Dallas Hat Band, October 25, 2008

Brunch and "The Women"Rhonda was the perfect hostess. It was a beautiful day and we started out by the pool. She chose a Fez for the occasion.
Loretta and Benita relaxed by the pool and sipped champagne.


Nicole, Joyce, Maureen, Rhonda and Margarita. We ate scones and drank Mimosas.

Nicole, Joyce, Maureen, Benita, Margarita, Loretta, Rhonda and Suzanne - what a great looking group of hat aficionados.

I set the timer on the camera and ran and got in the picture. The lounge chair was the spot saved for me. Notice that Nicole is assisting me with my champagne.

Maureen and Margarita enjoying brunch. The table setting was both beautiful and elegant.

Joyce always looks so good!

Rhonda, Loretta and Benita trying out the quiche. Benita's blue vintage hat belonged to her mother.

Getting ready for the movie. We watched the 1939 movie "The Women" with its all female cast. The dialogue was so good and the hats and fashion were marvelous. This was such a fun meeting.

Old Downtown Carrollton July 19, 2008

The Hat Band at Vintage Martini Vintage Martini....don't you love the name? You can't see it very well in this photo, but the dress on the mannequin in the window is covered entirely with flowers.

Joyce, Rhonda, Laurel, Nicole, Suzanne, Maureen, Cynthia

Greg and Ken have a wonderful vintage store and they are so welcoming. They have lots of treasures and the clothes are organized very well and they have great vintage hats! Great finds! Ken pulled down a darling green doll hat and wanted a volunteer to try it on. Cynthia was standing near and she did not have her hat on, so he put the doll hat on her. She said she didn't look good in small hats and then she looked in the mirror. It looked darling! It didn't come off of her head until she bought it. I didn't get a picture, but she promised to wear it to a future meeting.

We had a nice lunch at Agave Azul. Here are a few candid photos.

Nicole and Joyce.

We learned that Joyce is a self described biker babe!

Laurel told us about her vacation in New York.

Cynthia and Maureen. Welcome Cynthia. She has just returned to Texas after living 20 years in Colombia and she loves hats. Our kind of gal!

Rhonda and Nicole.

Maureen looking utterly stylish and cool as a cucumber in her 20s style dress and large red hat.

Hat Band Meeting at Rise, June 14, 2008

June 14 is Flag Day, but for the Hat Band, it was Souffle Day. Yum!Standing: The Chef, Suzanne, Joyce, Benita, Hedda

Sitting: Nicole, Margarita, Rhonda

Benita displaying her vintage hankie while we were waiting to be seated.

Welcome to new member Joyce, pretty in pink. She recently moved from Tyler.

Hedda, one of the owners of Rise, graciously brought in some of her special hats to show us. Here she is modeling one of them.

Margarita in vibrant color and Rhonda looking very chic.

Letter tiles on the table were fun to arrange into hat related words. We entertained ourselves with them while we waited for our souffles.





Suzanne ready to enjoy her souffle.

Nicole, also looking pretty in pink.

As we left, we were invited to draw one of these folding cards from a big jar. They were a sort of non-edible fortune cookie with little quotes. Here is an example of one: "To know is not to prove, nor to explain. It is to accede to vision. Flight to Arras"

The Texas Fashion Collection at UNT, May 10, 2008

We had a wonderful time going through the garments, hats, shoes and purses that are part of the Texas Fashion Collection at UNT. It was hands off as we walked through the racks of garments which are arranged by designer. However, we were able to touch the tags on the clothing and that gave us such information as who donated the item and the year, among other things. It is hard to image living the life style some of these donors must have lived with all the designer gowns, suits and dresses. We wondered, where did they wear all of these beautiful garments and was life one party after another? The oldest items in the collection were pre-Civil War and looked very fragile.

It was so nice to have Evelyn, the founder of the Hat Band, join us. Many years ago she worked at the Fashion Collection, and she even found tags with her handwriting. By the way, she has just published a book available from Amazon.com. It is entitled A Texas Journey: The Centennial Photographs of Polly Smith.

Here are two pictures from our meeting on Saturday. Unfortunately, Stefani, Evelyn and friend Dorothy left before I pulled out my camera. Betsy, Rhonda, Suzanne and Nicole looking at hats.

Megan, the Assistant Curator, showed us these recently acquired hats and told us a little about them.
Suzanne, Nicole, Betsy, Rhonda

Crowns at the Jubilee Theatre in Fort Worth

Loretta, Margarita, Benita and Laurel attended the Sunday matinee of Crowns at the Jubilee Theatre in Fort Worth on April 20. . We had a lovely time this weekend. The theater is very small and intimate and we were 2 rows from the stage and about 6 feet from the actors. We could really see and hear the women. It was enhanced by Art Fest, the downtown FW street art fair, being held the same day. Margarita found a hat to buy!

Stoneleigh Hotel, March 15, 2008

Here is the Dallas Hat Band at the Stoneleigh Hotel. When this hotel was built in 1923, it was the tallest building in Dallas. Hard to imagine! It just re-opened after a fabulous renovation. The decor is restored to the original style and it is wonderful. Rhonda went for a 1920s look. We all wished we had one of her play cigarettes with holder.

Rhonda and Laurel chatting. After a tour of the hotel and spa, we had lunch in the restaurant, Bolla, billed as modern Italian. We sat at the Chef's Table.
Loretta and Maureen in their finery. The letters on the wall behind them spell THE and are from the original hotel sign.



Back row: Suzanne, Rhonda, Nancy, Betsy.

Front row: Benita, Laurel, Loretta, Maureen.

Our prissy waiter invited himself into this photo. The beads above our heads are beautiful crystals chandeliers.



This was our final photo. We could not pass up the red tufted bench in the bar for a final picture.

Fashion on Main

The Dallas Hat Band met on Saturday, December 15, at the "Fashion on Main" exhibit, sponsored by UNT and displaying the fabulous gowns of Michael Faircloth. After viewing the exhibit, we had a wonderful Holiday Buffet lunch in the Zodiac Room at Neiman Marcus. It was overheard in the ladies room at NM that we were a group of ladies wearing vintage Neiman's hats from the 40s and 50s!! Dont' we all look fabulous? It was a cold windy day in downtown Dallas, but we warmed the day with our holiday spirit. Loretta, Kelley, Tasha, Nicole, Tracy, Rhonda, Betsy, Maureen, Benita, and Suzanne