Lana Neumeyer pulled a wide-brim hat with a bow out of a large bag. She reached inside another bag and grabbed a few decorative silk flowers in shades of pink and red.
Then, she pinned them on the headpiece.
“I like to dress up for special occasions,” said Neumeyer, an O’Hara resident. “I usually buy a plain hat, and I add details to it because I want to create something that is made just for that event or party or holiday.”
In the next few weeks, Neumeyer will have plenty of places to wear those headpieces — starting with Easter Sunday, which signifies the beginning of spring fashion because it makes people think of “big, beautiful hats,” she said.
The Easter parade
The Easter hat came about in the 1870s in New York when the city began holding an annual parade. This year’s event is April 9. People dressed up in their finest attire, including Easter bonnets decorated with flowers and details such as eggs and rabbits to welcome spring.
“The word ‘hat’ stimulates me,” said Neumeyer, a Brazil native and fashion designer who wears hats year round. “Hats make me happy. I am girly, and I am colorful, and I love to wear hats.”
So does her granddaughter, Gabriella Gardner Moraes, who Neumeyer buys a hat for every Easter.
“It’s become a tradition that can be passed down,” Neumeyer said. “It’s important for parents to teach the importance and meaning of special occasions.”
Passover, which began Wednesday, is another holiday for hats. Spring luncheons and horse races are also places for fancy headwear.
Making a statement
“A hat can really make a statement,” said Lisa Slesinger, co-owner of Larrimor’s in Downtown Pittsburgh, which sells hats from New York designer Christine A. Moore.
Slesinger often sends a photo of a customer’s outfit to Moore, who suggests the perfect accessory. Customers can coordinate the color of the hat in the same hue or find a detail in the hat that brings the hat and outfit together, Slesinger said.
There is a range of choices of hats, from wide brims to medium-sized to fascinators — decorative headpieces consisting of feathers, flowers, beads, etc., attached to a comb or hair clip. Hats increase in popularity during times when there is coverage of royal fashion at weddings and events, such as the upcoming coronation of King Charles III on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in England.
The coronation is happening on the same day as the PNC Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Spring Hat Luncheon at Frick Park. Another happening hat occasion is the 21st annual Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra’s Westmoreland Hat Luncheon on June 3 at Greensburg Country Club.
The triple crown — Kentucky Derby on May 6, Preakness Stakes on May 20 and Belmont Stakes on June 10 — brings hats to the top of mind.
“Hats are more than fabric,” Slesinger said. “When you wear a hat for a special occasion and then when you put it on again, it reminds you of that time in your life, that memory.”
Memories of hats
Rebecca Sexton’s love of hats goes back to childhood.
“Christmas and Easter, we dressed up, and that included a hat,” she said. “That was our thing.”
Over the years, Sexton has amassed a collection of chapeaus on her travels around the globe — the Greensburg resident is a flight attendant with American Airlines.
She has a hat from a milliner in New York City’s Soho neighborhood and another from a vintage shop in Manchester, N.H. She bought a mink hat in Russia and a silk fez-style confection with feathers and tulle in New Zealand.
Several of her hat boxes bear the logo of Royer’s, the former high-end women’s wear store in downtown Greensburg.
She’s likely to don a favorite for Easter service at St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in South Greensburg.
Sexton remembers one Easter when a hat was a requirement, not an accessory.
“My mother never let me do anything with my hair, so I went away to college and dyed it jet black,” said Sexton, a brunette. “It was supposed to wash out in four to six washings, but it didn’t.
“I remember coming home and my mother said, ‘Well, you’re definitely wearing a hat for this Easter!’”
Sexton and her mother scoured Greensburg for a suitable chapeau and found a “zillion-dollar hat” in a shop at the since-demolished Greengate Mall.
When Sexton balked at the price, her mother declared, “You can’t go into church without one.”
Hats off to 25 years
The PNC Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Spring Hat Luncheon is celebrating its 25th year. The fundraising event has raised more than $10.5 million for Pittsburgh’s parks.
“This milestone year will not only allow us to tip our hats in honor of the legacy of the Parks Conservancy’s dedicated supporters but also highlight the progress we’ve made in Pittsburgh’s parks since the event’s founding,” said Sophie Gage, philanthropy manager, donor events and engagement for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.
“These hats are truly one of a kind,” Gage said. “Some guests have hats made just for the hat luncheon. A hat shows the personality of the person wearing it.”
The Parks Conservancy’s hat luncheon is a favorite event of Demeatria Boccella of East Liberty, president, Demeatria Boccella Productions, LLC and founder of FashionAFRICANA. She loves wearing hats because they make great statement pieces and can transform any outfit or mood.
One of her favorite hats is from New York designer Esenshel.
“His hats are fabulous and unique,” said Boccella, who wore one of his hats to last year’s hat luncheon. “Hats are headwear of fashion. When a special occasion requires a hat, I buy the hat first and style my look around my headwear.”
