Interview With Vintage Milliner and Blogger-Tanith Rowan

A few weeks ago I posted about my fabulous new summer hat, a mid century style coolie hat made for me by hat designer and vintage blogger Tanith Rowan.  From my dealings with Tanith and reading her blog I can tell she is lovely person and a fantastic designer with a true appreciation for vintage millinery.  I asked her if she would let me interview her for my blog and to my delight she agreed.  The interview is below:



1) What attracted you to hats and designing them?

I've always had a soft spot for hats. They are fun to wear and can transform the way you look so quickly, so I always liked to play dress up with them. My mum is also a hat lover, and looks great in any hat, so that helped plant the seeds too. As I got older, I developed an interest in historical costume and vintage fashion, and hats were a big part of that, and I started to collect a few vintage hats.

When it came to making and designing hats, I sort of stumbled on to that! I made a few for fancy dress costumes and there was something about the process that appealed to me more than making clothes. With encouragement from my sister, who bought me my first hat making book, I explored the world of millinery further.

What has been so special about hats for me is that they have kept my interest for years. I have always enjoyed making things, and tried many creative pursuits, but hats are the first thing I haven't gotten bored of. The design possibilities are limitless, the process is so enjoyable, and there is so much inspiration out there. I will never get to make all the hats that I want to, and never try all the techniques I want to, even if I work at it my whole life! And I hope I will.

2) How did you become a hat designer? What training did you go through?

I guess I would call my training "self directed"! I started learning hat making techniques from books, then did some workshops with an experienced theatrical milliner who lived near me. Over the years I've combined learning from milliners, in workshops and individual tuition, with online learning, books and experimentation! Learning from others has been invaluable, but there is so much information out there and so much to learn from just trying to achieve something and working away at it.

3) Do you have a favorite era of hat design?

Image from Chroncially Vintage

Every era has so much going for it and the more you research them the more you find to love. My favourite is probably the late 30s and early 40s, simply because there was such a wide range of styles in fashion, from some simple elegant hats to really extravagant ones. They also featured so many silhouettes, and such unique trims and design elements. I love the tilt hats, face-framing halo hats, elegant turbans...so much goodness! The designs were really bold and artistic.

4) Do you remember the first hat you sold? 



I sold some to friends and family early on, and I'm not sure what was first there, but I do remember the first hat of mine that sold to a stranger. It was in a shop, so I never met her, but I'm told she looked fabulous in the hat. It was a red felt tilt hat with a feather arrow and a bow of veiling at the back, in black, and I was so proud of that hat! In fact, it has been immortalised in the illustration in my logo (in blue instead), and I love having that design as a permanent part of my business now.

5) Do you wear hats yourself a lot? Do you have a favorite hat? 

To be honest, I am still on my own hat-wearing journey. I love them, but I am not really a confident dresser and sometimes hats take confidence! Because of my business, I am trying to push the edges of my comfort zone all the time. I do usually wear something on my head, whether it's a hat or a scarf or flower, but the bolder styles are still a work in progress.

I also am usually focused on hats for the business and put off making them for myself, so I don't have as many as I'd like! At the moment my favourite winter hat is a red beret and my favourite summer hat is a straw boater I refashioned from a second-hand hat. I'd like to make myself a felt cloche this winter, because it is one of my favourite styles to make, but I don't have one of my own!

6) You do a lot of custom work, was there an assignment that was a particular favorite? 

Image from Chronically Vintage

Let me make a confession: there is always at least one moment in a custom piece where I hate it and wish I hadn't said yes! But that is because they are often something new and therefore present a challenge, and in the end it is also why I love doing them. They always make me learn a new skill or think in a different way.

My favourite so far is probably the winged hat I made for Jessica Cangiano. I love vintage hats with birds or wings on them, but prefer not to work with feathers, so I made the wings out of felt, cutting individual feather shapes and forming the wings from them. The hat is still one of my all-time favourites, and I've continued exploring the technique in other hats since then. 

7) Why do you think people so shy about wearing hats? Do you have any words of encouragement for hat newbies?

There are so many reasons, and I feel many of them myself. I think the biggest thing is that we fear being "wrong" with our fashion choices. Our worry about making a fashion mistake is stronger than our desire to express ourselves the way we want and our desire to look fabulous. Hats are particularly difficult because they inherently make a statement. Because hats are not a necessary part of an outfit these days, wearing one is a very purposeful act. And that draws attention to you. So people will notice a hat, and although you will often get compliments wearing one, we worry that it will also attract negative comments or judgements. 

But the way that hats make a statement is also their power, if you embrace it. It transforms you and your outfit. I feel more confident in a hat, and sort of special. Like I know something other people don't.

If you are not a regular hat wearer, start with finding your comfort zone and then slowly expand it. You might start with hats that are more common but still stylish, like berets in winter and nice straw hats in summer. Also, wear a hat with your favourite outfits, so you have the maximum confidence level to start with! I think we all need a dose of the positive vibes to help us get over our fears.

