Bishop Arts District on Saturday, August 22. We had a wonderful lunch in a white linen tablecloth setting. Kelley announced to all of us that she is getting married. Congratulations Kelley! After lunch we shopped at some of the boutiques in the area. We all looked fabulous as you can see.

Margarita, Jeanne, Jean, Maureen, Kelley, Carly, Benita, Nicole, Paula, Suzanne

Dallas Museum of Art, June 14, 2009

Our June meeting was a docent guided tour of the DMA, with the focus on fashion in art. We met for a quick lunch at the DMA and then we had a few minutes to step outside and enjoy some of the Dallas Art Fest that was filling the streets with people.

Welcome to our newest member, Oshie, who attended for the first time.

There was a fun exhibit of art cars.

Benita looking cool and summery in front of the Brass Van art car.

This car is completely covered with yarn, applied in a very artistic design. Sitting beside it is the artist, working on a little repair.

Nicole, Betsy and Joyce looking at the yarn art car.



Suzanne and Joyce standing by the Beatles art car.

The Women Rock Art Car

Can you name these women?

Maureen walking into the Museum

Nicole with our docent, Christina

The Group

Oshie, Betsy, Nicole, Suzanne, Maureen, Benita, Joyce

Lone Star Park May 2, 2009

The Kentucky Derby Day at Lone Star Park is of special interest to the Hat Band. It is a fun event we have attended in the past that provides an opportunity to wear and showcase our beautiful hats. It is also fun to enter the hat competition as well as watch the horses. However, this year we opted to do the Swiss Avenue Historic Tour of Homes. Three of our members, Kelley, Margarita and Shannon, attended and here are a few photos.

Kelley pensively watching the ponies.

Margarita with Glynis, a Fort Worth attorney.

One of the funny hats, poking fun at the swine flu outbreak.

Judge wearing a Cassie Macgregor hat.

Glynis

Swiss Avenue Home Tour on 9 May 2009

The Dallas Hat Band met on Saturday, May 9, 2009. We met at Cynthia's home and then strolled the streets to tour the homes that were open for the Swiss Avenue Historic Home Tour. We had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual event. The weather was perfect.

We started out on Cynthia's front porch, enjoying the view and people watching. In the picture below, Cynthia is going into the house and Rhonda and Maureen are visiting. We all brought salads and sat down together for a delicious luncheon.


This is Cynthia and Joyce as we prepare to take the tour.

Along the way, we stopped at the park, where there was live music and vendors. Best of all, one of the vendors was selling hats.

Rhonda tried on a pink hat that matched her outfit fabulously!


Maureen bought this stunning big brimmed black and white hat.

Here is a mirror image of Suzanne.
Loretta bought a cute green hat.

One of the beautiful homes on Swiss Avenue.

More Swiss Avenue homes.

Rhonda with one of Cynthia's dogs. She has two beautiful Old English Sheep dogs.

After touring for several hours, we went back to Cynthia's for some of her delicious homemade sangria.

Here is the group.

Back row: Maureen, Benita, Joyce, Suzanne, Nicole

Front row: Loretta, Rhonda, Cynthia

Happy Hatting

Coco Chanel at Celebration

At our March 21 meeting, we enjoyed visiting over lunch and then we had a presentation about Coco Chanel. Celine, our French lecturer, is describing the size of the hats worn in the time of Marie Antoinette and telling us they were so large a woman could hardly move. Things as odd as live birds and vases of flowers could have been part of these enormous hats. We learned Coco was born Gabrielle Chanel and after her mother died she was put in an orphanage and learned to sew from the nuns. In her 20s she opened a millinery shop in Paris and began making clothing. She is remembered for the little black dress and of course Chanel No. 5 perfume, both introduced in the 1920s. She popularized comfortable clothing, slacks for women, short skirts, all a departure from the corsets previously worn by women. Coco was an eccentric woman and Celine shared with us some famous quotes. Among them: "Fashion fades, only style remains the same" and "A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future."

Rhonda and Maureen listening to the presentation.

She had our rapt attention.

Joan, Benita and Loretta looking happy.

Laurel and Nicole in their chapeaux.

Rhonda and Margarita

Tina, Stephanie and Nicole looking good.

Rhonda, Cynthia, Maureen, Nicole, Margarita and Celine

Although there were 15 of us, this was all I could get together for a group picture.

Valentines Day at Nicole's

Our February meeting was hosted by Nicole on February 14, 2009. This meeting was another of our Member Spotlight Series. Nicole shared with us some of her collectible treasures, and she served us a wonderful punch and finger foods. Among those treasures were beautiful vintage French fashion plates from Gazette du Bon Ton.
She also passed around some books on vintage Vogue magazine covers that were before the days of photography when the fashions were beautifully drawn. She also wowed us with some of her vintage millinery supplies, including silk veiling and rare, exotic feathers.

Kelley

Margarita

Rhonda and Betsy

Shannon

Joyce and Paula





Because it was Valentine's Day, many of us took the opportunity to wear our red hats. It was a good day to enjoy wearing red without being mistaken for that other hat club.

These are the three groups shots I took. As you can see, I was having difficulty getting a good photo with everyone's face clearly visible.