Fierce Friday: Gigantic Hats, Church Ladies, and The Royal Ascot

Fashion designer Isabell Kristensen in the most ginormous flower-shaped hat ever.

Let's talk for a minute about gigantic hats. I absolutely ADORE them. When you think of giant hats, what do you think of? I tend to think of two things: church ladies (especially black church ladies) and the women at the British Royal Ascot (aka the most bizarrely glamorous event in horse racing).

My family dressed nicely for church every week but we REALLY got decked out on Easter, Christmas, Mother's day, Father's day, and the like. That's when the church hats (and gloves, and frilly dresses, and suits and ties) came out. This is the moment when I'd dig up awkward family photos to share, but the internet doesn't need to see that level of embarrassment.

On the subject of black women in church lady hats: I just read an interesting article by Nicole Kidder called The Fascinating History Behind Black Women's Church Hat Cultural Tradition. It's worth a read if you want to learn a bit about how black church ladies got their "hattitude."

Another thing that's worth seeing the gospel musical Crowns, written by Regina Taylor. It's based on the book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry. Both the book and the musical are wonderful.

A black woman in a red and white outfit with an amazing gigantic red and white church hat.

The Royal Ascot is also a sight of wondrous hats. For whatever reason, British royalty seem very fond of hats. The Royal Ascot has a dress code that dictates wearing a hat for both women and men who want to visit the royal enclosure, so pictures of the event are the perfect place to see some amazing (and occasionally ridiculous) hats.

Ok, enough about everyone else's hats. Here's my gigantic hat outfit:

Me in my giant hat.

I'm wearing a giant black and white striped floppy hat, a yellow shirt, a steampunk bee necklace, black pants, and black shoes. You can't see the pants and the shoes in this selfie, though.

You might have guessed from the lockers in the back of my selfie that today was my first day back at school. The break seemed too short to me, but the sooner I'm back the sooner I can graduate! I had class in the morning and after class I went to visit Love Bug.