8) What are your future plans for your business? Are there any new areas you would like to explore? 

There are always new things I want to explore! I have to stop myself from biting off more than I can chew, especially since I am working with a young toddler at home and have limited hours for my business.

I am currently working with some bloggers on collaboratively designed mini-collections, the first of which will be ready in the next couple of months. I also recently bought a small hat block to make some young children's hats, still in a vintage style.

In the longer term, I am preparing to release sewing patterns for fabric hats. It is still early days on that project. In fact, this is the first time I've publicly mentioned it! That's a bit scary for me still but also very exciting. It's something I've wanted to do for a while. I love to teach and help other people so the opportunity to do more of that will be wonderful.

Thank you so much Tanith for letting me interview you!

Vintage Outfit Post-1940s Mexican Playsuit Set for A Trip to Coney Island

About once a year when the weather turns warm I like to make the girls in the silent film clip below (from 1905!) and visit Coney Island.

Coney Island is a bit of a trip from our home, about an hour and 45 minutes  with walking and train time, and there our closer beaches in NJ but even though it has sadly been updated Coney Island still has some vestiges of vintage charm that keep me coming back year after year.

This year we went on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend and it was the first time the weather was really warm enough for summer clothes, so I wore my  1940s Style Mexican Playsuit from Kim Clark.  I nabbed it when she put it up for sale in the 1930s and 40s clothing exchange facebook group and it is really fabulous, and way, way out there.  There is no fading into the back ground in this get up.  Plus I love  that it has a jacket.  I don't like to get too much sun or show too much skin so a play suit with a big jacket is right up my alley.

The fabric in both the jacket and the play suit is really light and very comfortable.

I paired the play suit set with a big 1940s Mexian tourist hat.  I actually had the hat first and when I saw the play suit I knew they where made for each other.

I carried the Mexican theme through the outfit by adding a Mrs. Polly's Lucite brooch of a little man in a sombrero.  Isn't he cute:

Sadly, as I said before most of Coney Island has been distressingly modernized and Hurricane Sandy certainly didn't help. 

 Still if you look close there are some remnants of the old Coney Island.   

Nathan's Hot Dogs has been there for a 100 years.  The day before we visited they where selling hots dogs for 5 cents, the price from when they openned in 1916.

We also saw a shooting gallery that had been there since 1940:

We always finish our Coney Island trips with lunch at L & B Spumoni Gardens a restaurant that has been open since 1939.  They serve the best Sicilian style pizza and Spumoni I've ever had.

Where do you like to go when the weather gets warm?

Outfit Details:

1940s style Play Suit and Jacket-Kim Clark 
1940s style sandals Remix vintage shoes
1940s Mexican sun hat Dixiefried
1940s style novelty brooch-Mrs Polly's Lucite

MidCentury Marvels-Coolie Hats

As I've mentioned before on this blog I was first drawn to vintage style dressing because of my passion for hats.  Since hats are a rarity today, but where worn nearly daily by women, and men, up until the early 1960s, hats are a natural segue way to vintage style.  Over the years I've accumulated hats from 1920s-through the 50s and I wear one nearly every day, particularly during the summer months.  I love both the look, and the practical sun protection, a wide brim hat provides.  One mid century summer style I particularly like is the coolie  hat.  It first appeared in casual European and American women's fashions in the 1930s.

The hats are based on a conical Asian style worn on rice paddy fields.  

 Mid century designers must have seen the hats and appropriated them as a stylish, and practical, sun hat.  The hats often had a very wide brim, making them an excellent  choice for beach wear

and many had the useful feature of neckties, preventing the hat from blowing of the wearers head.  This made them perfect for sporty summer activities.

I was particularly drawn to the neck time versions since my vintage hats are for ever blowing off my head (also I am in awe of the style of the girl in the bicycle photo above.)

I started searching for a vintage coolie hat, but my efforts where in vain.  I simply couldn't find any hats in the simple neck tie style I wanted.  So I decided to go the custom route and ask vintage style milliner and blogger, Tanith Rowan, to make me a hat.   I told her I wanted something similar to the photo of the girl on the bicycle with a slightly wider brim and in neutral colors so I could  wear it with a wide  range of summer outfits.   I couldn't be more pleased with the result:

The hat design is simple enough that it works with looks from a range of eras, it could be 30s, 40s, or 50s.  It's just what I wanted and Im sure it will be making may appearances on my head this summer.

You can purchase Tanith's charming hats in her Etsy shop and she is very willing to make custom creations and has excellent customer service and communication.  She is definitely one of the nicest Etsy sellers Ive dealt with.

Adventures in Vintage Hair-Pillow Soft Rollers

Recently, roughly 4 years after beginning my foray into vintage style, I'm experience something of a seismic fashion shift.  I was first drawn to vintage because of my love of 1930s styles.  Particularly the looks sported by Ginger Rogers and the fictional Miss Lemon on Poirot.

