Dare A Head Go Bare? Not At This Royal Wedding

At the the Royal Wedding, the hats will be on display as much as the bride herself. Whether simple feather arrangements or outlandish towers of flowers, hats are works of art. Host Liane Hansen talks to milliner Luke Song about who's wearing hats and why they're coming back as an outfit staple.

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LIANE HANSEN, host:

Today, is the day for Easter bonnets, but they won't hold a candle to the crowns at Westminster Abbey this Friday. At the royal wedding, the hats will be on display as much as the bride herself. Whether simple feather arrangements or outlandish towers of flowers, hats are works of art, and they're popular both in the U.K. and in the U.S.

Luke Song of Mr. Song Millinery designed Aretha Franklin's bowed gray chapeau for President Obama's inauguration. He's at member station WDET in Detroit. Welcome to the program.

Mr. LUKE SONG (Mr. Song Millinery): Well, thanks for having me. Happy Easter, everybody.

HANSEN: Happy Easter. You must be exhausted. How many of your own Easter bonnets are being worn today?

Mr. SONG: Oh goodness. It's in the thousands.

HANSEN: Has anyone requested you millinery services for Friday's royal wedding?

Mr. SONG: Yes. We've been keeping very busy for that actually.

HANSEN: A lot of veils this year?

Mr. SONG: Not as much, but especially a lot of the younger girls, which I'm very surprised to find that they're going for the lot of traditional veils and it looks really young and hip, in my opinion. I guess fashion always comes in circles. And Kate Middleton had a great effect on the fashion. Those, like, profile hats that she's pictured wearing.

HANSEN: So, it's on, like, half of her head. It's tilted in such a way that it kind of covers a bit of her face.

Mr. SONG: Oh, yes. I've been making a lot of those.

HANSEN: Wow. You're going to be watching?

Mr. SONG: Oh definitely.

HANSEN: What are you going to be looking for, aside from your own hats?

Mr. SONG: Just very bold styles. An event like that kind emboldens the rest of the people, I think, for them to wear something that is a little what they consider every day to be a little risque.

HANSEN: Well, this is high season for hats. I mean, we've got the Kentucky Derby coming up and Mother's Day. What role does a hat play in an outfit?

Mr. SONG: Well, I think you're not dressed until you have a hat on. Also, I think it defines a person. If you just remember back to the inauguration, Aretha Franklin, nobody can tell what she had on, you know, below her neck, but they absolutely remember the hat. So, the hat's really become the focal point of any event.

HANSEN: Luke Song is the designer for Mr. Song Millinery in Southfield, Michigan, and he joined us from WDET in Detroit. Thank you so much and happy Easter once again.

Mr. SONG: Thank you for having me.

(Soundbite of music)

HANSEN: And you can see a gallery of millinery confections at our website, NPR.org.

This is NPR News.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/24/135661704/dare-a-head-go-bare-not-at-this-royal-wedding?ft=1&f=1008

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