Colour blocking and contrast hats, I love them!

The run up to summer is well under way and we all know what that means, weddings, weddings, garden parties, horse racing and weddings.  This year we Brits get to throw in the Olympics too which I am sure will be an excuse for many to don a union jack themed hat (blog on that to follow shortly).

For us milliners the start of summer is marked by an inbox full of requests along the lines of:
"I have this dress for my daughters wedding.  Can you make a hat the same colour?"
"Can you make this hat but in hot pink to match my dress?"
"I love this hat but my dress is blue."

The answer to these questions is yes I can, but WHY?

Our lovely Queenie is the, um, well the Queen of this matchy matchy look and has been rocking it so long I can't imagine her in anything else.  Luckily for her she has the talented Angela Kelly on hand 24 hours a day to make sure that her hat matches her outfit perfectly every time she appears in public (and I like to think when lounging about the palace too).

For us commoners though it can be tough to get a perfect match or it is overdone to the extreme which is just bad, bad,bad.

So my solution to the 'I can't find a hat to match' problem is, stop looking.

This year is all about colour blocking and I LOVE IT!

I know none of these girls are wearing a hat but it gives you the idea.

Colour blocking is all about the tone.  Find colours with a matching undertone and you are onto a winner.

And if you can't figure out what tone your dress is then do a Princess B. and wear them all!

If lots of colours are too much then simply choose one (for your hat not your whole outfit).  This is especially true with busy fabrics and floral prints.  A one colour bold hat can help pull the whole thing into focus.

Alternatively a hat can be used as a way to make a simple coloured dress really pop or a natural colour hat to tone down a really bright dress.  Matched with shoes or a bag and you have a real statement with very little effort.  This look also means that you can wear the same to dress to several weddings and simply buy a different colour hat and bag each time to make it look completely different (i don't know about you but I think hat and bag shopping is much more fun than dress shopping).  You could even team up with a sister or friend and simply swap accessories thus saving cash, its a lot easier to fit in to your big sisters hat than her dress.

So Ladies stop carrying your dress around at the bottom of your bag and slyly pulling it out in shops to colour match and simply choose a hat a completely different colour and walk tall with an amazing, bold contrasting ensemble.