I always try to accommodate requests for hat samples for photo shoots, etc., and will make styles in custom fabrics/colors that fit whatever someone needs. I used to get really excited by these requests, thinking that fame and fortune were just around the bend, but I’ve learned to temper that excitement with realism because often the pieces don’t get used, or they do but the photos don’t make it into the spread, etc. etc. Hats are the last to be added and the first to go. And usually, after it’s taken at least a week to track down whomever borrowed them to try and get them back, the hats are completely trashed, covered in makeup, balled up and stuffed back into the (now torn) hatboxes. A very sobering reminder that I am on the absolute bottom of the fashion food chain.
A couple of months back I was contacted at the last minute by a really lovely stylist asking for samples for a photo shoot for the October issue of Nylon Magazine that she was working on. And this time it was different from the get-go, with such care and respect taken in every step from the initial request to how lovingly the hats were repackaged and returned. She even requested to keep them for another shoot that she was doing the next day and asked for my approval to use them before she proceeded. So refreshingly professional! When the magazine came out, however, I was again disappointed (though not surprised), with not a single image of one of my hats in that issue. But I like Nylon Magazine, so just for fun, I picked up the November issue and to my surprise, there is a picture! It’s on the table of contents page, not part of the full spread, and it’s a little dark, but hey, it’s a really cool shot and I’ll take what I can get.
Here’s a poor copy:
Nylon Magazine November '08, page 18
You probably can’t see it, but in the credits at the lower right I am actually listed. Can’t tell which hat it is? Yeah, I had a difficult time as well, but I’m almost positive it’s this one. Fun right? Finding that reminded me of one of my favorite affirmations that I haven’t used in a while: ”expect a miracle”. Now I know this isn’t really a miracle, (well maybe it is a fashion miracle!) so OK I’ll revise the affirmation for today: “expect a surprise”, or as they say in the NY Lottery commercials: “hey, you never know”.
