Herban Sprawl

9 October 2009
It all started out innocently enough. I had to go to Macy’s to return a lipstick that I bought in Chicago when I had my face painted on for da Neph’s wedding. When I walked in the door, I saw a display of hats. It was a Nora Charles moment when I spotted the red cloche. It was simply darling. I popped it on my head, found a mirror and checked it out. Oh, yeah. First things first. Returned the lipstick, easily resisted the gift with purchase gimmick, and returned to the hats. I tried on a few others, but it was the 1969 Pontiac red one that stole my heart. I asked two ladies standing nearby what they thought. “Oh my!” the elder of the two remarked, “It’s right out of a Clara Bow movie! But you wouldn’t know who that is!”

“The It Girl!” I giggled! “You think maybe I need a lot of eyeliner with this?”

“Most definitely!”

I walked out of Macy’s with a hat, in a bag. Ponder that a moment…. Would Nora Charles have left Macy’s with a hat in a bag?

After a number of other errands that involved returns, a large bag of cat food and feta cheese, I wound up at T.J. Maxx. I scouted the handbags as I have had a run of good luck finding really lovely Italian purses. As I was moving toward the shoes, there they were…more hats, scarves and more scarves.

The black number was straight out of 1913…I popped it on my head, found a mirror and immediately decided it went with the Studebaker. A man passing by commented favorably. I went back and looked some more. And there it was. A chocolate brown cloche with little mink flowers. I went back to the mirror. The same guy was going the opposite direction, in search of his wife. “Oh, now! That’s the one! Get that one! Honey, come look at this hat on her!”

“Oh, it’s darling! You have to get it!” He agreed. I still held the black one and tried it on for her.

“Mmmm. How much?” She looked at the tags. “These are made in Italy! Buy ‘em both. You can’t go wrong! The black is classic. The brown is YOU!”

Sold.

I also found a pair of silk scarves in elusive colors, and made my way to the check-out. The hats got a lot of positive attention. I left with my hats, in a bag.

It’s a lucky thing to have been born when I was, lived where I lived as a youngster, and to have experienced the culture of women shopping as I did. Back in the day, Blakely’s Department Store had a couple of tiny vanities in the hat department. Ladies would sit at those vanities and the salesladies would bring them hats, put them on their heads adjust them to fit and when the selection had been made, the hat was carefully wrapped in tissue and placed in a Blakely’s Department Store hatbox. Ya just didn’t waltz out with a hat in a bag! Nora Charles brought home nothing in bags. Everything was carefully folded and placed into department store boxes - even undies!

I had a very friendly salesperson in Macy’s today. She liked my T.J. Maxx purse and lusted after my little Coach card case, which is mine because my niece couldn’t stand my cache of rewards cards held together by a thick broccoli rubber band. She liked the red hat, but wanted to see a grey one on me. I haven’t had a sales person take that kind of interest since I left Chicago in 1981! (I had a lady in Field’s undie department who would let me know when my favorite panties were going on sale.) Anyway, the red hat won her heart, too.

We live in a culture of speed and no service. Things are jammed into plastic bags and off we dash. When a sales person takes time with us, we honestly don’t know how to act. If I had been sitting at the little vanity in Blakely’s there would have been others milling about, ready to give their thoughts about this or that hat. Today, I had passersby cheering on a hat blitz.

Why hats? What else do ladies of an age do when they feel a bit blue? They shop. And today I discovered why Nora Charles and every other Hollywood character shopped for a hat when she was feeling a mite punk. Hats really do cheer up a person, and especially when they are fun. I just wish they came home in hat boxes!

For the record, Big Kitty had a Nick Charles moment, when he declared the little brown number to be strange. Nora wore her strange hat to a boxing match in spite of Nick’s assessment. I haven’t decided where I’ll wear mine, but rest assured, it will be worn. It’s too cute to stay home alone!