The Daily Bread #17 - You Can Leave Your Hat On

Jumper - Topshop

Jeans - Cubus

Boots - Bianco

Belt - River Island

Hat - Vintage

There is something you should know, boys and girls.  My name is Elise and I'm a hat-aholic.  As any hat wearer whose blog I read will know, I just can't get enough.  As soon as a piece of headwear crops up in an outfit, I just can't stop myself from leaving a gushing comment.  It's a bit embarrassing really, slightly clingy girlfriend-esque.  There's just something about a good, or even a bad, hat that drives me crazy (in the good way).

It therefore came as a bit of a surprise when I realised that, with the exception of two knitted affairs, A Letter From Elise has, to date, been almost hat-free.  Good heavens!  I've gushed to you about paisley, about packaging, about Christmas but total ignored my first love, my one and only, the humble hat.  To milliners the world over, I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry.

So here I am, repenting my sins and sharing with you one of my favourite items of headwear.  I picked this hat up in my favourite vintage store in Northampton, Trashy Flowers.  My best friend and I tried on hundreds of hats that afternoon, rummaging through sacks and throwing them all about the place until we struck gold with two remarkably similar pieces, both dark green and this shape.  Jordyn's got a lot of wear at the time, although I hear that she's lost it now, but mine got stuffed away for a while because I was convinced it was too small for my head.  Eventually, I pulled it out for a halloween  Robin Hood costume in 2010 and fell back in love.  Robin Hood, what a style icon, aye?

Now you get the honour of witnessing a blog first for me: a head shot!  Crikey!  I just feel that the detailing of this hat needs to be shown off a little more, as you can't see it properly in the other pictures where the whole hat has unfortunately slipped back slightly.

I'm sorry if that close up frightened any small children, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  Please do ignore my unsightly eyebrow situation though; I'm growing them out and I'm currently experiencing an unattractive inbetween stage.  

There's just something about putting a hat on that makes the day a little more special.  There was a wonderful article in Vogue, I think the October issue, about the magic of hats.  Unfortunately I don't have my copy here or I'm sure this post would have just been a block quote of that.  It basically just talked about how hats haven't been cheapened yet.  They are yet to become too casual, too accessible, too commonplace, and that's what makes them wonderful.  They still contain that element of daring which a lot of other items have lost.  To be honest though, even if a day were to dawn when everybody and their dog was wearing a hat, I'll still be sporting and building my collection with pride.

Hat wearing aside, can we please have a moment of appreciation for my favourite Tom Jones song, after which I've titled this post.  You may have noticed a large increase in cheer today and a good ol' listen to Tommy definitely contributed to my improved mood.

Hats off to you,

Elise.