Thursday, July 3, 2008

Utterly Adorable C.L.O.C.H.E.s

While my search was originally intended for purposes of an Hat Tip, I couldn't let this particular find languish as a mere footnote to my previous post. This is because it is, indeed, possibly the Perfect Church Lady Hat.

"Why this hat?" you may ask. Besides the obvious Classiness and Fabulousness of it, the colors display a devotion to the Foremost of All Church Ladies, and, perhaps more obviously, to Her Football Team (your hostesses are all Quite Devoted to Our Lady's football team).

This, though, leads to the question, "Why hats at all?"

While the Church Ladies have nothing against a mantillas (au contraire, many of them are quite fond of a little Womanly Lace), there is an undeniable something about a hat that makes it the perfect accessory. As well as the various utilitarian aspects, a hat can pick up one's mood, complete an outfit, and keep one from taking oneself Too Seriously. A hat can eliminate the phenomenon of the Bad Hair Day and lend a visible air of the mystery that is an intrinsic characteristic of femininity. Moreover, there is something that can be modest about hat-wearing. Not in the sense so much of a covering-up, or that not wearing a hat would be immodest, but it does convey a certain guardedness in one's approach to the world.

I shall be posting more about these and other aspects of hat-wearing in the near future, as well as more Utterly Adorable Pictures, of course.

Oh, "What's the acronym?" you ask? (You certainly are asking a lot of questions today.) That would, be the Church Lady Ongoing Campaign for Hat Enthusiasm (or perhaps élan; we haven't decided yet). If you wish to join the Campaign, simply wear a stylish hat out and about once in a while when you normally would not. I promise you'll get only compliments.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exactly the point I've tried to make! No need to "veil or not veil" when you can "hat" and keep modest/ mysterious/ hide a bad hair day! Mantilla scream "LOOK AT ME! I'M AN ANACHRONISM!" (Frankly, with 9 children and a hunky husband, I get enough stares!) But with a HAT, people might actually start a conversation with you, not assuming you are "holier-than-thou." Hooray for hats!

Thérèse said...

Anonymous,

Precisely! I'll be writing more about the "apolitical" (as it were) aspects of hat-wearing in church, in coming posts. And I'm certainly with you on the bad hair days...

Anonymous said...

I have, however, encountered one problem with wearing a cloche to church: depending on where you sit and how high the pulpit is, you can get one whopper of a neck cramp trying to watch the service from under the edge of your hat...