normafreda@gmail.com

Yes, you have found the Hat Lady!

Norma Shephard is the founder and director of the Mobile Millinery Museum, a unique travelling museum whose “working hats” have raised funds for diverse causes; from homeless teens in rural Ontario, to cancer research and diagnostic equipment, to a women’s and children’s shelter in Israel.

Shephard’s use of hats, shoes, and vintage garments as cultural story blocks to prompt the telling of tales, myths, and legends transforms audience members into folklore informants, eager to share their own reminiscences.

Recognized as an historian and authority on vintage costume, Shephard has appeared on Canada A.M., CBC Morning, CBC Fresh Air, CBC Ontario Today, CH Morning Live, Breakfast Television, Canadian Living Television, This Morning Live, Main Street, CKCO, The Source, and Neighbour to Neighbour and has been featured in numerous print media.

In 1985 she earned a Canadian Achiever’s Award for entrepreneurship and since founding her museum in 1999, has penned and photographed Accessorizing the Bride; Vintage Wedding Finery Through the Decades), 1000 Hats, In Step With Fashion: 200 Years of Shoe Styles, Lingerie; Two Centuries of Luscious Design, T-shirts; A HIStory & HERitage of Pop Culture, and Dear Harry; The Firsthand Account of a World War I Infantryman.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Hats For Travel and Town Wear

Most hat enthusiasts will tell you that oftentimes, the hat box is as interesting as its contents. Case in point: This mid-twentieth century gentlemen's hat box from the distinguished New York clothier, F. R. Tripler & Co. was once the repository for a stylish yet inexpensive gentleman's hat for everyday wear, or as a 1950's Tripler & Co. ad suggests, a hat for travel and town wear. Picture the businessman carrying this back & gold cardstock box with its vinyl strap out of Tripler's downtown store.What a dapper image that conjures; a shopping chic fantasy far distant from our modern day comfort dressing ideals.