It’s Hat Season!

It looks like Spring has come early this year (although we may have skipped winter altogether).  And Spring means that hat season will be upon us before we know it.

Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, and Easter – and the Easter Parade – are just a little more than a month away. After that, events like the Kentucky Derby, Central Park Conservancy luncheon, and Cherry Blossom Festival mean it’s the right time to find the perfect hat.  But you don’t need to go to a festive event to require a great hat. With skin cancer rates rising and the longer sunny season ahead, hats are a must for sun protection. There’s no reason we can’t be safe from the sun and stylish at the same time.

Just in time, Manhattan milliner and Woman Around Town, Abigail Aldridge, will be showing her new collection of hats at a cocktail party at the famous Hat Shop in SoHo hosted by owner Linda Pagan.

 

The hat business has been trending upward, especially since the fascinator craze of 2011 brought about by Philip Treacy’s chapeaux for the Royal Wedding. Women’s hat sales in the U.S. currently top $300 million annually.

Abigail and Linda, who have been working together more than twenty years, can’t wait to kick off the season of fancy hats for the horse races and luncheons. “Linda has sold my hats to socialites and artists; attendees of the Kentucky Derby and Royal Ascot,” says Abigail of their long collaboration.

Of the upcoming hat season, Linda says, “This year has been challenging, we have all been so preoccupied with important political issues.” Abigail agreed but added, “I’m excited to see the ladies in my new hats, we need the entertainment!”

Thursday, March 9, 2017;  5-8pm
The Hat Shop, 120 Thompson St. (Prince & Spring)
212 219.1445

Abigail Aldridge’s hat modeled by London Rosiere