I sported 1920s and 40s looks too, but the 30s was my decade of choice.

These days the 1930s remains my favorite fashion decade but four years into wearing vintage I've realized that clothing from this era just might not be the most practical.  Authentic clothing that is 80 years old is extremely hard to find a very, very delicate. 

This dress only survived a few wearings before the seams became too fragile to wear

 Plus the repro options for 30s looks are limited exclusively to custom made which can be pricey and time consuming.   


So for those reasons I've recently been getting more and more into 1950s fashions.  Fifties clothes are fun and practical, there really is nothing more comfortable to wear then a full skirt, and both the genuine vintage and reproduction options are less expensive and more plentiful.    Plus the older I get, I'll be forty in two years, the more I'm drawn to fun fashion, particularly the whimsical novelty prints of the 1950s and the kitschy purses and accessories.  I guess I'm getting less mature with age.


This change has presented something of a hair crises.  I have absolutely no hair styling skills what-so-ever!   For years I had a pixie cut and didn't even own a hair dryer or a brush.    When I got first got into vintage I had a sort of short bob that could work with 20s and 30s looks and was very easy to style.

It worked for 50s looks to,  but I get  bored easily.  Lately  I've been looking at so many fun 50s fashion images that I'm really craving, curly mid-century hair.   My current dream hair is a 1950s style bob with bangs.  (Bangs are my gaur security blanket).

I love this ladies hair.  It's styled but not stiff.  

  

Vintage blogger Tasha of By Gum, By Golly has an amazing version:

What I love about this cut I think it could be styled for any decade from the 20s to the early 60s, and I certainly don't plan to give up my 30s looks completely.

I need to change my hair cut to get this look, and I'll need to grow my hair longer in the back then in the front, the reverse of what I have now.  However, length and cut is only half the bottle.  This look requires some styling skill and hair rollers.  I'm very, very new to vintage hair and my attempts are beyond amatuerish.  I joined the face book Vintage Updos For Modern Girls and those ladies are pros!  I've learned a lot but I still have a long way go to.

I began my vintage hair experiments with some pillow soft rollers I bought at the drug store.  I was hoping they'd be comfy to sleep in.  After washing my hair I just combed through some motions setting lotion and then twisted it up in the rollers (an interesting look).

I slept on it that night, not really all that comfy  but not agonizing, and this was the result the first day.

Not too bad, but not great.   Sadly by the afternoon the curls where seriously deflating.   I don't think the humidity helped.  

I don't wash my hair every night so that evening I just spritzed it with water to dampen it and then re-set it in the rollers.   The next morning  I was pretty pleased with the results.

It's a still a long way from perfect.  There is frizz going on and I don't quite have the curl height I wanted, but I'm going to keep practicing.  The curls don't seem to last long and I just don't love sleeping on rollers.  1950s ladies must have been slaves to their hair!  I'm determined to find an every day vintage look that will work quickly and well.   Any tips are appreciated!  

Here Chicken, Chicken-A Vintage Outfit Post (Perhaps My Favorite Ever)

Obviously clothes are important to me.   I consider dressing in vintage style my hobby, and I often spend a lot of time planning out outfits.   However, sometimes my favorite outfits come together by chance, which is the case with the  outfit I'm wearing here.  

I purchased the dress, a cheery chicken print 1950s style dress from Hey Day vintage, thinking it would make excellent spring and summer wear.   The jacket is a 1950s western style wool number that I was planning to save until the fall.  Then I realized the jacket's color way was a perfect compliment for the  chicken dress and with our chilly spring weather, I put them together and I absolutely adore the result.

Inspired by these charming land girls I added a 1940s style head wrap

and a luxulite novelty chicken brooch:

(Note the pug and cat hairs, an essential touch to any outfit in my opinion.)

I like the effect even better with the jacket unzipped.  So you can see more of the dress.  

These Judy dresses are so much fun.  They are based on a 1950s patter and just pull over the head and tie at the waist,  super easy and comfortable to wear.   I have the penny arcade version too.

This whole outfit sort of represents the apex of vintage dressing for me.  It's without a doubt a vintage look, and totally unique, but its every bit as comfortable and casual as modern clothing.  In fact I find this more comfortable then modern clothes.  I never feel like myself in modern outfits and I find many of them restrictive.    This is the perfect thing to wear for a walk in the park with the dogs, which is wear I wore it on Sunday.  


They've built a  nature trail in the park near our house and we checked it out.  It's small but nice.

I love how Mr. Tuvok is leaping up in this picture.  

A happy dog on a simple happy day!

Outfit Details

Chicken Print Dress-Hey Day Vintage
1950s Western Jacket-Lucky Dry Goods
1940s Head Wrap-Arthelia's Attic
Novelty Chicken Brooch Luxulite
1940s Style Canvas Wedges-Remix Vintage Shoes