It’s what’s on the inside that counts

Some Swiss watchmakers are moving away from “just” decorating the outside of watches with precious stones and metals and started upgrading the actual watch components with high-tech, high-functioning materials. Increasingly, luxury watches feature silicon components, or gold-ceramic alloys, to add additional functionality to their timepieces. Read more from Bloomberg (in the SF Gate).

I think this is great — making something worth more by making it better (rather than simply coating it with bling) is really appealing to me. It’s not style vs substance, it’s substance with style.

Rum Drink of the Week: The Black Mojito

Apparently I’m still in the mood for tiki drinks, probably having something to do with it being Thursday and me desperately wanting it to be Friday. Here’s another tasty one for you to try, recently suggested to me by my dad and taste-tested last weekend (it was quite good!) I’ve seen other drinks called a Black Mojito, but this one is far simpler: you simply make a mojito, but replace the granulated sugar with brown sugar and the white rum with dark rum. My favorite for this is probably Cruzan Black Strap, it’s got a great robust yet mellow flavor.

If you feel like changing things up even more, you can add a bit of freshly grated ginger root for an extra kick.

Any favorite rum drinks to share?

It’s Friday and it’s cold here, so I want tropical cocktails. One of my absolute favorite rum drinks of all time is the Cuba Libre — it’s simple, it’s classic, and it works for just about any occasion (just like a fine Panama hat! Ha ha!), consisting of ice, rum, cola, and lime.

The origins of this drink are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it was first sipped in Cuba sometime around the turn of the 20th century. In the US, the Cuba Libre has morphed to become the more pedestrian and significantly less appealing rum and Coke. If you have never had a proper Cuba Libre, with all haste try the following:

Into a highball glass, put several ice cubes and 1 1/2 oz of rum. Traditionally, this drink uses a light rum, but I have to say that I prefer it with dark rum. You’re just going to have to try both. My choices for rum are Kraken (pictured above — a dark spiced rum) or Mount Gay Special Reserve (an aged light rum); to really get a little crazy, you might try Deco’s ginger rum. Add the juice of half a lime, then fill the rest of the glass with true and proper cane sugar sweetened Coca Cola. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Goes well with a Havana Fedora and a lazy, sunny afternoon.

Pictured above: vintage postcard from Havana, Cuba; found and submitted by Roff Smith.

I just read that the Duchess of Cambridge was named Hat Person of the Year by the Headwear Association. Is it just me, or would this make more sense if the title were Fascinator Person of the Year?

I suppose it makes sense, though, she does consistently wear hats, she’s posh as can be, and she manages to walk the line between traditional and modern mostly successfully

International Millinery Forum

The International Millinery Forum is taking place through Saturday in Wagga Wagga, Australia. According to an article in Monday’s Daily Advertiser, this forum is a gathering of ” the who’s who of hat designers from across the world.”

As you can see, some very silly hats are in evidence. Those of you who like silly hats will no doubt be fascinated, those of you who hate silly hats will be appalled.

(Incidentally, feel free to chime in with where you do fall on the silly hat vs serious hat spectrum; I’ve always assumed that fans of BBB’s hats tend toward serious hats, but I could be wrong.)

Lanai Luxury

Lanai is a tiny, beautiful, and rustic Hawaiian island — it features tropical weather, very few people, and no traffic lights. If that sounds like your idea of heaven, you’re not alone. Here’s some fodder for your daydreams, the latest luxury homes on Lanai!

Posh!

Hawaii’s Most Expensive Home

Click for video

Touring hat exhibit

Ooh! Ooh! The V&A exhibit “Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones” is going to be touring the US! The schedule isn’t finalized yet, but I know I’ll be keeping tabs on this story to see if this will be anywhere near me. Learn more about the exhibit itself from the V&A’s website or see an online gallery of some of the hats in the exhibit.

At left: a straw hat from London featured in the exhibit, dated to around 1912.

Is “Pan Am” the next “Mad Men”?

If the ratings are any sign, probably not, but Pan Am promises to bring more 60s fashion to the small screen. There’s a nice interview in TV Guide with Ane Crabtree, fashion designer for the series. I especially liked this quote about the hats:

What kind of time goes into constructing one the hats? They look very polished.
Crabtree: They’re such works of art. The actors are so freaked out by the hat. I’m talking guys and girls are like, “Oh please, please let me try on the hat!” They are so precise and built in the old style of millinery standards. There is one guy in L.A. who makes them. There are tiny, tiny trapunto stitching, rows and rows that I hope you’ll be able to see on camera, that form this beautiful shape. The fabric has to be dyed this very, very specific Pan Am tunis blue because it doesn’t exist anywhere. And the buttons have to be hand-cast. Starting with Episode 5, we have the very beautiful hatpin on the back of the stewardess cap that was fashioned after stewardess Sheila Riley’s personal Pan Am pin she wore on the flight to Berlin.

I wonder if the current fad for the glamorous mid-century is going to lead to the return to favor of a more polished look generally and more hat-wearing specifically. Here’s hoping!

2012 Headwear Hall of Fame Inductees

The Headwear Association has announced their 2012 “Headwear Hall of Fame” inductees, “stylish individuals renowned for wearing hats.”

This year’s picks:
Lady Gaga
LL Cool J
Kid Rock
Victoria Beckham

And posthumously:
Marlene Dietrich

Fred Astaire

I’m curious what your reaction is to these nominees; for me, this is a mixed bag. Dietrich’s gender-bending style was iconic, and she wore an incredible range of hats. Lady Gaga appears to be trying to single-handedly bring hats back into the center of the fashion universe and simultaneously broaden the definition of “hat” to include everything from fascinators to sculpted wigs to lobsters. But while LL Cool J, Kid Rock, and Victoria Beckham often wear hats, I don’t see anything spectacular or revolutionary about their hat choices. I’m also not sure where I stand on Fred Astaire — sure, he wore hats, and wore them well, but he’s so well remembered for so many other things that honoring him for his hat choices seems to pale in comparison.

Oh well, at least they didn’t include Princess Beatrice.

Who would you pick for your personal hat hall of fame?

The Panama Hat Company of the Pacific dba Brent Black Panama Hats 3215 Chandler Egan Dr. Medford, OR 97504 There is no retail store at this address. (more) Toll Free: (888) 658-6500 Phone: (541) 201-3113 [email protected]

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