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14 years ago
Monday 29 June 2009
Saturday 13 June 2009
Women and Hats
I am at the BBC Gardener's World Live at the NEC in Birmingham and I have to say I am having a great time.
However something has left me utterly confused! Women's attitudes towards hats! Ethnic Supplies has superb straw hats handcrafted in Madagascar from Raffia and they come in a range of colours. The best way I can describe them is DRAMATIC!
I love the hats for their drama. I can't remember an exhibition where they failed to draw people to my stand and this week hasn't been any different. Women in particular have been drawn to my stand and said how beautiful the hats are, having seen me wearing one.
For some this has encouraged them to buy, some have simply said not for me but it looks great on you, a good number said " I am not a hat person" and whilst for some the hats brought back bad memories of husbands and boyfriends who ridiculed them when they wore a hat. One woman in particular was almost in tears as she recalled the incident. I put on my killer smile and a gave her a hug as she was visibly upset.
I have to say I met such a man today, when his wife chose a yellow hat, she asked me for my opinion and I told her it looked good on her and her husband sniggered and asked why I wasn't wearing it myself and I said it would clash with what I was wearing that is why I had a more suitable colour on.
The man turned on his wife and said "you heard what the woman said, don't buy something that will not agree with you" But the woman stood her ground and said I would like a hat but perhaps I will chose a colour that is more likely to suit the majority of my clothing and she DID!
I found myself having to reassure more and more women that in fact any woman could wear a hat and it all had to do with confidence/attitude!
A thought crossed my mind, Could I in fact I could be wrong and there is possibly more to it!
I decided to get to the bottom of this thing WOMEN AND HATS. So the next woman that said "ooh No I don't wear hats they don't suit me" I took her aside and asked her why it was that so many women felt they could wear a hat.
She told me it is an English thing, the generation of hat wearing women is gone and that the weather doesn't help, but simply English women don't wear hats although this may change due to climate change!! Hmmm, Maybe she is right I could not pick out any female english friend that wear a hat, but come to think of it nor an African one for that matter
I said I didn't come from a hat wearing tradition either but I had no problem wearing one.
"oh, but you African women ordinarily wear head scarves and things on your heads, which we English women don't do"
Now this I found intriguing as my own African tribe rarely wears head scarves apart from the rare occasion, funeral, bad hair days etc. I thanked the lady for her time as I had lost to will to convince her that it was all a matter of attitude as far as I could see.
I was even more confused by next customer. She bought two prints and looked at me and told me you look amazing in that hat. I can't ever see myself in a hat. I went through the same why is that routine. " oh hats don't agree with she said. Look at how I dress, where exactly would I fit a smart hat? She was African!
Then was a West Indian lady who couldn't decide which colour suited her best she bought two!
By the end of today I was no where near getting to the bottom of why some women love hats and some appear to loath them?
Ladies please enlighten me! I am wrong when I say IT IS A MATTER OF CONFIDENCE?
Is there more to this?
At the Common Wealth Education fund 2007 Fundraising event
2008 Commonwealth Education Fund fundraising event
oooh Remember Her? doesn't she look fab in the Yellow hat?
Suhad showing off the colourfull hats from Ethnic Supplies
However something has left me utterly confused! Women's attitudes towards hats! Ethnic Supplies has superb straw hats handcrafted in Madagascar from Raffia and they come in a range of colours. The best way I can describe them is DRAMATIC!
I love the hats for their drama. I can't remember an exhibition where they failed to draw people to my stand and this week hasn't been any different. Women in particular have been drawn to my stand and said how beautiful the hats are, having seen me wearing one.
For some this has encouraged them to buy, some have simply said not for me but it looks great on you, a good number said " I am not a hat person" and whilst for some the hats brought back bad memories of husbands and boyfriends who ridiculed them when they wore a hat. One woman in particular was almost in tears as she recalled the incident. I put on my killer smile and a gave her a hug as she was visibly upset.
I have to say I met such a man today, when his wife chose a yellow hat, she asked me for my opinion and I told her it looked good on her and her husband sniggered and asked why I wasn't wearing it myself and I said it would clash with what I was wearing that is why I had a more suitable colour on.
The man turned on his wife and said "you heard what the woman said, don't buy something that will not agree with you" But the woman stood her ground and said I would like a hat but perhaps I will chose a colour that is more likely to suit the majority of my clothing and she DID!
I found myself having to reassure more and more women that in fact any woman could wear a hat and it all had to do with confidence/attitude!
A thought crossed my mind, Could I in fact I could be wrong and there is possibly more to it!
I decided to get to the bottom of this thing WOMEN AND HATS. So the next woman that said "ooh No I don't wear hats they don't suit me" I took her aside and asked her why it was that so many women felt they could wear a hat.
She told me it is an English thing, the generation of hat wearing women is gone and that the weather doesn't help, but simply English women don't wear hats although this may change due to climate change!! Hmmm, Maybe she is right I could not pick out any female english friend that wear a hat, but come to think of it nor an African one for that matter
I said I didn't come from a hat wearing tradition either but I had no problem wearing one.
"oh, but you African women ordinarily wear head scarves and things on your heads, which we English women don't do"
Now this I found intriguing as my own African tribe rarely wears head scarves apart from the rare occasion, funeral, bad hair days etc. I thanked the lady for her time as I had lost to will to convince her that it was all a matter of attitude as far as I could see.
I was even more confused by next customer. She bought two prints and looked at me and told me you look amazing in that hat. I can't ever see myself in a hat. I went through the same why is that routine. " oh hats don't agree with she said. Look at how I dress, where exactly would I fit a smart hat? She was African!
Then was a West Indian lady who couldn't decide which colour suited her best she bought two!
By the end of today I was no where near getting to the bottom of why some women love hats and some appear to loath them?
Ladies please enlighten me! I am wrong when I say IT IS A MATTER OF CONFIDENCE?
Is there more to this?
At the Common Wealth Education fund 2007 Fundraising event
2008 Commonwealth Education Fund fundraising event
oooh Remember Her? doesn't she look fab in the Yellow hat?
Suhad showing off the colourfull hats from Ethnic Supplies
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