mabengi: Top 5 Hat Trends Fall Winter 2012

Top 5 Hat Trends for Fall Winter 2012

My favorite hats for Fall/Winter 2012
pair well with fall’s top trends –
strong prints, shiny fabrics,
menswear-inspired cuts, ladylike sheath dresses
and fall’s hot colors of oxblood red
and head-to-toe white ensembles.

MY 2012 HAT TRENDS:

BEST HAT COLOR: DARK RED

WINTER HAT FABRIC: FUR / FAUX FUR

TRENDY HAT SHAPES:

MENSWEAR AND CLOCHE

BEST ATTENTION GETTING HATS: FASCINATORS

I tend to take inspiration from pop culture
as well as the runway.
Boardwalk Empire is a hit on HBO,
Baz Luhrmann’s new movie
The Great Gatsby is due out this Christmas
and season three of Downton Abbey
is set to air in Britain beginning in September -
much of America's favorite entertainment features
costumes and hats from the early 20^th century,
so street style cannot be far behind.

Looks I love for F/W 2012 include:

The cloche hats from Ralph Lauren’s
Fall/Winter 2012 look quite proper
when paired with tweed, corduroy
or a patterned sweater.
I instantly fell in love with this look
as soon as I saw it on the runway earlier this year.
If you have an artistic style
and love clothing with textures,
this may be the look for you.

Cloche hats are a great choice

for women with heart-shaped faces.

The Ralph Lauren video is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbQ0Mo4Y6DY

A dark red menswear-inspired hat
was paired with a matching coat
in both the Betsey Johnson and Ruffian
Fall/Winter 2012 collections.

We are wearing a jacket and hat
for the vast majority of time we are visible
to strangers on the street during fall and winter.
Purchasing a hat in the season’s hottest color
is a wise investment.

If you like to stand out in the
black coat / brown coat / beige coat crowd
on a street corner, consider this look.

Many of this season's hats have high crowns,

which is one of the best types of hat

for women with round faces.

Tilting a menswear-inspired hat
like a fedora to one side

is a flattering look for women with angular faces.

Bumble and Bumble shows how they created
the Ruffian menswear hat hairstyle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDKvcom0jxg

The most wearable look is a chocolate fedora

worn straight on the head

with a textured patterned sweater

from the Steven Alan Fall/Winter 2012 collection.

My favorite menswear-inspired hat hairstyles

are gathering long hair into a loose bun

on the nape of the neck (Steven Alan show)

for a more masculine look

or placing the hat on top of a

voluminous cascade of 40’s style teased curly hair
(Douglas Hannant show)

for a contrasting masculine-feminine style.

This is a great relaxed look

for a woman with a casual style.

Behind the scenes at Steven Alan:

http://blog.stevenalan.com/2012/02/08/fall-2012-presentation-behind-the-scenes/

Check out how stylists created the 1940's style hair:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoxrse_40s-style-hair-makeup-at-the-douglas-hannant-f-w-2012-show_lifestyle

For the lady with a bit more color in her closet
and confidence in her style,
I like how Giorgio Armani paired
asymmetrical gangster-inspired hats
by Philip Treacy
with colorful clothes in the label’s
Fall/Winter 2012 collection.

These hats are designed to be worn at an angle,
which is flattering to a woman’s face
and MUST be worn with an attitude.

I saw a strong ‘love it or hate it’
reaction to this hat.
I love it because it is so easy to flirt in this hat.

Tilting a hat makes it flattering on most women

and works with most face shapes.

Footage from the Armani show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql38YZrMtYA