The Optimo was the hat of choice wherever the British packed their linen – India, Malaya, Hong Kong – and its rounded dome and center crease still carry that unhurried veranda elegance. This one is made for a woman from the start, sized and balanced to her proportions rather than merely shrunk. I block it over my own forms and favor a softly rounded crown – handsomer, and better architecture besides. It is a quietly distinctive alternative to the fedora everyone expects, and it flatters far more faces than it gets credit for. Hand-blocked, leather sweatband, custom-sized to her exactly.
