BREMEN (dpa) – For decades, a stylish woman wasn’t considered well-dressed unless her outfit included a hat. But in recent years, hats have been less in demand as fashion became increasingly laid back.
Milliners – craftspeople who make individual hats – have become rather rare in today’s world of jeans and ready-to-wear lines.Astrid Ries who works in the the German city of Bremen is confident that it’s not all over for hats yet. Ries trained as a hatmaker and has been in business for 15 years.Ries learnt the hatmaking craft starting in 1983 and started a small business from her home when she finished her training.She says that after some lean years, women started showing more interest in hats from the mid-1990s onwards. “There’s a trend towards hats. Women are actually wearing hats again.”Ries has created hats in different materials in a range of colours: blue, black, red, green and gray, many of which are adorned with various trimmings.Winter hats are smaller than summer hats, with less in the way of decoration and smaller brims. “They have stay on your head in windy weather and and you have to be able to pull the brim down,” Ries explains.She names black, brown and gray, as well as some shades of red as “classic” colours for hats.A customer should take time to consider what hat suits her, she warns. “Women should always use a bit of colour,” she says, adding that black hats look harsh and do not suit everyone.Ries said that for this reason, having a bespoke hat made after plenty of consultation with the milliner is a good idea. “I make hats to individually suit each client.”She said that German women currently like the look of tall top- hat-style hats with narrow brims and little trim. Ries calls them “cute but still low-key”.It takes between three and eight hours to fashion a hat. Ries’ summer hats are generally made of straw, while winter hats are mostly made from rabbit’s hair. Her hats cost between 250 and 400 marks (between 120 and 190 dollars).
